Terahertz electroluminescence from boron-doped silicon devices

Terahertz emission was observed from electrically pumped boron-doped p-type silicon structures at cryogenic temperatures. At a current of 1.5 A and temperature of 4.4 K, we achieved a pulsed peak power of 31 μW from a single mesa facet, integrated over three closely spaced spectral lines centered about 8.1 THz. The radiation was slightly transverse magnetically polarized with respect to the plane of the substrate and was still detectable at temperatures as high as 150 K. These findings suggest that moderate power THz sources can be fabricated without epitaxially grown quantum wells using techniques compatible with silicon integrated circuit technology.