CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims the priority of Chinese patent application No. 202010917421.6, filed on Sep. 3, 2020, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to the technical field of terahertz detectors, and in particular to an N×M terahertz detector array imaging system based on a Schottky contact grating structure.

TECHNICAL BACKGROUND

Terahertz waves are electromagnetic waves between microwaves and infrared light on the electromagnetic spectrum, and have a frequency of about 0.1 to 10 THz and a wavelength corresponding to 3 mm to 30 μm. The Terahertz technology is one of the frontiers and hotspots of information science and technology research. In recent years, it has attracted extensive attention from research institutions around the world. Developed countries such as the United States, Japan, and Europe have successively rated the terahertz technology as “the top ten technologies for changing the future world” and “the top ten strategic goals of the country's key technology”, and invested heavily to consolidate their international status in the terahertz field. For example, the National Foundation (NSF), Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Department of Energy (DOE), European Research Council (ERC), IBM, Boeing and Airbus and other government and large multinational companies continue to invest in the field of terahertz technology. In China, after the Xiangshan Conference in 2005, the terahertz technology is listed by the government as a key field and priority development theme.

At present, the focus of terahertz detection and imaging technology research is to improve the performance of radiation sources and detectors. Schottky barrier diodes have the advantages of fast speed, good nonlinear effects, ability to work at room temperature and easy integration, so they are often used as frequency mixer and detector diodes in terahertz detectors. The traditional terahertz detectors based on Schottky barrier diodes all use antennas to receive terahertz waves, and the antenna has low gain and large area in the terahertz band, resulting in poor performance and high cost of terahertz detectors, which seriously hinders the development of terahertz detection and imaging technology.

SUMMARY

An objective of the present disclosure is to overcome the shortcomings of the prior art and provide an N×M terahertz detector array imaging system based on a Schottky contact grating structure, which is intended to realize low-cost, high-performance terahertz detection and imaging.

In order to achieve the above objective, the technical solution provided by the present disclosure is:

An N×M terahertz detector array imaging system based on a Schottky contact grating structure, comprising a detector array composed of N×M detector units arranged vertically and horizontally, N row selection switches, M column selection switches, a detector and readout circuit test switch, and a readout circuit;

wherein each detector unit comprises a Schottky barrier diode (SBD) with a Schottky contact grating structure, a bias voltage Vb1, a bias resistor Rb1, a DC blocking capacitor C1, and an NMOSFET; and

wherein an anode of the SBD with the Schottky contact grating_structure is separately connected to one end of the bias resistor Rb1and one end of the DC blocking capacitor C1, and a cathode thereof is grounded;

the other end of the bias resistor Rb1is connected to the bias voltage Vb1, and is used to supply power to the SBD with the Schottky contact grating structure;

the other end of the DC blocking capacitor C1is connected to one end of a switch SEL, and the other end of the switch SEL is connected to a source of the NMOSFET;

a gate of the NMOSFET in each detector unit is connected to a column selection switch of a column where it is located;

a drain of the NMOSFET in each detector unit is connected to a row selection switch of a row where it is located; and

the detector and readout circuit test switch is connected between the N row selection switches and the readout circuit.

Further, the SBD with the Schottky contact grating structure is an SBD in which a Schottky contact is converted into a grated structure, and has a grate-like trench.

Further, Schottky contact grating structure parameters of the SBD with the Schottky contact grating structure include a grating width, a grating length, a grating region area, a grating period, and a grating pattern form, and these parameters are used to realize single-frequency detection at any frequency point or realize that one detector unit supports detection of multiple different frequency points.

Further, the SBD with the Schottky contact grating structure is a Shallow Trench Separated SBD or Polysilicon-Gate Separated SBD.

Further, the readout circuit comprises a low-noise chopper amplifier and a high-resolution analog-to-digital converter; the low-noise chopper amplifier is connected between the N row selection switches and the high-resolution analog-to-digital converter, amplifies a received terahertz signal and uses chopper circuit technology to reduce the amplifier's own offset and 1/f noise; and the high-resolution analog-to-digital converter digitizes the amplified terahertz signal for back-end signal processing.

Further, the detector and readout circuit test switch comprises a detector test switch S1and a readout circuit test switch S2; and the detector test switch S1and the readout circuit test switch S2are separately connected between the N row selection switches and the readout circuit.

Compared with the prior art, the principle and advantages of the present solution are as follows:

1. The grating is introduced into the Schottky barrier diode, so that the grated Schottky contact resonates with the terahertz waves, the plasma resonance effect is enhanced, and the detection sensitivity of the array unit can be further improved.

2. There is no need to use an antenna, which can effectively avoid the problems such as large loss of the on-chip antenna, low gain efficiency, and difficulty in verifying through DRC design rules; and the chip area is greatly reduced, which greatly reduces the production cost.

3. Under the premise that there is a terahertz source, by adjusting the grating structure parameters of the array detector unit during the design process, the detector array can realize monochromatic array imaging or multicolor array imaging, which provides a new solution for the realization of low-cost, high-performance terahertz array cameras and terahertz imagers.

4. The introduction of the detector and readout circuit test switch can test each detector unit and the readout circuit separately when the circuit fails so as to accurately determine the cause and location of the specific circuit failure.

5. The idea of the grating of the gate is proposed and it is combined with the Schottky barrier diode (SBD), and through a periodic SBD structure, a-grate-like trench is formed in the trench to realize the enhancement of resonance between plasmons in the substrate and plasmonic behavior in the gate; and the method of the grated gate can be used to reduce the problems such as weak terahertz signals in the space, weak plasmonic behavior excited by the metal structure on the gate, and diffusion and loss in the propagation process.

