HIGH RESPONSIVITY DEVICE FOR THERMAL SENSING IN A TERAHERTZ RADIATION DETECTOR

摘要

There is provided a high responsivity device for thermal sensing in a Terahertz (THz) radiation detector. A load impedance connected to an antenna heats up due to the incident THz radiation received by the antenna. The heat generated by the load impedance is sensed by a thermal sensor such as a transistor. To increase the responsivity of the sense device without increasing the thermal mass, the device is located underneath a straight portion of an antenna arm. The transistor runs substantially the entire length of the antenna arm alleviating the problem caused by placing large devices on the side of the antenna and the resulting large additional thermal mass that must be heated. This boosts the responsivity of the pixel while retaining an acceptable level of noise and demanding a dramatically smaller increase in the thermal time constant.

主权项

1. A detector for detecting terahertz (THz) radiation, the detector comprising:
an antenna having one or more elements supported by a holding arm; a load impedance directly coupled to said antenna and operative to convert said terahertz radiation to thermal energy; and a thermal sensor operative to generate an electrical signal in accordance with the thermal energy converted by said load impedance, wherein said thermal sensor is located underneath at least a portion of said antenna.