@inproceedings{80e9eb394796464f8fa22b541817d1b7,
title = "A Hybrid THz Imaging System with a 100-Pixel CMOS Imager and a 3.25-3.50 THz Quantum Cascade Laser Frequency Comb",
abstract = "The terahertz frequency range beyond 3 THz has exciting potential to have a transformative impact in a wide range of applications,including chemical and biomedical sensing,spectroscopy,imaging,and short-distance wireless communication. While there have been significant advancements in silicon-based THz imagers in the frequency ranges below 1 THz,technological development beyond 3 THz has been impeded by the lack of solid-state sources in this frequency range. In addition,the design space beyond 3 THz opens up fundamentally new challenges across electronics and the electromagnetic interface. In this spectral range,the wavelength is small enough (λox ≈ 50 μm at 3 THz) that a vertical via from the top antenna layer to the detector is a distributed element (transmission line or radiator). In this letter,we follow a careful circuits-electromagnetics co-design approach toward a hybrid imaging system with a 100-pixel CMOS imager that interfaces with a THz quantum cascade laser frequency comb that spans 3.25-3.5 THz with mode spacing of 17 GHz. The array chip,while designed for an optimal operation across 2.7-2.9 THz,demonstrates an average noise equivalent power (NEP) (across pixels) of $1260\,{\text{pW}}/\sqrt {{\text{Hz}}} $ between 3.25-3.5 THz and a projected NEP of $284\,{\text{pW}}/\sqrt {{\text{Hz}}} $ across the design range of 2.7-2.9 THz. To the best of our knowledge,we demonstrate for the first time full THz imaging in a hybrid quantum cascade laser (QCL)-CMOS fashion. This approach allows future works to leverage both QCL and CMOS technologies to demonstrate new technological advances for systems in the 1-10 THz range.",
keywords = "CMOS, detector, hybrid imaging, imaging, quantum cascade laser, silicon, terahertz, THz imaging",
author = "Smith, {T. J.} and Anna Broome and Daniel Stanley and Jonas Westberg and Gerard Wysocki and Kaushik Sengupta",
year = "2019",
month = sep,
doi = "10.1109/ESSCIRC.2019.8902823",
language = "English (US)",
series = "ESSCIRC 2019 - IEEE 45th European Solid State Circuits Conference",
publisher = "Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.",
pages = "151--154",
booktitle = "ESSCIRC 2019 - IEEE 45th European Solid State Circuits Conference",
address = "United States",
note = "45th IEEE European Solid State Circuits Conference, ESSCIRC 2019 ; Conference date: 23-09-2019 Through 26-09-2019",
}