Room-temperature nitrogen-rich niobium nitride photodetector for terahertz detection

Abstract

A sensitive room-temperature metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) structure is fabricated on high-resistivity silicon substrates (ρ>4 000 Ω·cm) for terahertz (THz) detection by utilizing the photoconductive effect. When radiation is absorbed by the nitrogen-rich niobium nitride, the number of free electrons and electrical conductivity increase. The detector without an attached antenna boasts a voltage responsivity of 7 058 V/W at a frequency of 310 GHz as well as small noise density of 3.5 nV/Hz^0.5 for a noise equivalent power of about 0.5 pW/Hz^0.5. The device fabricated by the standard silicon processing technology has large potential in high-sensitivity THz remote sensing, communication, and materials detection.

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This work has been supported by the Innovation Program for Quantum Science and Technology (No.2021ZD0303401), the Program of Shanghai Academic Research Leader (No.22XD1422100), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos.12141303, 12073018 and U1931205).