Theoretical Considerations for the Performance of Antenna-Coupled Metal-Oxide-Metal Diodes

The goal of this thesis is to outline the significant issues affecting the performance of antenna-coupled metal-oxide-metal diodes for the detection of infrared radiation, and to present techniques for the analysis and design of these structures. Possible detection mechanisms in the metal-oxide-metal junctions are presented, and their relative likelihood is discussed. Fabricated junctions are also fitted to theoretical tunneling models. Techniques for analyzing the effects of a substrate on the performance of an antenna are described. The Finite-Difference Time-Domain method for analyzing antenna structures is also presented. Code was written based upon this method, and its results are compared to existing infrared antennas from other research groups.