Institute of High Pressure Physics

Research Project (Harmonia)

Terahertz plasma instabilities in nitrides nanostructures

Based on the decision of the Director of National Science Centre (Poland) No. 2013/10/M/ST3/00705

Principal Investigator Prof. Czesław Skierbiszewski

Realization period

Project started: 2014-05-07         finished:              2017-05-06

Abstract

Nanometer semiconductor structures may serve as resonators for plasma excitations [1]. The fundamental frequency f of these resonator depends on their dimensions. Structures with dimension L ~10^-6 m or less, f can reach the terahertz frequency (THz = 10¹² Hz) range, since f ~ s/L, and velocity of plasma waves s ~10⁶ m/s. It was shown that a steady current flow can lead to instability against the spontaneous generation of plasma waves in the gated part of the nanostructure (“shallow water instability”) [1]. In the beginning of years 2000 theoretical predictions have been partially confirmed by first experiments shown THz emission and detection. However all observed resonant phenomena were much broader than theoretically predicted. Also in many cases the observed emission was not resonant and not voltage tunable. The basic physics questions about completeness of the theoretical model and existence of other types of instabilities have arisen.

Research project objectives/Hypothesis? There are two main scientific problems aimed to be solved by the proposed project: first i) explain the physical reasons of unusual plasma wave resonance broadening (or complete lack of resonances) observed in nanometer sized nanostructures [2] and second ii) the existence of other type of plasma instabilities like ungated region instability (“deep water instability”) [3] and gate edge instability (“white water instability”) [4]. Until now all these problems are just roughly identified theoretically [2, 3, 4]. This project will address them through the basic experimental research providing the results enabling development a full/complete theoretical model.

Why Nitrides nanostructures? Nitrides based nanometer field effect transistors are chosen as the best experimental system because in the preliminary experiments they are the only transistors that have shown both plasma wave related THz detection and emission. In THz emission conversion efficiency is relatively low. High power levels handled by nitrides give more efficient THz emission making easier experimental investigations. This is crucial for investigations of different plasma instabilities. Research methodology? The essence of the project is experimental study of high quality GaN based nanostructures of different geometry. The project aims to i) fabricate by MBE (Molecular Beam Epitaxy) high mobility two dimensional electron gas (2DEG) basing on GaN/AlGaN heterostructures, ii) process nanometer size transistor structures of different architectures and iii) to study systematically how plasma THz oscillations in these structures depend on their specific architecture. Study as a function of the channel length, gate length and width should provide a proof of validity/existence (or not?) of three recently predicted [2, 3, 4] physical phenomena: i) oblique modes broadening? ii) plasmon leakage broadening? iii) “deep water” and “white water” plasma instabilities?

Timeliness and novelty comes from combination of recently developed fields of research: Terahertz Plasma instabilities in low dimensional systems, science of nanostructures, and Nitrides material science. Approach proposed in this project is pioneering because it will combine for the first time very strong MBE technology (growth and processing at the main partner side - Poland) with modeling and high level experimental investigations of THz plasma emission and detection at the foreign partner laboratory in France –who is a leader in the domain.

Research project impact? We expect that the project will have very high impact on the research field and discipline because it will answer the main question: are the plasma resonances and instabilities in the nanometer semiconductor structures possible and in which physical conditions (border conditions, material properties, geometry etc.) they can reach high quality factors. Understanding of the mechanism of broadening should also allow us to define the nanostructures useful for THz spectroscopy and imaging in security, quality control or medical applications and therefore they can have important economic and societal impact in the future.

International collaboration may be partially based on the COST MP1204 action “TERA-MIR Radiation: Materials, Generation, Detection and Applications”. In this action both partners are members of the COST MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE. The international partner L2C has required experience, skills and equipment to model and characterize experimentally the nitrides based nanostructures for terahertz plasma instability. The Polish partner has complementary experience, skills and equipment in fabrication (growth and processing) of the high quality nitrides based nanostructures. The partners are complementary and are leaders in their research domains .Project HARMONIA will allow starting new close collaboration and initiating new scientific domain in Poland “Physics of plasma instabilities in semiconductor nanostructures”.

[l] M. I. Dyakonov, M. S. Shur, Shallow water analogy for a ballistic field effect transistor: New mechanism of plasma wave generation by dc current, Phys. Rev. Lett. 71, 2465 (1993)

[2] V. V. Popov, O. V. Polischuk, W. Knap, Broadening of the plasmon resonance due to plasmon-plasmon intermode scattering in terahertz high-electron-mobility transistors, Appl. Phys. Lett. 93, 263503 (2008)

[3] M. I. Dyakonov, et al, Current instability and plasma waves generation in ungated two-dimensional electron layers, Appl. Phys. Lett. 87, 111501 (2005)

Publications

1.    3-D-Printed Flat Optics for THz Linear Scanners,
Jaroslaw Suszek, Agnieszka Siemion, Marcin S. Bieda,Narcyz Błocki, Dominique Coquillat, Grzegorz Cywiński, Elżbieta Czerwińska, Marta Doch, Adam Kowalczyk, Norbert Palka, Artur Sobczyk, Przemysław Zagrajek, Marcin Zaremba, Andrzej Kolodziejczyk, Wojciech Knap, and Maciej Sypek
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON TERAHERTZ SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, Volume 5, Issue 2, Pages: 314-316 (2015)
IF 2.177
2.    AlGaN/GaN HEMT's photoresponse to high intensity THz radiation,
N. Dyakonova, D.B. But, D. Coquillat, W. Knap, C. Drexler, P. Olbrich, J. Karch, M. Schafberger, S.D. Ganichev, G. Ducournau, C. Gaquiere, M.−A. Poisson, S. Delage, G. Cywinski, C. Skierbiszewski
OPTO-ELECTRONICS REVIEW, Volume 23, Issue 3, Pages: 195-199 (2015)
IF 1.449
3.    Silicon junctionless field effect transistors as room temperature terahertz detectors,
J. Marczewski, W. Knap, D. Tomaszewski, M. Zaborowski, and P. Zagrajek
JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS 118, 104502 (2015)
IF 2.068
4.    Black Phosphorus Terahertz Photodetectors,
Leonardo Viti, Jin Hu, Dominique Coquillat, Wojciech Knap, Alessandro Tredicucci, Antonio Politano, and Miriam Serena Vitiello
ADVANCED MATERIALS, Volume 27, Issue 37, Pages: 5567-5572 (2015)
IF 19.791
5.    Pressure- and temperature-driven phase transitions in HgTe quantum wells,
S. S. Krishtopenko, I. Yahniuk, D. B. But, V. I. Gavrilenko, W. Knap, and F. Teppe
PHYSICAL REVIEW B 94, 245402 (2016)
IF 3.836
6.    Saturation of photoresponse to intense THz radiation in AlGaN/GaN HEMT detector,
N. Dyakonova, P. Faltermeier, D. B. But, D. Coquillat, S. D. Ganichev, W. Knap, K. Szkudlarek, and G. Cywinski
JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS 120, 164507 (2016)
IF 2.068
7.    Plasma-Wave Terahertz Detection Mediated by Topological Insulators Surface States,
Leonardo Viti, Dominique Coquillat, Antonio Politano, Konstantin A. Kokh, Ziya S. Aliev, Mahammad B. Babanly, Oleg E. Tereshchenko, Wojciech Knap, Evgueni V. Chulkov, and Miriam S. Vitiello
NANO LETTERS, Volume 16, Issue 1, Pages: 80-87 (2016)
IF 12.712
8.    Terahertz 3D printed diffractive lens matrices for field-effect transistor detector focal plane arrays,
Krzesimir Szkudlarek, Maciej Sypek, Grzegorz Cywiński, Jarosław Suszek, Przemysław Zagrajek, Anna Feduniewicz-Żmuda, Ivan Yahniuk, Sergey Yatsunenko, Anna Nowakowska-Siwińska, Dominique Coquillat, Dmytro B. But, Martyna Rachoń, Karolina Węgrzyńska, Czesław Skierbiszewski, and Wojciech Knap
OPTICS EXPRESS, Volume 24, Issue 18, Pages: 20119-20131 (2016)
IF 3.307
9.    Low frequency noise in two-dimensional lateral GaN/AlGaN Schottky diodes,
Grzegorz Cywiński, Krzesimir Szkudlarek, Piotr Kruszewski, Ivan Yahniuk, Sergey Yatsunenko, Grzegorz Muzioł, Czesław Skierbiszewski, Wojciech Knap, Sergey L. Rumyantsev
APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS 109, 033502 (2016)
IF 3.411
10.    MBE grown GaN/AlGaN lateral Schottky barrier diodes for high frequency applications,
Grzegorz Cywiński, Krzesimir Szkudlarek, Piotr Kruszewski, Ivan Yahniuk, Sergey Yatsunenko, Grzegorz
Muzioł, Marcin Siekacz, Czesław Skierbiszewski, Sergey Rumyantsev and Wojciech Knap
JOURNAL OF VACUUM SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY B 34, 02L118 (2016)
IF 1.573
11.    Heterostructured hBN-BP-hBN Nanodetectors at Terahertz Frequencies,
Leonardo Viti , Jin Hu , Dominique Coquillat , Antonio Politano , Christophe Consejo , Wojciech Knap , and Miriam S. Vitiello
ADVANCED MATERIALS, Volume 28, Issue 34, Pages: 7390-7396 (2016)
IF 19.791
12.    Efficient Terahertz detection in black-phosphorus nanotransistors with selective and controllable plasma-wave, bolometric and thermoelectric response,
Leonardo Viti, Jin Hu, Dominique Coquillat, Antonio Politano, Wojciech Knap & Miriam S. Vitiello
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS 6, 20474 (2016)
IF 4.259
13.    Phase transition in two tunnel-coupled HgTe quantum wells: Bilayer graphene analogy and beyond,
Sergey S. Krishtopenko, Wojciech Knap, Frederic Teppe
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS 6, 30755 (2016)
IF 4.259
14.    Imaging and Gas Spectroscopy for Health Protection in Sub-THz Frequency Range,
W. Knap, D. B. But, D. Couquillat, N. Dyakonova, M. Sypek, J. Suszek, E. Domracheva, M. Chernyaeva, V. Vaks, K. Maremyanin, V. Gavrilenko, C. Archier, B. Moulin, G. Cywinski, I. Yahniuk, and K. Szkudlarek
International Journal of High Speed Electronics and Systems, Vol. 25, Nos. 3 & 4 (2016) 1640017 (9 pages)
IF 0.35
15.    Electrically driven terahertz radiation of 2DEG plasmons in AlGaN/GaN structures at 110 K temperature,
V. Jakštas, I. Grigelionis, V. Janonis, G. Valušis, I. Kašalynas, G. Seniutinas, S. Juodkazis, P. Prystawko, and M. Leszczyński
APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS 110, 202101 (2017)
IF 3.411

Conference publications

1.    GaN/AlGaN based transistors for terahertz emitters and detectors,
Grzegorz Cywiński, Krzesimir Szkudlarek, Ivan Yahniuk, Sergey Yatsunenko, Marcin Siekacz, Czesław Skierbiszewski, Wojciech Knap, Dmytro B. But, Dominique Coquillat, Nina Dyakonova, Wojciech Knap
IEEE Conference Publication 2016 – 21st International Conference on Microwave, Radar and Wireless Communications (MIKON)
2.    GaN/AlGaN lateral Schottky barrier diodes for high frequency applications,
Grzegorz Cywiński, Krzesimir Szkudlarek, Ivan Yahniuk, Sergey Yatsunenko, Piotr Kruszewski, Grzegorz Muzioł, Czesław Skierbiszewski, Wojciech Knap, S. Rumyantsev, Dmytro But
IEEE Conference Publication 2016 – 21st International Conference on Microwave, Radar and Wireless Communications (MIKON)
3.    Diffractive optics for GaN terahertz detectors arrays,
Jarosław Suszek, Maciej Sypek, Agnieszka Siemion, Anna Nowakowska-Siwińska, Przemysław Zagrajek, Grzegorz Cywiński, Krzesimir Szkudlarek, Ivan Yahniuk, Sergey Yatsunenko, Dmytro B. But, Dominique Coquillat, Wojciech Knap
IEEE Conference Publication 2016 – 21st International Conference on Microwave, Radar and Wireless Communications (MIKON)
4.    Terahertz imaging by field effect transistors,
Wojciech Knap, Dmytro But, Dominique Coquillat, Nina Dyakonova, Frederic Teppe, Maciej Sypek, Jarosław. Suszek, Grzegorz Cywiński, Krzesimir Szkudlarek, Ivan Yahniuk, SergeyYatsunenko
IEEE Conference Publication 2016 – 21st International Conference on Microwave, Radar and Wireless Communications (MIKON)
5.    Terahertz imaging with GaAs and GaN plasma field effect transistors detectors,
Wojciech Knap, Dmytro B. But, Nina Dyakonova, Dominique Coquillat, Frederic Teppe, Jarosław Suszek, Agnieszka M. Siemion, Maciej Sypek, Krzesimir Szkudlarek, Grzegorz Cywiński, Ivan Yahniuk
IEEE Conference Publication 2016 – 23rd International Conference Mixed Design of Integrated Circuits and Systems (MIXDES)
6.    Lateral Schottky barrier diodes based on GaN/AlGaN 2DEG for sub-THz detection,
Grzegorz Cywiński, Ivan Yahniuk, Krzesimir Szkudlarek, Piotr Kruszewski, Sergey Yatsunenko, Grzegorz Muzioł, Czesław Skierbiszewski, Dmytro But, Wojciech Knap
IEEE Conference Publication 2016 – 23rd International Conference Mixed Design of Integrated Circuits and Systems (MIXDES)
7.    Terahertz imaging with arrays of plasma field effect transistors detectors
W. Knap, M. Sypek, D. But, D. Coquillat, J. Suszek, K. Szkudlarek, A. Siemion, G. Cywinski, N. Dyakonova, F. Teppe
41st International Conference on Infrared, Millimeter, and Terahertz waves (IRMMW-THz) (2016)