Nano Antenna Integrated Diode (Rectenna) For Infrared Energy Harvesting

Abstract

In this work full parametric analysis of nano antennas is presented. To begin with, optical or electronic properties of noble metals such as gold and copper were studied in details to get a clear understanding of their reaction to an incident electromagnetic wave. Complex frequency dependent dielectric functions indicated that in THz metals acts as a dielectric with significant absorption. Simultaneous optimization of the length and the bow angle of a bow-tie antenna resulted in relative electric field intensity enhancement of 8 orders of magnitude for 0.5nm gap and 4 orders of magnitude for 50nm around 28THz resonance frequency. These results are at least 2 orders of magnitude greater than the published optical antennas. Physical reasons behind field localization and intensity enhancement are discussed in details. The solution of Maxwell’s equations at the interface between metallic nano antenna and air is also present in this piece of research. The derived dispersion relation of surface plasmons shows momentum matching at 28.3 THz between free propagating electromagnetic fields’ modes in air and localized modes at the interface. Consequently, Propagating electromagnetic waves are ensured to couple to localized surface propagating modes producing filed enhancement. The integrated SiO2 matching section is theoretically proven to increase transmission to substrate to 75% (compared to 40% without it) which in turn improves the coupled power by 40 times. Nano antennas were fabricated in house using Electron beam lithography with a precise gap of 50nm. In addition, THz diode was designed, fabricated and integrated to the nano antennas to rectify the enhanced THz signal. The integration of the nano diode required a precise overlap of the two arms of the antenna in the rage of 100nm. In order to overcome two arms overlap fabrication challenges, three layer alignment technique was used to produce precise overlap.The THz rectifier was electrically tested and shown high sensitivity and rectification ability without any bias. Finally, nano antenna integrated diode is under optical testing using a 10.6μm Co2 laser at Electro-Optics Lab, Prince Sultan Advanced Technologies Research Institute (PSATRI), King Saud University due to the unavailability of the measurement setup in KAUST.