High-Tc Superconducting Microwave and Millimeter Devices and Circuits—An Overview

Abstract

High temperature (high-Tc) superconductors (HTS) have found many applications in the last two decades. To microwave researchers and engineers, the ultra-low surface resistance of the thin-film HTS materials at microwave and millimeter frequencies and the highly non-linear Josephson junctions are of particular interest. The former can be exploited in the design and fabrication of passive microwave components and circuits with superior performance, and the latter can be exploited to create many novel active HTS devices. This paper provides an overview of the state-of-art development of HTS devices and circuits for microwave and mm-wave communication front-end receiver systems. The paper is particularly focused on the latest advancement of HTS Josephson junction based active devices, monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMIC), and whole receiver systems integrated with cryocoolers.