Field Effect Transistors For Fast Terahertz

Detection and Imaging

W. Knap
*
, S. Nadar, H. Videlier, S. Boubanga-
Tombet,

D. Coquillat, N. Dyakonova, F. Teppe
CNRS & Universit Montpellier 2
Montpellier, France
*
knap.wojciech@gmail.com
D. Seliuta, I. Kasalynas, G. Valuis
Semiconductor Physics Institute
Vilnius, Lithuania

K. Karpierz

, J. usakowski, M.Sakowicz
Institute of Experimental Physics
University of Warsaw
Warsaw, Poland

S. Monfray and T.Skotnicki
ST Microelectronics
Crolles , France


AbstractWe present recent results on detection of terahertz
radiation with nanometer size GaAs FETs and Si MOSFETs at
room temperature. We demonstrate that the detection sensitivity
and speed allows application of the transistors in terahertz
imaging systems. At low temperatures the transistors can act as
magnetic field tunable detectors.
Keywords: field effect transistor; plasma waves; terahertz
imaging; quantizing magnetic fields.
I. INTRODUCTION
A field effect transistor (FET) can act as a resonator for
plasma waves propagating in the channel. The plasma
frequency of this resonator depends on its dimensions, and for
gate lengths of a micron and sub-micron (nanometer) size can
reach the Terahertz (THz) range. The interest in the
applications of FETs for THz spectroscopy started at the
beginning of 90s with the pioneering theoretical work of
Dyakonov and Shur [1] who predicted that a steady current
flow in a FET channel can become unstable against generation
of the plasma waves. These waves can, in turn, lead to the
emission of the electromagnetic radiation at the plasma wave
frequency. This work was followed by another one where the
same authors have shown that the nonlinear properties of the
2D plasma in the transistor channel can be used for detection
of THz radiation [2]. THz emission in the nW power range
from submicron GaAs and GaN FETs has been observed both
at cryogenic as well as at room temperatures [3-5]. At the
moment, however, FET based THz microsources can not
compete with existing Quantum Cascade Lasers (QCL) or
Time Domain Spectroscopy (TDS) sources. It appeared,
nevertheless, that THz detection by FETs can be very
promising and close to practical applications. Recently, non-
resonant plasma properties were successfully used for the
room temperature broadband THz detection and imaging.
The possibility of the detection is due to nonlinear properties of
the transistor, which lead to the rectification of the ac current
induced by the incoming radiation. As a result, a photoresponse
appears in the form of a dc voltage between source and drain
which is proportional to the radiation intensity (photovoltaic
effect). The more information on the state of the art of the
FETs as the emitters and detectors can be found in review
papers [6, 7]. Here we present an overview of the main results
stressing the most recent achievements in THz detection by
FETs. We show that FETs are sensitive and fast enough to be
used to construct focal plane arrays of new type of THz
cameras. The paper is organized as follows: Section II
describes first results on imaging at 1.6 THz with room
temperature FETs [8, 9]. Section III concerns influence of
magnetic field on THz detection by FETs [10]. In Section IV
the studies of the sub-THz detection by SiliconCMOS of
different gate lengths are presented [11].

II. 1.6 THZ ROOM TEMPERATURE IMAGING WITH FETS
At room temperature, FETs can operate as efficient broadband
detectors of sub-THz radiation. Recently A. Lisauskas et al.
have reported the possibility of sub-THz (0.6 THz) imaging
with GaAs FET [12]. However, up to now there existed only a
very few results on imaging with FETs at frequencies above
1 THz [13]. This is because in broadband detection the
photovoltaic signal decreases strongly with increase of
radiation frequency because of a reduction in coupling
efficiency. Recently, two dimensional images obtained with
optically pumped molecular terahertz laser providing
continuous wave frequency (1.6 THz) using a GaAs FET
operating at room temperature [8,9].
The particularity of this work consisted in i) imaging with
single frequency above 1 THz to improve the spatial
resolution ii) studying the effect of applied drain-to-source
current on the contrast of the image. The images were
recorded in a transmission mode by raster scanning the sample
in X and Y directions.
.
Figure 1. 1.6 THz images of the metallic cross (in the left) and of
medicament tablet (in the right) in transmission mode at room temperature.
The two objects are placed into a postal envelope.

Figure 2. a) Top: experimental photoresponse as a function of the
magnetic field for Vg = 0.1 V high carrier density, at 4.2 K. Bottom:
calculations using Eq. (1) of Ref. 23. b) Same as in a) for lower electron
density (Vg = -0.125 V).
Using the same GaAs FET we have performed raster scan
THz image as shown in Fig. 1. We obtained (14.0 mm

19.0
mm) image consisting of 5677 pixels with integration time T
c
of 50 ms. The imaging speed was limited by XY mechanical
stage motion. Nevertheless, these experiments allow to state
that using GaAs FETs arrays to make video rate imaging
system (video rate we define as 20 frames per second) at room
temperature and at frequencies above 1 THz is possible [9].

III. DETECTION IN QUANTIZING MAGNETIC FIELDS
THz detection with InGaAs/InAlAs field effect transistors in
quantizing magnetic field was studied. The photovoltaic
detection signal was investigated as a function of the gate
voltage and magnetic field. Oscillations analogous to the
Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations as well as their strong
enhancement at the cyclotron resonance were observed. The
results are quantitatively described by a recent theory [10, 14].
Indeed, according to this theoretical work, the detection signal
from FET should have a strong oscillating component
resulting from the Landau quantization (Shubnikov-de Haas-
like effect). In the gated region of the channel, the plasma
waves can propagate only if the cyclotron resonance
frequency is lower than the radiation frequency. In the
opposite case the plasma oscillations rapidly decay. These two
effects should manifest themselves in the photoresponse under
magnetic field. It can be seen in Fig. 2 in which the
experiment and theory are compared. It is evident that the
theory describes correctly the influence of cyclotron resonance
and Shubnikov-de Haas effects on the photoresponse. One can
note also that in the low carrier density case the enhancement
of the signal at the cyclotron resonance condition is observed.
This phenomenon can lead to a new class of THz detectors -
selective and magnetic field tunable plasma wave detectors.
IV. DETECTION BY SI-MOSFETS
We studied sub-THz detection by silicon FETs. In this
particular material, because of low electron mobility and
relatively low incident frequency, plasma waves in the channel
are overdamped. As it was shown theoretically [7], in this case
the nonresonant detection depends on single parameter: the
characteristic length of the charge distribution decay l
c
.
In the case of short gate transistors, L
g
l
c
, the ac current
induced by the incident radiation goes through the gate-to-
channel capacitance practically uniformly on the whole gate
length, and only a part of the photoresponse dc voltage is built
up. In this case the total measured voltage is expected to
depend on the gate length. On the opposite, in the case of long
gate transistors with L
g
l
c
, the ac current will leak to the gate
before it achieves the drain, and the photoresponse is built up
only in a part of the transistor channel. In this case one expects
that the total measured voltage does not depend on the gate
length.
We studied fully depleted n-MOS transistors fabricated on
biaxially strained SOI. Studied devices had the channel width
W
g
=10 m. The gate length, L
g
was in the range from 50 nm
to 10 m. The channel depletion threshold voltage was near
0.2 V, and channel resistance decreases linearly with its
length. The photoresponse measurements were performed
using a Back Wave Oscillator (BWO) at 230 GHz with output
power of a few mW. Electric field of the incoming radiation
was polarized in parallel to the source-drain direction. The
radiation intensity was mechanically chopped and the open-
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
10
100
P
h
o
t
o
r
e
s
p
o
n
s
e

(
V
)
L
g
( nm)

Figure 3. Photoresponse of Si-MOSFETs as a function of the gate
length.
circuit source drain voltage was measured using a lock-in
technique. All measurements were done at room temperature.
Figure 3 shows the photoresponse of the FETs, with different
gate lengths (from 50 nm up to 500 nm). The black points are
experimental values of photoresponse, taken in the range of
the gate voltage swing where signal is in 1/U
0
shape
(broadband-detection theory). The solid curve is a fit of
experimental results with theory considering fixed critical
length l
c
= 100 nm [11]. One can see that the theoretical
estimation is in relatively good agreement with experimental
results.
In conclusion, we established, that for this type of detection
(broadband at low frequency regime) one can observe two
regions of detection : i) for short gate signal increases with the
gate length and ii) for long gates signal saturates at constant
maximal value. Our results show also that to obtain the
maximal detection the gate length should be at least 2-3 times
the characteristic plasma damping critical length l
c
. The results
allow to predict the parameters for the THz detectors based on
Si-MOSFETs technology. Because of their competitive NEP
and fast modulation frequency, these improved detectors could
be used in arrays for real time imaging applications at room
temperature (THz cameras) [15].

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We thank M. Dyakonov for help in experiments and
interpretation of the results that are reported in this review.
This work was supported by CNRS, the GDR-E project
Semiconductor sources and detectors of terahertz
frequencies. We acknowledge the ST Microelectronics for
providing the Si-MOSFETS and the support from European
Union Grant No. MTKD-CT-2005-029671. This work has
been supported also by PHC SAKURA Research and
Development of Terahertz Plasma-wave Transistors.


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