Compact electrically pumped nitrogen-doped 4H-SiC terahertz emitters operating up to 150 K

We report a new type of electrically pumped THz source that emits at 9 THz with a maximum operating temperature of 150 K. The mechanism is based on dopant transitions in the 4H-SiC. The two nonequivalent donor sites of nitrogen in SiC were used to give the device a relatively high operating temperature and emission power. At a pumping current of 4.7 A at 4 K, the integrated spectral output power was 0.18 mWatt from the top surface with an area of 4 mm(2). These results suggest that high-temperature operating THz devices can be fabricated from doped SiC. (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics.