We report on the room-temperature electrical rectification at 1.5 THz of a unipolar nanodiode based on symmetry breaking in a nanochannel. The exploitation of its nonlinear diodelike characteristic and intrinsically low parasitic capacitance enables rectification at ultrahigh speed. The zero-voltage threshold and unique planar layout make the nanodiode suitable for building large arrays. This is the highest speed reported in nanorectifiers to date.
Unipolar nanodiodes, also known as self-switching devices, have recently been demonstrated as terahertz detectors at room temperature. Here, we study their low-frequency noise spectra and noise equivalent power and show that both performance parameters are comparable to those reported for state-of-the-art Schottky diodes. The truly planar nanodiode layout enables building structures with thousands of devices connected in parallel, which reduce low-frequency noise without affecting sensitivity. The observed 1/f noise can be described by Hooge's mobility fluctuation theory.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.