Millikelvin Characterization of Electronic Components for Cryoelectronic Circuits

Discrete electronic components such as resistors, transistors, and capacitors are measured at millikelvin temperatures and compared to their room temperature values for use in designing basic electronic circuits at cryogenic temperatures. Electronic circuits designed within the cryogenic environment offer a pathway to reduce parasitic noise — however, operating parameters of discrete components used in the circuits should be known for the designed circuit to work as expected at cryogenic temperatures. To investigate the temperature-dependent characteristics and obtain the operating parameters, the components were attached to a mounted printed-circuit-board within the mixing chamber of a dilution refrigerator and were measured at room temperature, 4 K, and 10 mK. For a series of resistors ranging from 100 Ω to 1 MΩ, resistances were found to change by a factor of 0.96 to 1.27 at cryogenic temperatures. Transistors showed a volt-scale shift in threshold voltage and improved transconductance with decreasing temperature. Capacitors were found to be less consistent in their temperature-dependance characteristics.