The first part of this work is focused on the design of compact and affordable integrated multi-band detectors in the terahertz range. The proposed receivers are designed to obtain information of different spectral ranges in a single measurement, reducing instrument cost, size, weight, and power consumption. To this aim, two dual-band direct detectors are proposed. The first one integrates the submillimetre wave range and the IR range, whilst the second one is intended to operate at the millimetre and submillimetre wave ranges. The second part of this work merge concepts and technologies from both, electronics and photonics domains and may be a good starting point for the creation of new silicon integrated heterodyne detectors.