Room temperature terahertz detectors based on semiconductor nanowire field effect transistors

Miriam Serena Vitiello; Dominique Coquillat; Leonardo Viti; Daniele Ercolani; Frederic Teppe; Alessandro Pitanti; Fabio Beltram; Lucia Sorba; Wojciech Knap; Alessandro Tredicucci

doi:10.1117/12.909408

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20 January 2012 Room temperature terahertz detectors based on semiconductor nanowire field effect transistors

Miriam Serena Vitiello, Dominique Coquillat, Leonardo Viti, Daniele Ercolani, Frederic Teppe, Alessandro Pitanti, Fabio Beltram, Lucia Sorba, Wojciech Knap, Alessandro Tredicucci

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Proceedings Volume 8268, Quantum Sensing and Nanophotonic Devices IX; 826829 (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.909408
Event: SPIE OPTO, 2012, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

Self-assembled nanowires represent a new interesting technology to be explored in order to increase the cut-off frequency of electronic THz detectors. They can be developed in field effect transistor (FET) and diode geometries exploiting non-linearities of either the transconductance or the current-voltage characteristic as detection mechanism. In this work we demonstrate that semiconductor nanowires can be used as building blocks for the realization of highsensitivity terahertz one-dimensional FET detectors. In order to take advantage of the low effective mass and high mobilities achievable in III-V compounds, we have used InAs nanowires, grown by vapor-phase epitaxy, and properly doped with selenium to control the charge density and to optimize source-drain and contact resistance. The detection mechanism exploits the non-linearity of the transconductance: the THz radiation field is fed at the gate-source electrodes with wide band antennas, and the rectified signal is then read at the drain output in the form of a DC voltage. Responsivity values as large as 1 V/W at 0.3 THz have been obtained, with noise equivalent powers (NEP) < 2 × 10^-9 W/√Hz at room temperature. The large existing margins for technology improvements, the scalability to higher frequencies, and the possibility of realizing multi-pixel arrays, make these devices highly competitive as a future solution for THz detection.

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Miriam Serena Vitiello, Dominique Coquillat, Leonardo Viti, Daniele Ercolani, Frederic Teppe, Alessandro Pitanti, Fabio Beltram, Lucia Sorba, Wojciech Knap, and Alessandro Tredicucci "Room temperature terahertz detectors based on semiconductor nanowire field effect transistors", Proc. SPIE 8268, Quantum Sensing and Nanophotonic Devices IX, 826829 (20 January 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.909408

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