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

这个PFI：加速创新研究(AIR)技术转化(TT)项目专注于转化太赫兹(THz)电子技术的进步，以满足对简单、低成本和可靠的脉冲太赫兹辐射室温探测器的需求，相当于光电二极管。由于太赫兹波能够穿透屏障材料(衣服、包装等)，并执行非接触和非电离测试，太赫兹系统处于与更危险、更不敏感的技术(如X射线)竞争的地位，并将允许解析其他技术无法解析的图像。基于太赫兹探测的拟议系统将有助于开发新的纳米结构太赫兹器件，应用于国土安全、生物技术和医学。该项目将导致太赫兹等离子体波SOC(片上系统)探测器的低成本商业原型。该设备将具有宽频谱范围(0.3-3太赫兹)，通过优化设备封装和构建集成信号处理元件提高时间分辨率，这将允许对多太赫兹脉冲进行逻辑操作，例如测量脉冲之间的延迟和提取脉冲位置调制信息。这将把这种器件的可行性扩展到THz通信和THz逻辑系统的新兴领域。传统的太赫兹辐射探测器包括热释电探测器和测辐射热计，它们非常慢(通常在赫兹或千赫带宽内)。这种系统对于测量平均太赫兹功率是可以接受的，但不能分辨短的单个脉冲。现有的基于肖特基二极管的快速探测器由于其静态灵敏度和较低的电击穿阈值，在短脉冲太赫兹应用中没有得到广泛的接受。建议的设备在硅集成平台中解决了这些问题。虽然太赫兹频谱在成像、传感、光谱学和超宽带无线通信方面具有巨大的应用潜力，但实现这一潜力需要降低设备成本和尺寸，并开发高效、快速和紧凑的源和探测器。建议的集成SOC等离子波探测器系统将独一无二地适合太赫兹市场。该样机的研制将包括：(1)设计和制造集成放大器，用于探测器输出与射频带宽高达50 GHz的暂态数字化模块的射频耦合。(2)为优化太赫兹辐射耦合效率，提高探测器的有效太赫兹散射截面，设计并制作了有源元件和准直透镜的集成太赫兹天线。(3)综合数据采集模块的设计。该项目邀请行业、铸造厂和大学风险开发组织来增强研究能力，提供测试环境，并引导这项技术转化工作中的商业化方面从研究发现转向商业现实。此外，参与该项目的学生将参加一门创业课程，除了RPI的拉利商学院提供的课程外，还将有一门由私人投资机构提供的定向学习课程。该项目支持的学生还将获得一个3小时的迷你课程，然后是一个IP及格测试，并将强烈鼓励他们参加RPI的商业计划比赛。

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.