Cornell researchers have developed a new method of generating terahertz signals on an inexpensive silicon chip, offering possible applications in wireless data transfer, medical imaging, and security scanning. Terahertz radiation has the potential to carry more bandwidth and eliminate the damaging effects of X-rays, but the expense has always made it commercially unviable.
Cornell researchers, however, have developed a new method using the familiar and inexpensive CMOS chip technology, generating power levels high enough for some medical applications, and higher powers will be possible with further research. To do so, they developed a new way of tuning by coupling several oscillators in a ring to produce a high-quality signal. In early experiments, the researchers fabricated chips that generated signals with about 10,000 times the power level previously obtained at terahertz frequencies on a silicon chip.
