(Digital Presentation) Optimization of MIM Rectifiers for Terahertz Rectennas

Metal-Insulator-Metal (MIM) rectifiers comprising thin films of Al2O3, ZnO, NiO and Nb2O5 and metal configurations of Au/Au, Au/Zn and AuCr/AuCr, have been fabricated using atomic layer deposition and radio-frequency sputtering. The effect of device area scaling from 104 µm2 to 1 µm2 on rectification properties, in particular zero-bias dynamic resistance (R0) and zero-bias responsivity (β0) has been studied and found to be of critical importance in improving diode coupling efficiency. A significant increase of current has been found for Au/3.3 nm ZnO/Au diode when compared to the reference Au/3 nm Al2O3/Au diode, that resulted in obtaining the lowest R0 of 540 W for a device area of 104 µm2. The best performing device is found to be 1 µm2 AuCr/6.77 nm NiO/AuCr featuring (R0, b0) = (461 kW, 0.76 A/W) and a coupling efficiency of 1.5 ´ 10-5 %.