Seebeck bowtie antenna for 2 THz radiation detection

Terahertz imaging systems require small, low cost and low power systems operating at room-temperature. Terahertz Seebeck nanoantennas are room temperature detectors which generate voltage due to incident electromagnetic radiation, they also provide polarization sensitivity, directivity, small footprint, tunability and the possibility of integration into electronic and photonic circuits. In this work a gold bowtie nanoantenna is designed and optimized to detect electromagnetic radiation at 2 THz. The resulting device is a gold bowtie antenna with asymmetric connection lines to optimize the Seebeck voltage. The connection lines are made of Sb2Te3 and Bi2Te3 to increase the generated voltage due to the incident electromagnetic radiation. Simulation results obtained using COMSOL Multiphysics are presented. The fabrication of the resulting optimized device was performed using photolithography and liftoff. The materials were deposited by sputtering. The fabricated device includes an external heater to measure the effective Seebeck coefficient. Experimental results of the effective Seebeck coefficient of the device as well as response measurements are presented and compared to Multiphysics simulations.