IEEE Electron Device Society Distinguished Lecture Series

Novel Plasmonic Devices for THz Applications

by Dr. Michael Shur
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Date: Monday, April 9, 2012
Time: 1:00 PM to 2:30 PM,
Place: Room EC-3753 in the second floor of FIU College of Engineering and Computing
10555 W. Flagler Street, Miami, Florida, 33174.

Abstract:
The field effect transistor feature sizes have shrunk to the point, where ballistic (collisionless) mode of electron transport is becoming dominant. In the ballistic regime, the device physics is completely different. For example, the effective electron mobility becomes proportional to the device feature size. At THz and sub-THz frequencies, the ballistic transport affects devices even with relatively large (submicron scale) feature sizes. THz radiation excites the waves of the electron density (i.e. plasma waves) in transistor channels. These waves have characteristic frequencies in the THz range even for devices with feature sizes exceeding a few hundred nanometers. Rectification od plasma waves can be used for detecting THz radiation and for imaging and in-situ testing of transistor structures. Since propagation of plasma waves is strongly affected by the field distribution in the device channel, plasmonic devices exposed to THz radiation could resolve nanometer feature sizes. In ballistic devices, plasma waves become unstable and cause THz emission. Plasma wave electronics detectors and sources are tunable by applied bias voltage and can be modulated at frequencies up to hundreds of gigahertz. Using synchronized THz transistor arrays instead of single devices is predicted to improve performance of plasmonic THz electronic detectors and sources by several orders of magnitude.

Biography:
Dr. Michael Shur is the Patricia W. and C. Sheldon Roberts Professor of Solid State Electronics in the Department of Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. He received his master’s in electrical engineering in 1965 (with honors), from St. Petersburg Electrotechnical Institute in St. Petersburg, Russia, and a Ph. D. (candidate) degree and Doctor of Physics and Mathematics degree from A.F. Ioffe Institute of Physics and Technology, St. Petersburg, in 1967 and 1992, respectively. He has served as distinguished lecturer for the IEEE Electron Devices and the IEEE Microwave Theory and Technique Societies, given tutorials at conferences worldwide, taught courses for practicing engineers and given IEEE-sponsored lectures for academic researchers worldwide. He has taught at the University of Virginia, University of Minnesota, Oakland University, Cornell University, and Wayne State University and conducted research at the A.F. Ioffe Institute in St. Petersburg, Russia and at IBM in Yorktown Heights, N.Y. He has published and edited many key graduate texts in solid state electronics that have been translated into many languages. Dr. Shur also serves as editor-in-chief of the International Journal of High Speed Electronics and Systems and editor-in-chief of a book series on “Special Topics in Electronics and Systems.” An IEEE Fellow, he is listed by the Institute of Scientific Information as a highly cited researcher.
Contact: brammer@fiu.edu; (305) 348-2807
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