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doctoral thesis

SiGe Based Cryo-BiCMOS Architectures for Quantum Applications

Benserhir, Jad  
2024

Quantum computing and superconducting nanowire (SNWD) detector arrays are two prominent areas of research, offering the potential to address complex problems that are currently intractable with conventional means. Quantum computers promise to vastly accelerate computing, while SNWD arrays capitalize on their exceptional sensitivity and highly low-noise as detectors. In all these technologies, scalability and reproducibility are major considerations and thus, in this thesis, we have addressed these two aspects by advocating the use of CMOS or BiCMOS to interface quantum devices from cryogenic temperatures, where they usually operate, to room temperature (RT), where humans operate. Thanks to their high miniaturization and reproducibility, CMOS technology nodes enable to control many quantum devices, thus achieving scalability, while at the same time reducing the need for numerous interconnects to RT, thus ensuring compactness. Electrical performance is also a concern, as it reflects on the fidelity of the overall quantum system. In quantum computing, many specifications for the various components of the controller need to be met to achieve the desired fidelity. In SNWDs, on the contrary, require a very low-noise interface, which is generally implemented based on low-noise amplifiers (LNAs), characterized by a noise figure of a few millidB, essential to achieve picosecond-level jitter when reading signals from SNWDs. To achieve these noise performance levels, in this thesis we have focused on SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs), which have been found to exhibit lower noise levels at RT compared to their CMOS counterparts. SiGe HBTs have a high transit frequency and a high gain, making them an ideal choice for designing LNAs. The low 1/f noise and reduced corner frequency offer the potential, along with practical design strategies, to develop VCOs with optimized phase noise and low power consumption. Despite significant progress in modeling and characterizing low-frequency noise in CMOS down to 4K, advanced SiGe HBTs still lack comprehensive modeling. This study presents a detailed noise characterization of advanced Si/SiGe:C HBT in 0.13 µm BiCMOS technology, covering a wide temperature range (293 to 4 K) and frequency spectrum (10 kHz to 12 GHz). The noise characteristics of SiGe HBTs are examined as functions of bias, frequency, and temperature, making this study the first to cover such broad temperature and frequency ranges simultaneously. Based on the analysis of HBT behavior at cryogenic temperatures, an optimized LNA design in the BiCMOS process is proposed, achieving a 4 K NET and an 8 GHz bandwidth with only 5 mW of power consumption. This advancement sets the stage for investigating the integration of SNWDs with LNAs at 4 K and provides a comprehensive analysis for future designs; it can also be seen as the second stage of the interface with spin or superconducting qubits, when a pre-amplifier is used based on a parametric amplifier or a traveling-wave amplifier operating in even lower, millikelvin temperature domains. Another innovative approach is presented for the conventional read-out chain using the latching property of SNWDs. Lastly, a cryogenic superheterodyne transmitter featuring an integrated phase-lock loop (PLL) is proposed, designed on a 130-nm SiGe BiCMOS process for controlling superconducting qubits and using double frequency conversion instead of direct conversion or low intermediate frequency (IF).

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EPFL_TH10612.pdf

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Main Document

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openaccess

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N/A

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96.82 MB

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Adobe PDF

Checksum (MD5)

41b22a9276af15ed0a4a76855d58bd56

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