A Low-Power Microwave HEMT $LC$ Oscillator Operating Down to 1.4 K

High-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) based on 2-D electron gases (2DEGs) in III-V heterostructures have superior mobility compared with the transistors of silicon-based complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor technologies. The large mobility makes them attractive not only for low-noise and high-power microwave applications but also for low-power applications down to deep cryogenic temperatures. Here, we report on the design and characterization of a low-power HEMT LC Colpitts oscillator operating at 11 GHz whose minimum power consumption is 90 μW at 300 K and 4 μW at 1.4 K. The fully integrated oscillator is based on a single HEMT transistor having a gate length of 70 nm and realized using a 2DEG in In 0.7 Ga 0.3 As. The power consumption of the realized oscillator is the lowest reported in the literature so far for an LC oscillator operating in the same frequency range. In order to investigate the behavior of the oscillator, we also performed a detailed characterization of a stand-alone HEMT transistor from 1.4 to 300 K with a static magnetic field from 0 to 8 T. From the extracted values of the transistor parameters, we estimate and compare the minimum power necessary to start-up oscillations for two different Colpitts topologies.

Electron Spin Resonance detectors from 400 MHz to 360 GHz

Alessandro Valentino Matheoud

Methods based on the electron spin resonance (ESR) phenomenon are non-invasive tools adopted to investigate paramagnetic systems at temperatures ranging from above 1000 K to below 1 K. Since 2008, the group of Dr. Boero has been working on a detection technique based on the integration of ESR sensors on single chips. The proposed methodology allowed to study samples in the nanoliter scale and reach a spin sensitivity at least two orders of magnitude better than the best commercially available spectrometers. The detection principle can be summarized as follows. An ESR sensitive sample is placed in close proximity to the planar inductor of an LC oscillator operating at microwave frequency. In presence of a suitable static magnetic field, the ESR phenomenon takes place. It causes a variation in the sample magnetization which translates to a variation of the inductance, leading to both a frequency shift of the oscillator (frequency detection) and a variation of the oscillation amplitude (amplitude detection). Consequently, the ESR phenomenon may be detected by tracking the operating point of the oscillator. In this thesis, I investigate the application of the aforementioned detection principle in the range from 400 MHz to 360 GHz. Firstly, a semi-integrated solution operating from 400 MHz to 610 MHz is developed for an industrial application (CTI project). In such context, the originality of the work stands in the implementation of a completely standalone portable scanner for contactless inspection which may also be used for ferromagnetic (FMR) applications and zero-field measurements. Secondly, a set of single-chip ESR detectors working from 10 GHz to 146 GHz and based on CMOS technologies are characterized from 300 K down to 10 K. Here, an ESR experiment at a frequency as high as 360 GHz can be performed thanks to the fourth harmonic signal generated by a 90 GHz detector. Conversely, the 10 GHz detector shows the best noise performance and allows to achieve the record distance resolution of 0.3 pm when used as a proximity sensor. After that, the possibility of using integrated technologies based on HEMTs is investigated so as to overcome the main limitations of the CMOS based detectors: (1) the high power consumption which denies their use below 10 K and (2) the saturation issue due to the magnitude of the intrinsic microwave magnetic field produced by the oscillators. In this context, two HEMT oscillators working at 11 GHz and 25 GHz are realized. In particular, the former achieves the record minimum power consumption (90 uW at 300 K and 4 uW below 30 K) currently reported in the literature for oscillators working in the same frequency range. Also, the proposed sensor achieves a minimum microwave magnetic field of less than 1 uT at 300 K and less than 0.1 uT below 30 K, i.e., orders of magnitude below the values achieved with previous CMOS detectors. Furthermore, an analytical model is carried out in order to estimate the minimum achievable power consumption for an LC single-ended Colpitts oscillator based on any single FET. Lastly, the DC characterization of a standing alone HEMT transistor is provided from 300 K down to 1.4 K, ranging from the standard Ids-Vs-Vds curves to the extraction of both the number of carriers and their effective mobility. The former comes from the analysis of the Shubnikov-de-Haas oscillations whereas the latter is calculated by means of Hall-effect based experiments.

EPFL2019

A Low Power 35 GHz HEMT Oscillator for Electron Spin Resonance Spectroscopy

Giovanni Boero, Alessandro Valentino Matheoud, Nergiz Sahin Solmaz

This paper presents a low power microwave oscillator designed as sensor for electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy. Low power consumption is necessary for low temperature operation. Additionally, lower power consumption allows for a lower microwave magnetic field in the sensing volume, which avoids the saturation of samples having long spin relaxation times and, consequently, the degradation of the spin sensitivity. The oscillator operates at 35 GHz, consuming 90 μW at 300 K and 15 μW at 1.4 K. This is the lowest power consumption reported to date for oscillators operating in the same frequency range. The fully integrated oscillator is based on a single HEMT transistor having a gate length of 70 nm and realized using a 2DEG in In0.7Ga0.3As. The chip area is about 0.3 mm^2 . The spin sensitivity is 3×10^8 spins/Hz^(1/2) at 300 K and 1.2×10^7 Spins/Hz^(1/2) at 10 K.

IEEE2021

A single chip electron spin resonance detector based on a single high electron mobility transistor

Giovanni Boero, Alessandro Valentino Matheoud, Nergiz Sahin Solmaz

Single-chip microwave oscillators are promising devices for inductive electron spin resonance spectroscopy (ESR) experiments on nanoliter and subnanoliter samples. Two major problems of the previously reported designs were the large minimum microwave magnetic field (0.1 mT to 0.7 mT) and large power consumption (0.5 mW to 200 mW), severely limiting their use for the investigation of samples having long relaxation times and for operation at low temperatures. Here we report on the design and characterization of a single-chip ESR detector operating with a microwave magnetic field and a power consumption orders of magnitude lower compared with previous designs. These significant improvements are mainly due to the use of a high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) technology instead of a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology. The realized single-chip ESR detector, which operates at 11.2 GHz, consists of an LC Colpitts oscillator realized with a single high-electron mobility transistor and a co-integrated single turn planar coil having a diameter of 440 μm. The realized detector operates from 300 K down to 1.4 K, at least. Its minimum microwave magnetic field is 0.4 μT at 300 K and 0.06 μT at 1.4 K, whereas its power consumption is 90 μW at 300 K and 4 μW at 1.4 K, respectively. The experimental spin sensitivity on a sensitive volume of about 30 nL, as measured with a single crystal of α,γ-bisdiphenylene-β-phenylallyl (BDPA)/benzene complex, is of 8×10^(10) spins/Hz^(1/2) at 300 K and 2×10^(9) spins/Hz^(1/2) at 10 K, respectively. In a volume of about 100 pL, located in proximity to the coil wire, the spin sensitivity improves by two orders of magnitude.

2018

Electron Spin Resonance detectors from 400 MHz to 360 GHz

Alessandro Valentino Matheoud

EPFL2019