Polycrystalline ZnO nanowires with grain sizes ranging from 20 to 100 nm were synthesized using a newly designed two-step process: (first step) synthesis of ZnSe nanowires by vapor transportation of a mixture of ZnSe powders; and (second step) thermal oxidation of the ZnSe nanowires at 650 °C. Compared to the single-crystal ZnO nanowire gas sensors and other nanomaterial gas sensors reported previously, the multiple networked nanowire gas sensors fabricated from the nanograined ZnO nanowires showed substantially enhanced electrical responses to NO2 gas at 300 °C. The NO2 gas sensing properties of the nanograined ZnO nanowires increased dramatically with increasing NO2 concentration. The multiple-networked nanograined ZnO nanowire sensor showed a response value of 237,263% at 10 ppm NO2 and 300 °C, whereas the single-crystal ZnO nanowire sensors showed a response of only 6.5% under the same conditions. The recovery time of the nanograined ZnO nanowire sensor was much shorter than that of the normal ZnO nanowire sensor over the NO2 concentration range of 1-10 ppm, even though the response time of the former was somewhat longer than that of the latter. The origin of the enhanced NO2 gas sensing properties of the nanograined ZnO nanowire sensor is discussed.

This study examined the gas sensing mechanism of multiple networked core-shell nanowire sensors. The ethanol gas sensing properties of In2O3/ZnO core-shell nanowires synthesized by the thermal evaporation of indium powder in an oxidizing atmosphere followed by the atomic layer deposition of ZnO were examined as an example. The pristine In2O3 nanowires and In2O3-core/ZnO-shell nanowires exhibited responses of ∼30% and ∼196%, respectively, to 1000 ppm ethanol at 300 °C. The response of the core-shell nanostructures to ethanol also showed a strong dependence on the shell layer width. The strongest response to ethanol was obtained with a shell layer thickness of ∼44 nm corresponding to 2λD, where λD is the Debye length of ZnO. The enhanced sensing properties of the core-shell nanowires toward ethanol can be explained based on the potential barrier-controlled carrier transport model combined with the surface depletion model; the former is predominant over the latter.

We present a terahertz (THz) broadband antenna-integrated 1 × 20 InGaAs Schottky barrier diode (SBD) array detector with an average responsivity of 98.5 V/W at a frequency of 250 GHz, which is measured without attaching external amplifiers and Si lenses, and an average noise equivalent power (NEP) of 106.6 pW/√Hz. The 3-dB bandwidth of the SBD detector is also investigated at approximately 180 GHz. For implementing an array-type SBD detector by a simple fabrication process to achieve a high yield, a structure comprising an SiN(x) layer instead of an air bridge between the anode and the cathode is designed. THz line beam imaging using a Gunn diode emitter with a center frequency of 250 GHz and a 1 × 20 SBD array detector is successfully demonstrated.

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Photoconductive antennas with nano-structured electrodes and which show significantly improved performances have been proposed to satisfy the demand for compact and efficient terahertz (THz) sources. Plasmonic field enhancement was previously considered the dominant mechanism accounting for the improvements in the underlying physics. However, we discovered that the role of plasmonic field enhancement is limited and near-field distribution of bias field should be considered as well. In this paper, we clearly show that the locally enhanced bias field due to the size effect is much more important than the plasmonic enhanced absorption in the nano-structured electrodes for the THz emitters. Consequently, an improved nano-electrode design is presented by tailoring bias field distribution and plasmonic enhancement. Our findings will pave the way for new perspectives in the design and analysis of plasmonic nano-structures for more efficient THz photonic devices.