High-Tc superconducting thin film/GaAs MESFET hybrid microwave oscillator

A high-Tc superconducting (HTSC) thin film/GaAs MESFET hybrid microwave oscillator operated at 10.6 GHz has been designed, fabricated and characterized. Microstrip line structures were used throughout the circuit with superconducting thin film YBa2Cu3O7-δ(YBCO) as the conductor material. The YBCO thin films were deposited on 15 mm×10 mm×0.5 mm LaAlO3 substrates. The oscillator was common-source, series feedback type using a GaAs-MESFET (NE72084) as the active device and a superconducting microstrip resonator as the frequency stabilizing element. By improving the unloaded quality factorQ0 of the superconducting microstrip resonator and adjusting the coupling coefficient between the resonator and the gate of the MESFET, the phase noise of the oscillator was decreased. At 77 K, the phase noise of the oscillator at 10 kHz offset from carrier was −87 dBc/Hz.