The THz regime is the bridge between optics and electronics. However, there is still a lack of materials and devices in this area of the spectrum. We want to combine arrays of detectors based on materials such as graphene and THz transparent polymers to develop, fabricate, and characterize THz detector arrays that can be used for the first flexible bolometric 3D THz camera.  For the combination of the sin-gle detector elements (pixels), 3D printing will be used, as shown in Figure 1.

We are looking for motivated students with a background in physics, material science, electrical engi-neering, or chemistry for an MSc thesis in the Transport at the Nanoscale Interfaces Laboratory at Empa.

During the project, the MSc student will work on the following:

• Cleanroom fabrication of THz detectors
• Raman Spectroscopy for the characterization of graphene
• Matlab/python for data analysis
• 3D printing

 

Figure 1.  Schematic representation of (a) the single pixel of the camera (THz detector) and (b) the THz camera’s single pixels with the 3D printed TOPAS frame.

Development and characterization of a 4x4 array of THz detectors based on graphene on polymers.

Interested candidates can email their CV with a short motivation letter to Dr. Elena Mavrona (eleni.mavrona@empa.ch); also, they can contact her if they need further information.

• Whelan et al., Non-contact mobility measurements of graphene on silicon carbide,  Microelec-tronic Engineering, Volume 212, 2019
• Liu et al., Recent Progress in the Development of Graphene Detector for Terahertz Detection, Sensors 2021, 21, 4987