High frequency electromagnetic detection by nonlinear conduction modulation in graphene nanowire diodes

Journal article, 2015

We present graphene nanowires implemented as dispersion free self switched microwave diode detectors. The microwave properties of the detectors are investigated using vector corrected large signal measurements in order to determine the detector responsivity and noise equivalent power (NEP) as a function of frequency, input power, and device geometry. We identify two distinct conductance nonlinearities which generate detector responsivity: an edge effect nonlinearity near zero bias due to lateral gating of the nanowire structures, and a velocity saturation nonlinearity which generates current compression at high power levels. The scaling study shows that detector responsivity obeys an exponential scaling law with respect to nanowire width, and a peak responsivity (NEP) of 250 V/W (50 pW/ Hz) is observed in detectors of the smallest width. The results are promising as the devices exhibit responsivities which are comparable to state of the art self switched detectors in semiconductor technologies.