CMOS Integrated Comb Generator for Large Format MKID Arrays

Microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs) are sensitive superconducting devices that can be easily multiplexed for large-array telescopes, successfully demonstrated by MAKO, a 432-pixel photometer, and the Multiwavelength Submillimeter kinetic Inductance Camera (MUSIC), a 576-pixel photometer. Because of the high atmospheric absorption of submillimeter waves, space telescopes have an insurmountable advantage over ground-based ones. Currently, the biggest bottlenecks in developing large-array MKID space telescopes come from the absence of power efficient and radiation-tolerant readout electronics. The readout electronics for a typical MKID system are composed of three main functional blocks: a comb generator, an RF block for the frequency conversion and signal conditioning, and a digital spectrometer backend. Current state-of-the-art electronics for ground-based instruments are built with FPGAs and discrete RF components, the combination consuming large amounts of power, greater than 160 W for 8,000 pixels. A recently developed commercial alternative, the Xilinx RF System-on-a-Chip (RFSoC), in which analog-to-digital converters (ADC) and digital-to-analog converters (DAC) are embedded directly with the FPGA, has recently been adopted for MKID readout. The RFSoC improves on the power efficiency of earlier MKID readouts, supporting 8,000 pixels with 56 W of power, but still relies on external RF frequency conversion and signal conditioning circuitry. In addition, for a space-borne submillimeter imaging instrument, a hardware solution needs to be both power-efficient and radiation tolerant. Unfortunately, even though the RFSoC has demonstrated great promise for ground-based experiments, there is no path for dealing with its radiation softness. In conclusion, no viable solution is available for low-power, radiation tolerant readout electronics necessary for large format MKID arrays. Application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) are an attractive solution for realization of a power efficient, radiation tolerant MKID readout. An ASIC solution supporting all functional elements, including the RF signal conversion and conditioning using an advanced CMOS process (28 nm) for 8,000 pixels would require about 5 W. Of the three main components, an ASIC spectrometer has already been demonstrated in 65 nm technology consuming sub-W of power. The design of the RF components is straightforward and pose little risk to the overarching goal of producing a single chip MKID readout ASIC. The comb generator, however, is unique to newly emerging technologies such as MKID arrays and Quantum Computers, and as such has not been demonstrated. In this work we propose to design and implement a comb generator for 8,000 pixels with a multiplexing technique. The chip produced by the proposed effort, supporting the baseband comb generation, will consume 0.5 W for 8,000 pixels and will be implemented in 28 nm. Furthermore, directly targeting a space-borne instrument, the ASIC will be developed incorporating radiation hardening by design (RHBD) techniques. The ASIC-based electronics proposed in this effort will pave the way for a low-power, radiation tolerant, single chip solution for the large format MKID array. It will offer a power reduction of an order of magnitude (x12 including the RF block), as well as size and mass benefits of several orders of magnitude (bulky system to a single chip) from integrating several previously discrete functions into a single ASIC. Its radiation tolerant design will enable the commissioning of MKID arrays comprised of thousands of pixels for space-borne far-infrared imaging instruments.

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