PFI:AIR - TT: Low Cost Integrated Plasma Wave THz Detector for Ultra-Fast Pulses of THz Radiation.

PFI:AIR - TT：用于超快太赫兹辐射脉冲的低成本集成等离子体波太赫兹探测器。

• 批准号: 1445042
• 负责人: Mona Hella
• 金额: $ 19.9万
• 依托单位: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-08-15 至 2018-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1445042&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: PFI; AIR; TT; Low; Cost

This PFI: Accelerating Innovation Research (AIR) Technology Translation (TT) project focuses on translating advances in terahertz (THz) electronics technology to fill the need for simple, low cost, and reliable room temperature detectors of pulsed terahertz radiation, equivalent to photodiodes. Due to the ability of THz waves to penetrate through barrier materials (clothes, packaging, etc.), and to perform non-contact and non-ionizing testing, THz systems are positioned to compete with more hazardous and less sensitive technologies like X-rays and will allow resolving images that other technologies cannot resolve. The proposed system based on THz detection would enable the development of new nanostructured THz devices with applications in homeland security, biotechnology, and medicine.The project will result in a low-cost commercial prototype of the terahertz plasma-wave SOC (system on chip) detector. The device will feature a wide spectral range (0.3-3 THz), an improved time resolution by optimizing device packaging and building integrated signal processing elements, which would allow logic operations with multiple terahertz pulses, such as measuring delays between pulses and extracting pulse position modulation information. This will extend the feasibility of such devices to the emerging fields of THz communication and THz logic systems. Traditional detectors of terahertz radiation include pyroelectric detectors and bolometers, which are very slow (typically within Hz or kHz bandwidth). Such systems are acceptable for measuring the average THz power, but unable to resolve short individual pulses. Existing fast Schottky diode based detectors didn't receive wide acceptance in short pulse terahertz applications due to their static sensitivity and low electrical breakdown thresholds. The proposed device addresses these issues in a silicon integrated platform. While the terahertz spectrum has a great potential for applications in imaging, sensing, spectroscopy, and ultra-broadband wireless communications, realizing this potential requires lowering the equipment cost and size and developing highly efficient, fast, and compact sources and detectors. The proposed integrated SOC plasma wave detector system will be uniquely suited for the THz market. The development of such prototype will include: (1) Design and fabrication of integrated amplifier for RF coupling of the detector output with transient digitizer module with an RF bandwidth up to 50 GHz. (2) Design and fabrication of integrated terahertz antenna for the active element and collimating lens for optimization of THz radiation coupling efficiency, and increase of effective terahertz cross section of the detector. (3) Design of integrated data acquisition module. The project engages industry, foundries, and university venture development organization to augment research capability, provide test environment, and guide the commercialization aspects in this technology translation effort from research discovery toward commercial reality. Furthermore, the students involved in the project, will take an entrepreneurship course, which, in addition to the courses offered by the Lally School of Business at RPI, will have a directed study course offered by the PIs. The students supported by the project will also receive a 3 hours mini course followed by a pass-fail test on IP, and they will be strongly encouraged to participate in business plan competitions at RPI.

该PFI：加速创新研究（AIR）技术翻译（TT）项目的重点是翻译Terahertz（THZ）电子技术的进步，以满足对脉冲Terahertz辐射的简单，低成本和可靠的室温检测器的需求，相当于PhotoDiode。由于THZ波通过屏障材料（衣服，包装等）穿透并执行非接触式和非电离测试的能力，因此将THZ系统定位为与更危险且较不敏感的技术（如X射线）竞争，并允许解决其他技术无法解决的图像。基于THZ检测的拟议系统将使新的纳米结构的THZ设备在国土安全，生物技术和医学中的应用开发。该项目将导致Terahertz Plasma-Wave SOC（芯片上的系统）检测器的低成本商业原型。该设备将采用宽光谱范围（0.3-3 THz），这是通过优化设备包装和构建集成信号处理元件的改进时间分辨率，这将允许具有多个Terahertz脉冲的逻辑操作，例如测量脉冲之间的延迟和提取脉冲位置调制信息。这将把此类设备的可行性扩展到THZ通信和THZ逻辑系统的新兴领域。 Terahertz辐射的传统探测器包括高电探测器和辐射计，它们非常缓慢（通常在HZ或KHz带宽内）。这样的系统是可以接受的，用于测量平均THZ功率，但无法解析简短的单个脉冲。现有的Fast Schottky二极管探测器由于其静态灵敏度和低电故障阈值，因此在短脉冲Terahertz应用中没有得到广泛的接受。所提出的设备在硅集成平台中解决了这些问题。尽管Terahertz频谱具有在成像，传感，光谱和超宽带无线通信方面的应用潜力，但意识到这种潜力需要降低设备成本和尺寸，并开发高效，快速，紧凑，紧凑的来源和探测器。 拟议的综合SOC等离子体波检测器系统将非常适合THZ市场。此类原型的开发将包括：（1）设计和制造集成放大器，用于与瞬态数字化模块的RF输出的RF耦合，其RF带宽高达50 GHz。 （2）设计和制造综合的Terahertz天线，用于活性元件，并使透镜优化THZ辐射偶联效率，并增加检测器的有效Terahertz横截面。 （3）集成数据采集模块的设计。 该项目涉及行业，铸造厂和大学风险发展组织，以增强研究能力，提供测试环境，并指导从研究发现到商业现实的技术翻译工作中的商业化方面。此外，参与该项目的学生还将参加企业家课程，除了RPI的Lally商学院提供的课程外，还将提供PIS提供的指导学习课程。该项目支持的学生还将获得3个小时的迷你课程，然后在IP上进行通行测试，并强烈鼓励他们参加RPI的商业计划比赛。