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Frontiers of Information Technology & Electronic Engineering
ISSN 2095-9184 (print), ISSN 2095-9230 (online)
2021 Vol.22 No.12 P.1666-1676
Wideband cryogenic amplifier for a superconducting nanowire single-photon detector
Abstract: We present a low-power inductorless wideband differential cryogenic amplifier using a 0.13-μm SiGe BiCMOS process for a superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (SNSPD). With a shunt–shunt feedback and capacitive coupling structure, theoretical analysis and simulations were undertaken, highlighting the relationship of the amplifier gain with the tunable design parameters of the circuit. In this way, the design and optimization flexibility can be increased, and a required gain can be achieved even without an accurate cryogenic device model. To realize a flat terminal impedance over the frequency of interest, an RC shunt compensation structure was employed, improving the amplifier’s closed-loop stability and suppressing the amplifier overshoot. The S-parameters and transient performance were measured at room temperature (300 K) and cryogenic temperature (4.2 K). With good input and output matching, the measurement results showed that the amplifier achieved a 21-dB gain with a 3-dB bandwidth of 1.13 GHz at 300 K. At 4.2 K, the gain of the amplifier can be tuned from 15 to 24 dB, achieving a 3-dB bandwidth spanning from 120 kHz to 1.3 GHz and consuming only 3.1 mW. Excluding the chip pads, the amplifier chip core area was only about 0.073 mm2.
Key words: Cryogenic amplifier, Wideband amplifier, Superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (SNSPD)
1东南大学信息科学与工程学院无线电工程系移动通信国家重点实验室，中国南京市，210096
2紫金山实验室，中国南京市，211111
3南京大学电子科学与工程学院超导电子研究所，中国南京市，210093
摘要：为有效读出超导纳米线单光子探测器（SNSPD）输出信号，提出一种基于0.13 µm SiGe BiCMOS工艺的低功耗无电感宽带差分超低温放大器。为解决缺少超低温器件精确模型的问题，结合并联-并联反馈和电容耦合超低温放大器结构，通过详细理论分析和仿真，确定了放大器增益与电路可调设计参数间的关系，提高了设计和优化的灵活性，从而实现所需增益。为实现工作频率范围内端口阻抗平坦特性，采用RC并联补偿结构，有效提高了放大器闭环稳定性，并可抑制放大器过冲问题。给出室温（300 K）和低温（4.2 K）下S参数和瞬态性能测试结果。在良好输入输出阻抗匹配下，该放大器在300 K温度下3 dB带宽为1.13 GHz，增益为21 dB。在4.2 K温度下，该放大器增益可在15～24 dB范围内调节，其3 dB带宽为120 kHz～1.3 GHz，功耗仅3.1 mW。去除芯片外围焊盘，该超低温放大器芯片核心面积仅为0.073 mm2。
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DOI:
10.1631/FITEE.2100525
CLC number:
TN433
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On-line Access:
2021-12-23
Received:
2021-11-10
Revision Accepted:
2021-11-30
Crosschecked:
2021-12-07