Microstructures made of adjoining semiconductor disks could lead to powerful nanoscale sensors
Wednesday, March 27, 2013 - 07:00
in Physics & Chemistry
Many users of microwave ovens have had the frightening experience of leaving a fork, crumpled piece of aluminum foil or some other pointy metal item inside the cooking chamber. The sharp metal object acts as an antenna for the oven's microwave radiation, causing strong local heating or sparking. Jing Hua Teng from the A*STAR Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE) and colleagues in Singapore and the UK have now observed a similar antenna effect, involving a different sort of electromagnetic radiation—known as terahertz (THz) radiation—in a microfabricated semiconductor structure. Their discovery could find application in areas ranging from biosensing to airport security scanners.