Plasma wave detection of sub-terahertz and terahertz radiation by silicon field-effect transistors

We report on experiments on photoresponse to sub-THz (120GHz) radiation of Si field-effect transistors (FETs) with nanometer and submicron gate lengths at 300K. The observed photoresponse is in agreement with predictions of the Dyakonov–Shur plasma wave detection theory. This is experimental evidence of the plasma wave detection by silicon FETs. The plasma wave parameters deduced from the experiments allow us to predict the nonresonant and resonant detection in THz range by nanometer size silicon devices—operating at room temperature.