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Nanometer thin-film Ni-NiO-Ni diodes for 30 THz radiation

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Abstract

We report on the development of antenna-coupled thin-film nanometer Ni-NiO-Ni diodes which are used to detect 10.6 μm CO2-laser radiation. The Ni-NiO-Ni diodes have a minimum contact area of 0.056 μm2. This is smaller than those of any previously fabricated thin-film Metal-metalOxide-Metal (MOM) diodes. By measuring the second derivative of the dc current-voltage characteristics I(V), we demonstrate that the nonlinearity of the dc I(V) characteristics of our Ni-NiO-Ni diodes is larger than that of the dc I(V) characteristics of thin-film MOM diodes fabricated before by other authors. It is comparable to the nonlinearity of the dc I(V) characteristics of point-contact MOM diodes. Furthermore, we show that the polarisation-dependent infrared response of the Ni-NiO-Ni diodes is due to antenna coupling and that the polarisation-independent response is mainly of thermal origin. Consequently, the heating of the Ni-NiO-Ni diodes is due to the absorption of the incident CO2-laser radiation in the SiO2, and dissipation of the laser-induced ac antenna currents in the antenna.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Quantum Electronics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), CH-8093, Zurich, Switzerland

    I. Wilke, W. Herrmann & F. K. Kneubühl

  2. CSEM, Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechniques, CH-2007, Neuchâtel, Switzerland

    Y. Oppliger

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  1. I. Wilke
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  2. Y. Oppliger
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  3. W. Herrmann
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  4. F. K. Kneubühl
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Wilke, I., Oppliger, Y., Herrmann, W. et al. Nanometer thin-film Ni-NiO-Ni diodes for 30 THz radiation. Appl. Phys. A 58, 329–341 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00323606

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