A Cryogenic CMOS-based Control System for Testing Superconductor Electronics

[摘要] A Cryogenic CMOS-based Control System for Testing SuperconductorElectronicsP.C. van NiekerkDepartment of Electrical and Electronic EngineeringUniversity of StellenboschPrivate Bag X1, 7602 Matieland, South AfricaThesis: M.Sc.Eng. (E&E)March 2008A complete control system, with accompanying software, is designed to interface superconductivedigital and sensory circuits for use in cryogenic vacuumed environments. It acts as aninter-mediator between superconductor electronics and room temperature electronics for researchpurposes.In order to facilitate low bit-error rate communications with superconductive electronics, thesystem is designed to have ultra low-noise current and voltage sources for transmitting datato superconductor electronics. Very high sensitivity voltage inputs are also implemented fordata extraction from superconductor electronics. It implements both digital as well as analogdesign components, including ADC and DAC devices. The data is transmitted via a USB cableconnection at 1Mbaud to a computer where the data is processed by specially designed softwareand graphically displayed for user interfaced research.Extensive research is done on the electronic components, such as CMOS devices, for functioningin an average temperature of 70 Kelvin inside cryogenic environments. This is done to reducethe thermal noise and heat transfer to superconductor electronics. An integrated temperaturecontrol system also ensures a stable environment for the electronics to operate at 70 K.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University