ZnO-based Quantum Structures for Terahertz Sources

Abstract

In this paper we report on the numerical study of the terahertz devices based on metal oxide semiconductors and its application in biology and medicine. We also report on the recent progress of the theoretical and experimental studies of ZnO-based THz quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) and resonant tunneling diodes (RTDs). We show that ZnO-based semiconductor compounds are promising materials for fabrication terahertz sources operating up to room temperature due to their unique properties such as large bandgap and conduction band offset (CBO) energy, high LO-phonon energy, and high resistant to the high breakdown electric field.