Symmetric bow-tie diode for terahertz detection based on transverse hot-carrier transport

Room temperature terahertz detection based on the transverse transport of hot electrons in symmetric bow-tie diode was demonstrated and studied in this work. More than an order of magnitude improvement was achieved in detector responsivity and noise equivalent power compared to the previously reported bow-tie diodes of the asymmetric design. High detection efficiency is based on the electric field enhancement in the active part of the symmetric diode, as well as on reducing the device resistance and improved impedance matching between the detector and integrated bow-tie antenna. Hydrodynamic modeling was verified by the ensemble Monte Carlo simulations. Ways to further improve the performance of the symmetric hot-carrier detector are discussed.