Terahertz Focal Plane Arrays Research Articles

Terahertz focal plane array, camera and imageries

Terahertz focal plane array, camera and imageries

Inexpensive THz Focal Plane Array Imaging Using Miniature Neon Indicator Lamps as Detectors

Development of focal plane arrays (FPAs) for mm wavelength and THz radiation is presented in this paper. The FPA is based upon inexpensive neon indicator lamp Glow Discharge Detectors (GDDs) that serve as pixels in the FPA. It was shown in previous investigations that inexpensive neon indicator lamp GDDs are quite sensitive to mm wavelength and THz radiation. The diameters of GDD lamps are typically 3-6 mm and thus the FPA can be diffraction limited. Development of an FPA using such devices as detectors is advantageous since the costs of such a lamp is around 30-50 cents per lamp, and it is a room temperature detector sufficiently fast for video frame rates. Recently, a new 8 × 8 GDD FPA VLSI control board was designed, constructed, and experimentally tested. First, THz images using this GDD FPA are given in this paper. By moving around the 8 × 8 pixel board appropriately in the image plane, 32 × 32 pixel images are also obtained and shown here, with much improved image quality because of much reduced pixelization distortion.

Terahertz detectors and focal plane arrays

AbstractTerahertz (THz) technology is one of emerging technologies that will change our life. A lot of attractive applications in security, medicine, biology, astronomy, and non-destructive materials testing have been demonstrated already. However, the realization of THz emitters and receivers is a challenge because the frequencies are too high for conventional electronics and the photon energies are too small for classical optics. As a result, THz radiation is resistant to the techniques commonly employed in these well established neighbouring bands.In the paper, issues associated with the development and exploitation of THz radiation detectors and focal plane arrays are discussed. Historical impressive progress in THz detector sensitivity in a period of more than half century is analyzed. More attention is put on the basic physical phenomena and the recent progress in both direct and heterodyne detectors. After short description of general classification of THz detectors, more details concern Schottky barrier diodes, pair braking detectors, hot electron mixers and field-effect transistor detectors, where links between THz devices and modern technologies such as micromachining are underlined. Also, the operational conditions of THz detectors and their upper performance limits are reviewed. Finally, recent advances in novel nanoelectronic materials and technologies are described. It is expected that applications of nanoscale materials and devices will open the door for further performance improvement in THz detectors.

Performance and performance variations of sub-1 THz detectors fabricated with 0.15 [micro sign]m CMOS foundry process

Antenna-coupled field-effect transistors were integrated as multi-pixel (5×10) detector arrays for electromagnetic radiation between 550 and 600 GHz using commercial 0.15 µm CMOS process technology. Reported is a minimum optical noise-equivalent-power (NEP) of 43 pW/√Hz and a maximum (capacitive-loading-limited) optical responsivity of 970 V/W (both values averaged). An electrical NEP of 9 pW/√Hz is estimated. Inter-chip variations are analysed with a set of 15 samples showing a low standard deviation of less than 8% for both responsivity and NEP at the optimum operation point. Intra-chip variation is low for non-edge pixels. Both the very good NEP values and the low variations indicate that a cost-efficient CMOS process is well suitable for reliable fabrication of multi-pixel terahertz focal plane arrays.

Uncooled bolometer-type Terahertz focal plane array and camera for real-time imaging

Abstract Real-time Terahertz (THz) imaging technologies which make use of uncooled bolometer-type infrared focal plane arrays (FPAs) and quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) will be reviewed. A description of how THz focal plane array and THz imagers have been developed on the basis of infrared technologies, especially the improvement in both THz sensitivity of bolometer-type FPA and THz transmittance of materials for lens and vacuum package window will be given. Characteristics of 320 × 240 THz-FPA, such as relation of noise equivalent power (NEP) to wavelength and real-time THz imageries will be presented. One of the imageries indicates that THz technology is promising for label-free detection of reaction of small molecules with proteins.

A Novel Approach for Improving Off-Axis Pixel Performance of Terahertz Focal Plane Arrays

We present an antenna engineering approach to significantly improve off-axis detection properties of terahertz focal plane arrays (FPAs) behind an extended-hemispherical lens. In particular, antennas in the off-axis pixels in a large FPA were redesigned to exhibit tilted receiving patterns. The new antenna structure corrects for beam distortions in off-axis sensors due to the small lens size. Specifically, this approach is well suited for monolithic antenna structures integrated with high-sensitivity heterostructure backward diodes. Although the approach is demonstrated for 100- and 500-GHz FPAs, the presented technique is equally applicable to other planar antenna topologies and sensor materials that operate well into the terahertz regime. In addition, standard RF impedance-matching techniques were used to improve responsivity performance of the diode-coupled FPAs. The beam-correction techniques allow for a factor-of-5 larger size FPA for a fixed lens size. We also note that a tradeoff between Gaussicity and directivity becomes necessary for larger lenses. Thus, increasing the size of the FPA, without resorting to increasing the lens size, enables improved coupling efficiencies (Gaussicity) as well as better pixel resolution (directivity).

Imaging the coupling of terahertz radiation to a high electron mobility transistor in the near-field

We used AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors as room-temperature direct detectors of radiation at 0.15 THz from a free electron laser, hence 5 times higher than their cutoff frequency of 30 GHz. By near-field active mapping we investigated the antenna-like coupling of the radiation to the transistor channel. We formulate a model for the detection based on self-mixing in the transistor channel. The noise equivalent power is found in the range of 10^{-7} W/Hz^{0.5} without any optimization of the device responsivity. Present day AlGaN/GaN fabrication technology may provide operation at higher frequency, integration of amplifiers for improved responsivity and fast switches for multiplexing, which make the detector here described the basic element of a monolithic terahertz focal plane array.