Performance and performance variations of sub-1 THz detectors fabricated with 0.15 μm CMOS foundry process

Antenna-coupled field-effect transistors were integrated as multi-pixel (5 x 10) detector arrays for electromagnetic radiation between 550 and 600 GHz using commercial 0.15 mu m CMOS process technology. Reported is a minimum optical noise-equivalent-power (NEP) of 43 pW/root Hz and a maximum (capacitive-loading-limited) optical responsivity of 970 V/W (both values averaged). An electrical NEP of 9 pW/root Hz is estimated. Inter-chip variations are analysed with a set of 15 samples showing a low standard deviation of less than 8% for both responsivity and NEP at the optimum operation point. Intra-chip variation is low for non-edge pixels. Both the very good NEP values and the low variations indicate that a cost-efficient CMOS process is well suitable for reliable fabrication of multi-pixel terahertz focal plane arrays.