The Instability of Terahertz Plasma Waves in Two Dimensional Gated and Ungated Quantum Electron Gas

The instability of terahertz (THz) plasma waves in two-dimensional (2D) quantum electron gas in a nanometer field effect transistor (FET) with asymmetrical boundary conditions has been investigated. We analyze THz plasma waves of two parts of the 2D quantum electron gas: gated and ungated regions. The results show that the radiation frequency and the increment (radiation power) in 2D ungated quantum electron gas are much higher than that in 2D gated quantum electron gas. The quantum effects always enhance the radiation power and enlarge the region of instability in both cases. This allows us to conclude that 2D quantum electron gas in the transistor channel is important for the emission and detection process and both gated and ungated parts take part in that process.