Abstract: For decades, silicon has been the chief technological semiconducting material of modern microelectronics and has a strong influence on all aspects of the society. Applications of Si-based optoelectronic devices are limited to the visible and near infrared (IR) ranges. For photons with an energy less than 1.12 eV, silicon is almost transparent. The expansion of the Si absorption to shorter wavelengths of the IR range is of considerable interest for optoelectronic applications. By creating impurity states in Si, it is possible to cause sub-bandgap photon absorption. Herein, an elegant and effective technology of extending the photo-response of Si toward the IR range is presented. This approach is based on the use of Ag 2 S quantum dots (QDs) planted on the surface of Si to create impurity states in the Si bandgap. The specific sensitivity of the room temperature zero-bias Si_Ag 2 Sp detector is 10 11 cm Hz W 1 at 1.55 μm. Given the variety of available QDs and the ease of extending the photo-response of Si toward the IR range, these findings open a path toward future studies and development of Si detectors for technological applications. The current research at the interface of physics and chemistry is also of fundamental importance to the development of Si optoelectronics.

Abstract: In this paper we report on the results of investigation of efficiency of a microwave reflectometry for readout of a terahertz multipixel Schottky diode direct detector. Decent capabilities of the microwave reflectometry readout were earlier justified by us for a hot electron bolometric direct detector. In case of a planar Schottky diode, we observed increase of an optical noise equivalent power by a factor of 2 compared to that measured within a conventional readout scheme. For implementation of a multipixel camera, a microwave reflectometer is to be used to readout each row of the camera, and the row switching is to be maintained by a CMOS analog multiplexer. The diodes within a row have to be equipped with filters to distribute the probing microwave signal properly. The simultaneous use of analog multiplexing and microwave reflectometry enables to reduce the camera response time by a factor of its number of columns.

Abstract: In this paper, we report on the results of the study of the Ti/Au/n-GaAs planar Schottky diodes (PSD) intended for the wideband detection of terahertz radiation. The two types of the PSD devices were compared having either the dual n/n+ silicon dopant profile or the triple one with a moderately doped matching sublayer inserted. All the diodes demonstrated no noticeable temperature dependence of ideality factors and barrier heights, whose values covered the ranges of 1.15–1.50 and 0.75–0.85 eV, respectively. We observed the lowering of the flat band barrier height of ∼80 meV after introducing the matching sublayer into the GaAs sandwich. For both the devices types, the series resistance value as low as 20 Ω was obtained. To extract the total parasitic capacitance, we performed the Y-parameters analysis within the electromagnetic modeling of the PSD's behavior via the finite-element method. The capacitance values of 12–12.2 fF were obtained and further verified by measuring the diodes' response voltages in the frequency range of 400–480 GHz. We also calculated the AC current density distribution within the layered structures similar to those being experimentally studied. It was demonstrated that insertion of the moderately Si-doped matching sublayer might be beneficial for implementation of a PSD intended for the operation within the ‘super-THz’ frequency range.