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Terahertz integrated electronic and hybrid electronic–photonic systems

Nature Electronics volume 1, pages 622–635 (2018)Cite this article

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Abstract

The field of terahertz integrated technology has undergone significant development in the past ten years. This has included work on different substrate technologies such as III–V semiconductors and silicon, work on field-effect transistor devices and heterojunction bipolar devices, and work on both fully electronic and hybrid electronic–photonic systems. While approaches in electronic and photonics can often seem distinct, techniques have blended in the terahertz frequency range and many emerging systems can be classified as photonics-inspired or hybrid. Here, we review the development of terahertz integrated electronic and hybrid electronic–photonic systems, examining, in particular, advances that deliver important functionalities for applications in communication, sensing and imaging. Many of the advances in integrated systems have emerged, not from improvements in single devices, but rather from new architectures that are multifunctional and reconfigurable and break the trade-offs of classical approaches to electronic system design. We thus focus on these approaches to capture the diversity of techniques and methodologies in the field.

The frequency range of 0.1–3.0 THz, which is sandwiched between microwave frequencies at the lower end and optical frequencies at the higher end, has, in the past, been referred to as the terahertz (THz) gap. This was primarily due to lack of efficient methods for generating or detecting signals in this frequency range1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9. Over the past few decades, THz systems research has taken a major step forward with the development of laser-based technologies for the generation and detection of THz signals. In these systems, femtosecond lasers combined with ultrafast lightwave-to-THz converters, such as photoconductive antennas and nonlinear optical crystals, are used for both the emitter (transmitter) and detector (receiver). The emergence of this optics-based approach in the late 1980s dramatically lowered the bar for THz measurements for many researchers. Yet, compared with integrated circuits, these optical systems are bulky and expensive. Thus, while promising a wide range of applications in sensing, imaging and communication8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16, the THz spectrum has not yet delivered on such potential due to a lack of low-cost, portable, efficient technologies.

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Fig. 1: Integrated THz systems and the technology landscape.
Fig. 2: High-frequency limits of solid-state devices and THz signal generation.
Fig. 3: THz sources and systems in silicon.
Fig. 4: THz sensors and receivers in silicon.
Fig. 5: Photonics-inspired passive and active THz components.
Fig. 6: Electronic–photonic hybrid THz systems.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the National Science Foundation, Office of Naval Research, the Army Research Office, the W. M. Keck Foundation, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) Japan and the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) for funding and all the group members of technical inputs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA

    Kaushik Sengupta

  2. Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan

    Tadao Nagatsuma

  3. School of Engineering, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA

    Daniel M. Mittleman

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  1. Kaushik Sengupta
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  3. Daniel M. Mittleman
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Sengupta, K., Nagatsuma, T. & Mittleman, D.M. Terahertz integrated electronic and hybrid electronic–photonic systems. Nat Electron 1, 622–635 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-018-0173-2

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