Characterization of a room temperature terahertz detector based on a GaN/AlGaN HEMT

We report on the characterization of a room temperature terahertz detector based on a GaN/AlGaN high electron mobility transistor integrated with three patch antennas. Experimental results prove that both horizontal and perpendicular electric fields are induced in the electron channel. A photocurrent is generated when the electron channel is strongly modulated by the gate voltage. Despite the large channel length and gate-source/drain distance, significant horizontal and perpendicular fields are achieved. The device is well described by the self-mixing of terahertz fields in the electron channel. The noise-equivalent power and responsivity are estimated to be and 3 mA=W at 292 K, respectively. No decrease in responsivity is observed up to a modulation frequency of 5 kHz. The detector performance can be further improved by engineering the source-gate-drain geometry to enhance the nonlinearity.