Direct intensity modulation and wireless data transmission characteristics of terahertz-oscillating resonant tunnelling diodes

Abstract

Direct intensity modulation and wireless data transmission characteristics of terahertz-oscillating resonant tunnelling diodes (RTDs) is reported. A direct intensity modulation of the RTD oscillators was demonstrated, and the frequency response was measured. It was found that the 3 dB cutoff modulation frequency was limited by the parasitic elements of the external circuit, and increased up to 4.5 GHz by reducing such parasitic elements. Wireless data transmission by direct amplitude shift keying was demonstrated using an RTD oscillating at 542 GHz with cutoff frequency of 1.1 GHz. The BERs for bit rates of 2 and 3 Gbit/s were found to be 2 × 10 28 and 3 × 10 25 , respectively.Introduction: High-capacity short-distance wireless communication is an important application of the terahertz (THz) range [1, 2]. Thus, compact and coherent solid-state THz sources that can be modulated directly are highly desirable. A good candidate for THz sources is the resonant tunnelling diode (RTD), which can oscillate in the THz range at room temperature [3][4][5][6]. We have reported RTDs with fundamental oscillation of 1.04 THz [4] and high output power ( 400 mW) oscillation at around 550 GHz [5]. The modulation of the output of THz sources is important for communication. In this Letter, we demonstrate a direct modulation of the output power of an RTD oscillator and measure its frequency response. In addition, we also demonstrate wireless data transmission by a direct amplitude shift keying (ASK) of the RTD.

Terahertz oscillation of resonant tunneling diodes with deep and thin quantum wells

“…In particular, high-capacity short-distance wireless communication is an important application of this range. Demonstrations of THz communication have been intensively carried out [2,3,4,5].…”

Recent Progress and Future Prospect of Photonics-Enabled Terahertz Communications Research

“…Here, we briefly describe a recent progress of electronic devices and circuits. At frequencies above 100 GHz, GaAs and InP devices and integrated circuits (ICs) have been key players in all-electronic THz communications research, because of high cut-off and maximum frequencies of transistors [8]- [10], [18], [20], [33], [39], [40].…”

“…Moreover, unique THz electronic devices utilizing the plasma-wave effect in field-effect transistors [45]- [47] and the resonant tunneling effect [30], [33], [48], [49] have attracted much interest, because they can be operated as both transmitters and receivers.…”

“…Particularly, above 275 GHz, there is a possibility to employ extremely large bandwidths for "radio" communications, since these frequency bands have not yet been allocated at specific active services, and standardization efforts have been becoming very active [1], [7]. Figure 1 summarizes experimentally achieved data rates of over 1 Gbit/s by transmission experiments with over-100-GHz carrier frequencies at 100-150 GHz [8]- [14], 200-250 GHz [15]- [21], 300-350 GHz [22]- [31], 400-450 GHz [23], [32], 500-700 GHz [27], [33]- [35]. Data points with triangles are demonstrations using electronicsbased transmitter, while data points with circles are achieved by photonics-based ones.…”

Resonant tunnelling diode terahertz sources for broadband wireless communications

“…A number of demonstrations of the large RTD bandwidth have been reported recently [9][10][11][12][13][14] . Demonstrations of wireless transmission using RTD oscillators at 300 GHz 15 , 500 GHz 16 , and 350 GHz with intensity modulation up to 30 GHz bandwidth 17 have also been reported. These individual RTD oscillators, however, exhibit low output power in the microwatt range, partly due to using sub-micron RTD device sizes chosen to reduce the RTD self-capacitance 18 .…”