High-responsivity, low-noise, room-temperature, self-mixing terahertz detector realized using floating antennas on a GaN-based field-effect transistor

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Using only optical lithography, we have fabricated a GaN/AlGaN high-electron mobility transistor with distinctive source and drain antennas electrically isolated from the electron channel. Working at room temperature, it efficiently detects terahertz radiation via self-mixing, with a responsivity (3.6 kV/W) exceptionally high for a III-V device and with a noise (40pW/Hz) just above the thermal limit. Performance improves at 77 K. While the device itself is micrometer-sized, our modeling indicates the asymmetric antennas induce a rather localized (<200 nm) region of strong self-mixing. Thus, a nanometer-scale active region is achieved by design and without recourse to electron-beam lithography.