Weight and power considerations for the design of a cryogenically cooled HTS electronic system

Abstract

Abstract Much progress has been reported on the fabrication of high temperature superconducting (HTS) electronic devices, circuits and systems. In some of these reports, comparisons have been made between the electrical behavior of HTS components and their “equivalent” semiconductor counterparts. Unfortunately, in almost all cases, the comparisons have been made at the device or circuit level. In an operational system, the HTS chip(s) must be mounted in an efficiently insulated cryogenic enclosure and integrated with a closed cycle cryogenic refrigerator (“cryocooler”) or an open-cycle dewar system. Therefore, to perform a meaningful comparison of an HTS system with a conventional (ambient temperature) one, the HTS system must include, in addition to the electronic chips, the cryogenic enclosure and cryogenic refrigeration system. In addition, the weight, volume, electrical input power and cool-down time for the cryogenic subsystem must also be taken into account in making such a comparison. That is, meaningful performance comparisons must be made at the system level.