The research progress and application of novel terahertz detectors

Yu-Ping ZHANG; Li-Bin TANG; Yu-Fei LIU; Kar Seng Teng; Gang WU; Wei-Da HU; Fu-Zhong HAN

doi:10.11972/j.issn.1001-9014.2020.02.007

Journals >Journal of Infrared and Millimeter Waves >Volume 39 >Issue 2 >Page 191 > Article

Journal of Infrared and Millimeter Waves
Vol. 39, Issue 2, 191 (2020)

The research progress and application of novel terahertz detectors

Yu-Ping ZHANG¹, Li-Bin TANG^1、*, Yu-Fei LIU², Kar Seng Teng^3、*, Gang WU¹, Wei-Da HU⁴, and Fu-Zhong HAN¹

Author Affiliations

¹Kunming Institute of Physics, Kunming650223, China

²Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Technology & Systems, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China,3. College of Engineering, Swansea University, Swansea SA1 8EN, United Kingdom,4. Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai00083, China

³[in Chinese]

⁴[in Chinese]

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DOI: 10.11972/j.issn.1001-9014.2020.02.007 Cite this Article

Yu-Ping ZHANG, Li-Bin TANG, Yu-Fei LIU, Kar Seng Teng, Gang WU, Wei-Da HU, Fu-Zhong HAN. The research progress and application of novel terahertz detectors[J]. Journal of Infrared and Millimeter Waves, 2020, 39(2): 191 Copy Citation Text

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Fig. 1. Spectrum distribution of electromagnetic waves

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Fig. 2. The system diagram of terahertz detectors

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Fig. 3. Schematic diagrams illustrating the mechanism of terahertz detectors^[12,16,18]

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Fig. 4. The schematic diagram of typical terahertz detectors (a) electro-optic crystal terahertz detector^[78];, (b) Golay cell terahertz detector^[83], (c) pyroelectric terahertz detector^[79], (d) bolometer terahertz detector^[54], (e) Schottky diode structure diagram^[89], (f) Schottky junction terahertz detector^[79]

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Fig. 5. (a) Superconducting film terahertz detector^[7], (b) 2DEG terahertz detector^[36] , (c) carbon nanotube terahertz detector^[36], (d) GaN/AlGaN 2DEG terahertz detector^[50], (e) MoSe₂ Terahertz detector^[34], (f) Graphene terahertz detector^[38], (g) BP terahertz detector^[42], (h) Topological insulator terahertz detector^[94], (i) MoS₂ terahertz detector^[43]

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Fig. 6. Schematic diagrams of different terahertz antennas, (a) dual polarized leaky lens antenna^[112],（b）logarithmic-periodic antenna^[73], (c) metal-level antenna^[107], (d) photoconductive antenna^[113], (e) logarithmic spiral antenna^[114], (f) planar double slot antenna^[106], (g) the terahertz detector integrated with a square-spiral antenna^[114], (h) bow-tie antennas^[115]

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Fig. 7. The different applications of terahertz detectors

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Material	Material characteristics	Form of detector	Detector characteristics	Ref.
GaAs	Low temperature growth, high electron mobility, high carrier density	Photoconductive antenna, Schottky diode, field effect transistor	Cooling, high sensitivity	^{[3,21,22,23,24,25,26]}
GaN	Large band gap, strong polarization effect, high electron density	Field effect transistor	Room temperature， respond quickly	^[24,50,51]
InP	Low temperature growth	Schottky diode, field effect transistor	Cooling, high sensitivity	^[3,23]
NbN	High resistance temperature absorption, strong absorption of terahertz waves	Bolometer，superconducting tunnel junction	High sensitivity	^[52,53,54]
InN	High carrier drift velocity, low interval scattering rate	Nanowire field effect transistor	Room temperature, high sensitivity	^[55]
GaP	Nonlinear optical properties	Hybrid waveguide detection	Room temperature, high sensitivity	^[56]
Si	Mature preparation process	Bolometer，field effect transistor	Room temperature	^[57,58]
Bi	Low residual stress, high thermal expansion coefficient	Field effect transistor	Wide spectrum range	^[59]
VO_x	High resistivity and temperature coefficient of resistance, low noise	Bolometer	Wide spectrum range, high sensitivity	^[60,61,62]
Carbon nanotubes	Narrow band gap, high carrier mobility	Field effect transisto	Room temperature, high sensitivity, wide spectrum range, compact	^[1,32,38]
ZnO	High UV and visible light transmission, high near-infrared reflection, forbidden bandwidth, high mobility	Nanowire field effect transistor	Room temperature	^[63,64]
AlGaAs	Easy to form a heterojunction with GaAs	quantum well, heterojunction field effect transistor	Room temperature, high response rate	^{[22,25,26,65,66]}
InGaAs	High carrier mobility	Schottky diode	Room temperature, high response rate	^[67,68]
InAs	High electron mobility value at room temperature, long electron mean free path	InAs nanowire field effect transistor	Wide spectrum range, room temperature	^[69,70]
LiTaO₃	Pyroelectricity, nonlinear optical performance, low dielectric constant, high Curie temperature	Pyroelectric	Low sensitivity, wide spectrum range	^[28]
Graphene	High carrier mobility, zero band gap	Field effect transistor	Room temperature, compact, high sensitivity, narrow spectrum range	^{[1,27,37,71,72,73]}
MoS₂	High carrier mobility	Field effect transistor	Room temperature, high sensitivity	^[34]
BP	High carrier mobility, band gap between graphene and MoS₂	Field effect transistor	Room temperature, high sensitivity	^[45]

Table 1. List of materials for terahertz detectors

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Detector	Materials	Characteristics	Ref.
Golay cell	-	Operating at room temperature, simple structure, susceptible to vibration, frequency bandwidth, typical NEP～10^-10㎝/Hz^1/2	^[75]
Photoconductive	ZnTe, GaP, DAST	Short response time, detection frequency bandwidth, detection sensitivity and high signal-to-noise ratio, typical NEP～10^-15㎝/Hz^1/2	^[3,8]
Pyroelectric	LiTaO_3, LiNbO_3, DTGS	Low sensitivity, simple structure, room temperature operation, low cost, detection modulation terahertz radiation or pulse radiation, detection frequency bandwidth, typical NEP～10^-9㎝/Hz^1/2	^{[8,28,29,30,31]}
Bolometer	Vox, Bi, Si, Ge, NbN	High sensitivity, required cooling environment, large volume, high cost, detection frequency bandwidth, typical NEP～10^-10㎝/Hz^1/2	^{[52,53,54,75,76]}
Schottky	GaAs, Si, InP	High sensitivity, fast response, low detection frequency (less than 1THz), room temperature operation, narrow detection frequency band, typical NEP～10^-10㎝/Hz^1/2	^[8,56,77]
FET	GaAs, GaN, InP, NbN, GaP, Si, Bi, Carbon nanotubes, ZnO, AlGaAs, InAs, Graphene, MoS₂, BP	Rich in materials, work at room temperature, diversified devices, easy to form arrays, minimum NEP～10^-20㎝/Hz^1/2（4.3K）	^{[1,24,32,42,50,51,53,55,} ^{57,60-61,63,69,71,75]}

Table 2. List of typical terahertz detectors and its characteristics

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Name	Detection medium	Characteristics
CT, X-ray examination	X-ray	High spatial resolution, strong ionization damage to cells
B-scan ultrasonography	Ultrasonic	Low cost, low resolution, low signal to noise ratio
MRI	Magnetic field	No ionization damage, safety, complex equipment structure, high cost

Table 3. Common medical imaging techniques

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Number	Company	Product	Application fields	Remarks
1	Bring Technology Development Co., Ltd.	Cool Guardian terahertz human body security instrument	Safety check of entry and exit of border crossings, government agencies, airports, terminals, stations, large cultural and sports venues, commercial centers and high-risk warehouse security checkpoints	Independent research and development
2	Beijing Aerospace Yi Lian Technology Development Co., Ltd.	Passive terahertz body safety detector	Mobile security checkpoint; personnel security check in different scenarios	Independent research and development
3	Xiao Xiao (Shanghai) Photonics Technology Co., Ltd.	Terahertz system: terahertz power meter, Gallery detector, terahertz photoconductive antenna, real-domain spectral system, terahertz light source, wafer, window, etc	Terahertz system	Agency of European and American
4	Beijing Xun Tianyu Photoelectric Technology Co., Ltd.	Terahertz system and terahertz component	Cultural relics protection, paint testing, industrial process control, nondestructive testing for space shuttles and aircraft, hand-held nondestructive testing systems, lasers	Agency of European and American
5	Anhui Bo micro terahertz Mdt InfoTech Ltd	“TeraSnap” Terahertz body safety detector	Human security checks on various occasions	Independent research and development
6	Huaxun Ark Technology Co., Ltd.	Active cylindrical millimeter wave human body security instrument	Airports, stations, government agencies, prison detention centers, libraries, gymnasiums, etc.	Independent research and development
7	Youshi (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd.	Terahertz camera (two-dimensional array), terahertz imaging scanner, terahertz source, terahertz optics, terahertz detector	Non-destructive testing for industrial applications（NDT）and quality control（QC）	Acting for TeraSense products from TeraSense, USA
8	Shanghai Love It Photoelectric Technology Co., Ltd.	Terahertz vector network analyzer, terahertz source, terahertz detector, terahertz isolator, terahertz filter, terahertz attenuator, terahertz directional coupler, terahertz antenna, etc.	Terahertz system integrated service	R&D and agency
9	Truth Hz Technology Co., Ltd.	Terahertz source, terahertz sensing device, terahertz system, terahertz function device and accessories	Terahertz device, system	Product agent
10	Meikerui Technology Co., Ltd.	Terahertz material: vanadium dioxide phase change film; terahertz device: zero parametric diode, subharmonic mixer, terahertz antiparallel diode; 110GHz, 140GHz terahertz solid state source	Manufacture of terahertz devices, construction of terahertz systems	Independent research and development

Table 4. List of domestic company and its terahertz products

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