Millimeter wave mixing using plasmon and bolometric response in a double-quantum-well field-effect transistor

Heterodyne mixing characteristics of a double-quantum-well field-effect transistor (DQW FET) from 94 to 145 GHz are reported. The DQW FET exhibits two physically distinct mixing responses. Near pinch-off, the device behaves as a broadband bolometric mixer with intermediate frequency (IF) bandwidth of 620 MHz. Away from pinch-off it shows an electrically tunable resonant plasmon response. Mixing on a plasmon resonance yields an IF with significant harmonic distortion, signaling a complicated nonlinear mechanism, and shows a wide IF bandwidth >2 GHz. (C) 2005 American Institute of Physics.