Sensors International 1 (2020) 100014

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Sensors International
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Super-lattice GaN/AlxGa1-xN nanoscale MITATT oscillator as terahertz

radiation source: Novel application in breast cancer imaging
Saikat Adhikari a, Dinesh Bhatia b, Moumita Mukherjee a, *
a
Department of Physics, Adamas University, Kolkata, 700126, West Bengal, India
b
Department of Biomedical Engineering, North Eastern Hill University, Shillong, 793022, Meghalaya, India

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: X-ray mammography is popularly used for breast cancer screening and monitoring since past several years.
Solid state T-Ray source However, X-Ray is considered to be an ionizing radiation that may lead to secondary cancer development. An
Modified quantum modified electrostatic model alternative approach is the Terahertz (T-Ray) hyperthermia technique. This paper will report on an in-silico T-ray
GaN/AlxGa1-xN super-lattice
thermal imaging and detection system for breast cancer identification and screening. For this, a super-lattice
Room temperature operation
Noise-measure
(GaN/AlxGa1-xN) pþþ-n--n-nþþ type room temperature semiconductor Terahertz source (radiation within
Microwave and terahertz thermography 0.1 THz 1.0 THz regime) was designed. A modified Quantum Corrected Non-Linear Drift-Diffusion (m-QCNLDD)
Breast malignancy screening numerical model is developed and used for this purpose. An equivalent circuit model is developed and analysed
for obtaining impedance and admittance characteristics. The device can generate non-ionizing RF
power~6  1010 W.m2 at 0.1 THz and ~0.43  1010 W.m2 at 1.0 THz. Further, the authors have verified the
newly proposed numerical model by comparing the results with experimental observations. Finally, the
mQCNLDD simulator coupled with COMSOL Multi-physics® software has been used for generating microwave
and T-ray thermographs of healthy and cancerous breast tissues. The authors have made a comparative study
between microwave and terahertz thermographs for relative accuracy determination. The breast tumour (~3 mm
diameter) detection accuracy has been enhanced greatly in the Tray thermograph studies. To the best of authors'
knowledge, this is the first in-silico study report on Terahertz wave versus microwave thermography for breast
cancer detection.

1. Introduction bulky, complex and require low-temperature arrangements for their

THz (0.1 THz-10 THz) Science is rapidly developing all over the world
for its useful applications in different fields such as space science,
biomedical imaging, broadband communication, spectroscopy and
remote sensing [1–3]. The THz-domain of the electromagnetic spectrum
lies in between photonic and electronic technologies. Photonic devices,
including, Avalanche Photo Diode and Quantum Cascade Laser, are
investigated for higher THz applications, whereas, electron-devices,
including nano-scale transistors, Gunn, Resonant tunneling
diodes(RTD) and Avalanche Transit Time (ATT) family of diodes have
experimented extensively for application in the lower spectrum of THz
domain. Nowadays, commercially available Terahertz sources are mostly
operation [4–6]. Therefore, research is focused on the development of
suitable room-temperature THz-sources to bridge the so-called
“Tera-Gap”.
Compared to X-Ray radiation which are considered to be ionizing and
hazardous if their use is prolonged, the less energetic THz-radiation is
shown to be harmless for bio-medical applications. It has a unique
capability to distinguish between malignant and healthy tissues by
studying the changes in density gradient and water absorption in the
affected/non-affected cells. Additionally, smaller wavelengths of THz
radiation allow enhanced spatial resolution in comparison to its coun-
terparts. To uncover this underneath potential of Terahertz imaging in
useful medical diagnostic applications, a compact, room temperature T-

* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: bhatiadinesh@rediffmail.com (D. Bhatia), drmmukherjee@outlook.com (M. Mukherjee).

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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sintl.2020.100014
Received 1 April 2020; Received in revised form 11 May 2020; Accepted 12 May 2020
Available online 19 June 2020
2666-3511/© 2020 The Authors. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-
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S. Adhikari et al. Sensors International 1 (2020) 100014

Fig. 1. Workflow diagram of in-silico T-Ray Thermography analysis.

ray radiation source and imaging system is required. stage. Till date, no report is available in the published literature on
Worldwide, breast malignancy is considered the second leading cause THz-thermography study for breast screening. This has prompted the
of death from cancer. Screening of breast cancer is a potential way to authors to take this challenge to study the suitability of the Terahertz
identify malignant tumour before the person notices any physical hyperthermia imaging technique in the detection of earlystage breast
symptoms. Early detection of tumour will enable patients to undergo tumours with minimal damage to the healthy surrounding tissues which
minimally invasive treatment with much better outcomes. Breast are affected with excessive use of ionizing X-ray radiations.
screening techniques include Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Xray
mammography, and Ultrasound. Serious limitations, including false-
1.1. Distribution of work
positive/false-negative results, discomfort to patients and detection
failure at an early-stage/in-situ cancerous tumour is associated with the
The present work is carried out in a sequence of multiple stages as
available screening and diagnostics methods [7–9]. However, regular
shown in Fig. 1. The paper is broadly classified into two sections:
screening by X-Ray mammography could cause malignancy, in turn. On
the other hand, the thermography technique uses a type of radiation
I. In-silico design and characterization studies of a TRay radiation
(presently microwave and infrared are used) to detect and record tem-
source and subsequent noise measure using an indigenously devel-
perature changes in healthy and malignant cells [7–9]. The thermo-
oped modified Quantum Corrected drift-diffusion simulator.
graphs show the pattern of a heat map of the radiation exposed organ
II. In-silico Terahertz thermography system design using COMSOL®
under the experiment.
Multiphysics software coupled with mQCNLDD (modified
With the development of malignancy, excessive formation of blood
Quantum-Corrected-Non-Linear-Drift-Diffusion) model and subse-
vessels and continual unregulated proliferation of cells occur. Cancer
quent analysis of breast thermography under healthy & malignant
affected tissues often have notably higher water content compared to
conditions.
normal tissue from which these are derived. Radiation absorption in
cancer affected cells is therefore relatively higher. These eventually in-
In section I, a two-terminal ATT device (pþþ-n--n-nþþ) with GaN/
crease the temperature of the malignant cell/tissues. Thermography is
AlxGa1-xN super-lattice, in the central active region of the device, will be
considered a non-invasive contact-less process of breast screening where
designed. The effects of increasing Al mole fraction on the device char-
there is no need for compression of the breast for investigation. The
acteristics will be studied to address the strain issues. Within the device,
thermography technique is suitable for detecting changes in breast with
carrier generation is due to both inter-band tunnelling and avalanche
dense tissues and implants. Microwave and Infrared thermography
multiplication phenomenon. The effective device in MITATT (Mixed
techniques, in breast malignancy screening, till date, have shown several
Impact-ionization Tunnelling ATT) oscillation mode would generate RF
disadvantages as well. These include a significant rate of false-positive/
power at the THz frequency regime. The Device Under Test (DUT) is a
false-negative and surrounding healthy tissue damage. Non-ionizing
hexagonal Wz-GaN/AlxGa1-xN based asymmetrical super lattice-type
THz imaging has the potential to identify malignancy during the in-situ
diode-oscillator of periodicity four. The asymmetrical doping

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Fig. 2. Dimension details the proposed T-ray semiconductor diode oscillator source analysed in the report.

faster transit of charge through device active region. Thus, the exotic
Table 1 super-lattice device structure is a promising candidate for developing a
Experimental parameters for COMSOL model [20]. room-temperature power source within the “Tera-gap”.
Parameters Malignant cell Healthy cell Compound semiconductors and their heterostructures are favourable
Relative Permittivity ε 50.0 2.53
materials for developing power-ATT devices. RF power from an MITATT/
Thermal Conductivity k (W/mK) 0.545 0.21 IMPATT device critically depends on effective charge saturation velocity
Electrical Conductivity σ (S/m) 7.0 2.06 and peak electric field at the breakdown of the base semiconductor
material. Hexagonal GaN/AlxGa1-xN (0.1 <x < 0.6), with high values of
carrier saturation velocity (~2.5  105 m/s) and critical breakdown field
concentration with variable Al mole fraction will spatially separate the
(~2  108 V/m), are expected to be a potential super-lattice material pair
mobile charges within the active region of the DUT. This will substan-
for developing powerful ATT devices. The inherent carrier mobility in
tially improve the electrical properties, including carrier lifetime and
super-lattice GaN/AlxGa1-xN would reduce the carrier transit time
charge carrier mobility. The inter-sub band carrier transition and drifting
through the active region of the device and in turn, the device oscillation
of charges within the active region of the DUT would induce a pulse
peak frequency will be within the desired 0.1 THz to 10 THz frequency
current in the external circuit. The variable Al mole fraction plays an
regime. Moreover, the lattice mismatch factor, in between the substrate
important role in altering the avalanche multiplication noise in MITATT
(sapphire) and the epi-layer of GaN/AlxGa1-xN, is low than its flatly
mode devices. In this paper, a voltage excited, the non-linear simulator
doped GaN counterpart [19]. Therefore, the authors have chosen
has been developed for the physics-based quasi 3D modelling of pin/ATT
GaN/AlxGa1-xN super-lattice for designing of the powerful and efficient
group of devices and oscillators [10,11]. The present study incorporates
room temperature ATT device for application in biomedical imaging. In
various quantum aspects of carrier transition in asymmetrically doped
order the make the study realistic, the authors have considered the effects
super-lattice Wz-GaN/AlxGa1-xN structure. The modified-QCNLDD
of variable Al mole fraction, noise effects/measure and parasitic series
simulator is introduced for solving the non-linear Poisson and current
resistance on the RF- characteristics of the devices.
continuity equations; subject to modified boundary conditions [10–16].
Section II will report the in-silico imaging studies using a T-Ray im-
The validity of the design is established by comparing the simulated data
aging system and subsequently, generated T-Ray thermographs will be
with experimental observations [10–16].
compared with its microwave counterparts. Relevant Maxwell's equa-
Extensive research works have been done with Wide-Bandgap (WBG)
tions are to be solved, and the corresponding results would be used to
semiconductor material-based ATT devices in the past decade [17,18].
analyse the bio-heat equations. The microwave and Terahertz thermo-
However, most of the researchers have focused on the IMPATT mode of
graphs will be generated and compared to make a comparative analysis.
operation. The superiority of wide-bandgap materials over its conven-
The real-time thermal and electrical properties of breast tissue, skin, and
tional counterparts in terms of high-THz power generation is established
malignant breast tissues would be used in the model for relevant mi-
now [17,18]. However, to the best of authors 'knowledge, studies on
crowave (11 GHz) and Terahertz (1.0 THz) radiation analysis [20]. In the
asymmetrically doped super-lattice Transit Time devices are limited. A
in-silico system, the radiation from the respective sources would be
pre-requisite criterion for generating high-frequency oscillation power is

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S. Adhikari et al. Sensors International 1 (2020) 100014

Fig. 3. a. E(x) profiles snapshots at 1 THz.Fig. 3b

.E(x) profiles snapshots at 1
THz.Fig. 3c
.E(x) profiles snapshots at 1
THz.Fig. 3d
.E(x) profiles snapshots at 1
THz.Fig. 3e
.E(x) profiles snapshots at 1
THz.

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S. Adhikari et al. Sensors International 1 (2020) 100014

Table 2 zone) are compared and analysed comprehensively.

RF properties of GaN/AlGaN-Based Super-Lattice devices.
Nonlinear Parameters GaNj11.0GHz GaNj0.15THz GaNj1.0THz 2. Simulation methodology
8 1
Ep(10 Vm ) 0.85 3.25 5.0
Breakdown Voltage VB(V) 960.0 102.0 23.0 Fig. 2 shows the structure/dimension of the GaN/AlGaN single drift
Efficiency (η) (%) 25.0 23.50 8.0 device. The details of modelling are summarized below.
Avalanche Frequency fa(THz) 0.007 0.048 0.35
Peak Frequency fp (THz) 0.011 0.145 1.05
Negative Conductance -Gp(106 Sm2) 25.0 43.00 72.0 2.1. Modified Quantum Corrected nonlinear drift-diffusion (m-QCNLDD)
Quality Factor -Qp (50% Modulation) 1.7 1.90 2.3
model
Negative Resistance -ZRP(109Ωm2) 10.3 5.04 3.2
RF Peak Power Prf(1010Wm2) 28.8 5.6 0.43
Quasi-3D asymmetrically doped and vertically grown GaN/AlxGa1-xN
-ATT (pþþ-n--nþ-nþþ) Terahertz source &in-silico imaging system is
incident separately on healthy/non-malignant and cancer affected breast designed and analysed in the report. The electrical/physical/thermal
tissues. It is expected that T-Ray exposure will enhance the properties of the super-lattice GaN/AlxGa1-xN material system along the
inner-temperature of the tumour above 40  C, while keeping the sur- axis of The symmetry of the device is considered for the design [21,22]. A
rounding healthy tissues at normal temperature. The different thermal non-linear, large-signal (LS) voltage-driven, model for Quasi Read/-
gradient is expected to be observed in T-Ray versus microwave p-i-n/pþ-n-n-nþþ type devices has already been developed to make real-
radiation-thermographs. Moreover, non-affected glandular tissues and istic analysis of the RF characteristics of the device under various biasing
skin possess high thermal conductivity and that may cause secondary conditions [10–12]. The authors have adopted the said simulation
hot-spots in radiation-thermographs. These undesired hotspots may approach after incorporating necessary structural, circuital and electrical
cause serious side effects like burns and pain; hot spots may trigger the changes as per the requirement of exotic super-lattice ATT devices.
chances of false-positive results and thus the screening efficiency would Additionally, the effects of parasitic series resistances including contact
get affected. Therefore, accurate tumour detection requires a sharp resistance and variable Al mole fraction are incorporated in the simula-
temperature gradient in thermo-graphic images. The relative tion tool to make the analysis more realistic. The simulator incorporates
radiation-thermographs at 11 GHz (microwave zone) and 1.0 THz (THz quantum size effect, temperature and field-dependent carrier mobility,

Fig. 4. a. Avalanche response time and transit time ratio variation with frequency for GaN/AlGaNsuper-lattice deviceFig
.4b
.Plots of breakdown voltage as a function of operating frequency and Al mole fraction.

Table 3
Experimental validation of the T-Ray imaging simulator [28].
Type of device under test (DUT) Experimental results [28] Analytical results generated by the QCNLDD model used in this
work

Unstrained Si-based <pþpnþ> device Operating frequency Current density Output power Operating frequency Current density Output power
at THz region (THz) (108A/m2) (mW) (THz) (108A/m2) (mW)
0.173 3 1.9 0.175 3 2.3
0.16 4 3.36 0.16 4 4.3
0.158 5 9.09 0.16 5 10.5
0.18 6 30.1 0.18 6 32
0.181 7 66.1 0.182 7 68.5

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S. Adhikari et al. Sensors International 1 (2020) 100014

Fig. 7. Impedance profiles of DUT under Terahertz operation.

Fig. 5. Admittance profiles of Si versus GaN/AlGaN devices at Ter-

ahertz regime.

Fig. 8. Plots of noise measure as a function of frequency and Al mole fraction in

DDUTs at THz-regime.

between the substrate and epi-layers in the device design. Following time
& space-dependent device equations are solved [23]:

∂ q
Eðx; tÞ ¼  ½Nd ðx; tÞ  Na ðx; tÞ þ Pðx; tÞ  Nðx; tÞ (1)
∂x ε


Fig. 6. Plots of RF Power output fromGaN/AlGaN super-lattice device as a ∂ 1 ∂
pðx; tÞ ¼  Jp ðx; tÞ þ Gp ðx; tÞ  Rp ðx; tÞ (2)
function of operating frequency in the THz domain. ∂x q ∂x


saturation velocity, and ionization rate. Electric field and current profiles ∂ 1 ∂
nðx; tÞ ¼ Jn ðx; tÞ þ Gn ðx; tÞ  Rn ðx; tÞ (3)
at each instant of time and space are obtained by solving the non-linear ∂x q ∂x
Poisson's equation and current continuity equations at the edges of the

 
active region and for different large-signal modulation factors subject to ∂ KB Tj d
Jp ðx; tÞ ¼  qμp Pðx; tÞ Vðx; tÞ þ Pðx; tÞ (4)
appropriate boundary conditions. The study has considered the role of ∂x q dx
introducing an n-bump layer of appropriate doping concentration in

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S. Adhikari et al. Sensors International 1 (2020) 100014

Fig. 9. Grid design for DUT under microwave exposure.

Fig. 10. Grid design for DUT under T-Ray exposure.


  GAp ðx; tÞ ¼ GAn ðx; tÞ ¼ αp ðx; tÞvp ðx; tÞCp ðx; tÞ ¼ αn ðx; tÞvn ðx; tÞCn ðx; tÞ (8)
∂ KB Tj d
Jn ðx; tÞ ¼  qμn Nðx; tÞ Vðx; tÞ  Nðx; tÞ (5)
∂x q dx where.

Jt ðx; tÞ ¼ Jn ðx; tÞ þ Jp ðx; tÞ (6) αp;n ¼ ionization-rate of the charge carriers,

vp;n ¼ drift velocities of the charge carriers,
where.
The charge carrier generation due to tunneling in GaN/AlxGa1-xN is
Jp,n(x,t) ¼ electron/hole current density expressed as (Sze S. M. and Kwok K. Ng 2008):
E(x,t) ¼ electric field intensity
 
Jt(x,t) ¼ total current density bT
GTn ðx; tÞ ¼ aT E2 ðx; tÞexp 1 
Gp,n(x,t) ¼ carrier generation rate, Eðx; tÞ
P(x,t) ¼ positive charge carrier concentration,
N(x,t) ¼ negative charge carrier concentration, where, E(x,t) ¼ electric field potential. The coefficients aT and bT are
Na(x,t) ¼ electron current density determined by:
Nd(x,t) ¼ hole current density
* 12
1
Rp,n(x,t) ¼ carrier recombination rates q mn 1 m*n Eg 2
aT ¼ b ¼
μp,n¼ mobility of charge carriers
T
8π ℏ2 Eg 8qℏ 2
ε ¼ permittivity;
Tj ¼ junction temperature, whereEg ¼ bandgap energy introduced in GaN/AlxGa1-xN super-lattice.

The simulator considers avalanche phenomenon and band-to-band m*n ¼ effective mass of the electron,


tunneling of electrons and holes for carrier generation in Mixed
ℏ 2hπ j-s ¼ normalized Planck's constant,
Tunneling Avalanche Transit Time (MITATT) mode of operation. It is
written as: q (1.6  1019 C) ¼ charge of the electron
h (6.625  1034 J-s) ¼ Planck's constant
Gp;n ðx; tÞ ¼ GAp;n ðx; tÞ þ GTp;n ðx; tÞ þ Gphp;n ðx; tÞ (7)

In the above equations,GAp;n ðx;tÞ, GTp;n ðx;tÞand Gphp;n ðx; tÞ represent the The hole generation rate due to tunneling can be expressed as,
carrier generation rate due to the avalanche and tunneling mechanism.
GTp ðx; tÞ ¼ GTn ðx' ; tÞ
The avalanche carrier generation rates for electrons and holes can be
expressed as [24]: The spatial separation of valence and conduction band at the same
position of E-k-diagram, denoted by (xx0 ), is obtained from the energy

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S. Adhikari et al. Sensors International 1 (2020) 100014

Fig. 11. Terahertz thermographs of malignant versus healthy tissues.

band diagram of the device. vac ðro ; tÞ ¼ vac ðro ; tÞ  VB

Once the device is designed for a frequency, avalanche response time
and transit times are modeled as a function of frequency [23]: Jac ðro ; tÞ ¼ Jac ðro ; tÞ  Jo

 
R xp Rx α
The Fourier analysis of these parameters provides the magnitudes of
xn
exp  xp n αn 1  αpn dx' dx full-scale current and voltage. Non-linear device admittance and
τA ðro ; ωÞ ¼  
 
 (9)
 Rx α
impedance profiles are estimated by solving the combined impedance
vsn þ vsp 1  JJno þ JJno exp  xp n αn 1  αpn dx equation subject to appropriate boundary condition [24]:
0 R t¼T=2
 1

 N t¼T=2 jac t; ro eiωt dt
Wn;p NJac ðω; ro Þ
τTn=p ðωÞ ¼   Yðω; ro Þ ¼ ¼ @ R t¼T=2
 A ¼ Gðω; ro Þ
0:5 vsn orvsp Vac ðω; ro Þ vac t; ro eiωt dt
t¼T=2

The ratio of τA and τT is an indicator of the possibility of high- þ iBðω; ro Þ (10)

frequency operation of the Device Under Test (DUT), smaller the ratio,
more the probability of high-frequency operation. The maximum RF power output is simulated from the following
The terminal voltage and current density, as a function of Al mole equation:
fraction (r0) and space-time, are simulated by solving the following
equations:

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S. Adhikari et al. Sensors International 1 (2020) 100014

Fig. 13. Microwave versus Terahertz thermographs of healthy and malignant

breast tissues.

2 

2
<v > 2q W
¼ : 1þ α'2 (11)
df JO :A xA
Fig. 12. Microwave thermography (11.0 GHz) of malignant breast can-
cer tissues. 2.2. TRay thermograph modelling

1 2   The software COMSOL Multiphysics® is used for the thermograph

Pac ¼ Vac Gp DDUT
2 model. Maxwell's equations are solved after satisfying appropriate
boundary conditions. The computation would be performed for deter-
where Gp ¼ device conductance at peak oscillation frequency. mining the electromagnetic specific absorption rate (SAR). This is fol-
The noise measure of the device is studied through the following lowed by the solving of Bio-heat [25] equations to generate the


<v2 > temperature thermograph of the breast model that includes both healthy
df
equation [24]: M ¼ 4KTðRÞ and malignant tissues. The T-Ray/microwave radiation will incident of
the organ under test.

 The in-silico bio-model (human breast) has been developed and
<v2 >
df ¼ mean square noise voltage per bandwidth (noise spectral identification is carried out with axisymmetric transverse magnetic
formulation. This is followed by the simplification of the Maxwell's
density).
equations [26] to a wave equation in Hϕ :
This is computed from the following equation:

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S. Adhikari et al. Sensors International 1 (2020) 100014

Fig. 14. (a) Malignant tumour detection with T- Ray temperature thermographs
Fig. 14 (b)Plots of Terahertz and Microwave thermographs for tumour detection/location.


1 
jσ E from Eq. (9), the electric field E → is simulated. Let n→ ¼ unit normal
rx εr  rxHϕ→  μr k02 Hϕ→ ¼ 0 (12)
ωε0 vector for a surface.

where σ E ¼ electrical conductivity. Once the magnetic field H → is solved n→ xE→ ¼ 0 (13)

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S. Adhikari et al.
Fig. 15. Plots off fraction of healthy cell damage in T-Ray versus Microwave
hyperthermia techniques.
The first-order boundary condition (Pennington J S 2017) is used at
outer boundaries of tissues.
pffiffiffi pffiffiffi pffiffiffi →
n→ x εE→  μH∅→ ¼ 2 μH∅0 (14)
The details of the mathematical model for the generation of terahertz
versus microwave thermographs are described elsewhere [27]. Dielec-
tric, thermal as well as blood perfusion properties of non-malignant and
malignant tissues are complex functions of EM-waves, oscillation fre-
quency and tissue. The corresponding properties are summarized in
Table 1. Available experimentally verified data are used for the study
[20].
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Non-linear characteristics of terahertz versus microwave DUT
The THz characteristics of the designed device at 11 GHz (micro-
wave) and THz-regime (0.15 THz and 1.0 THz) are examined through a
comprehensive analysis. A large-signal quantum drift-diffusion method
based indigenously developed simulator is used for in-silico character-
ization of the superlattice devices. The validity of the model was estab-
lished [11–16] for pin/exotic pin devices and the same with necessary
modifications are used for the present purpose. Initially, the non-linear
DC characteristic properties are simulated for a 50% voltage
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Sensors International 1 (2020) 100014
modulation factor. The corresponding E(x) profile snapshots of 1.0 THz
device are shown in Fig. 3(a–e). Table 2 compares the RF- properties of
the designed DUTs at 11 GHz, 0.15 THz and 1.0 THz. It is depicted that
the peak electric field at the breakdown is 3.25  108 V.m1 for 0.15 THz
operation, but the same enhanced to 5  108 V.m1 for the 1.0 THz
operation of DUT. The breakdown voltage for the 0.15 THz device is
102 V with an active region of 450 nm, and the breakdown voltage de-
creases to 23.0 V for 1.0 THz device with an active region ~100 nm. In
Fig. 3(a–e), the effect of large-signal and consequent non-linearity on the
Electric field, E(x) snapshots are shown for different phase angles
(0 < T < 2π). It is depicted that the peak electric field is directly related to
the phase angle variation during a complete period of oscillation. Table 2
shows that the peak electric field for the microwave device at 11.0 GHz is
0.85  108 Vm2.
Fig. 4(a) shows the variation of the ratio of avalanche response time
and transit time of GaN/AlxGa1-xN device with a range of THz-
frequencies for different semiconducting materials including Si, SiC,
GaN, InP&GaN/AlxGa1-xN. It is depicted from the figure that the GaN/
AlxGa1-xN variant shows the lowest ratio which is very conducive for its
high-frequency applications. Fig. 4(b) presents the frequency-dependent
breakdown voltage as well as the variation of breakdown voltage at
different frequencies for increasing Al mole fraction (r0). With the
increasing frequency, breakdown voltage decreases for a fixed Al mole
fraction. This is because the enhancement of frequency reduces the
avalanche zone width and thus the breakdown voltage decreases. The
increasing Al mole fraction decreases the performance of the device by
reducing its breakdown voltage. This is because increasing Al content
beyond the optimum level, introduces more strain and thus the perfor-
mance degrades. Intrinsic material parameter constraints in Si limits its
potentiality in generating power beyond 0.4 THz. Therefore, to validate
the model, Si - ATT device under theoretical (through m-QCNLDD model)
and experimental conditions are compared at the low-THz region only
[28] and the results are tabulated in Table 3. Table 3 establishes the
validity of the indigenously developed simulator. The admittance profiles
of GaN/AlxGa1-xN devices for 50% voltage modulation as a function of
operating frequencies are shown in Fig. 5. Table 2 indicates that for the
microwave device, the peak negative conductance at 11.0 GHz is
25  106 S.m2. Due to the incorporation of band-gap engineering in
super-lattice ATT device, the negative conductance at peak oscillation
frequency enhances to 43  106 S.m2 at 0.145 THz and
72  106 S.m2at 1.0 THz. The device quality factor for 50% voltage
modulation is found to be ~1.7 for microwave ATT, and the same de-
grades to 1.9 (0.15 THz) and 2.3 (1.0 THz) for the increasing
non-linearity in high-frequency oscillation. Fig. 6 shows the
frequency-power plots of the super-lattice GaN/AlxGa1-xN device for
Rs(Parasitic Series Resistance) ¼ 0 Ω and 1.38  1010 Ω.m2, separately.
The parasitic series resistance has played the dominant role in the case of
small dimensional devices. The series resistance is estimated at the
oscillation threshold, as described elsewhere [12]. The nonlinear analysis
has revealed that the magnitude of power decreases from
4.7109 W.m2 to 3.7  109 W.m2, as a result of the parasitic series
resistance effects. Fig. 6 also shows that the device is oscillating within
0.75 THz to 2.0 THz frequency bandwidth. The impedance characteris-
tics of the 1.0 THz device are shown in Fig. 7. It is interesting to observe
that the negative resistance at peak frequencies in the case of the 1.0 THz
device is~3.2  109 Ω.m2. Comparison with microwave and lower THz
devices are shown in Table 2. With the increasing frequency, to satisfy
the oscillation conditions, device dimension i.e. Mesa-diameter de-
creases, resulting in the noteworthy reduction in device negative resis-
tance. Though the negative resistance of the super-lattice 1.0 THz ATT
device decreases to 3.2  109 Ω.m2, the value is quite higher in com-
parison to parasitic series resistance value ~1.38  1010 Ω.m2 at the
same operating frequency. This has ensured the requisite oscillation
condition. Table 2 summarizes the high-frequency properties of the
super-lattice devices operating inthe THz region. The analysis has
revealed that the sub-millimeter wave device (0.15 THz) could generate a
S. Adhikari et al.
peak RF power ~ 6  1010 W.m2, whereas its 1.0 THz counterpart could
generate ~0.43  1010 W.m2 of power from a single device. The vari-
ation of noise measure of the device with operating frequency and with
variable Al mole fraction are plotted in Fig. 8. The observed results are
compared with conventional Si and wide band-gap SiC and GaN coun-
terparts. Experimental observation of the noise measure is also plotted in
the same graph, to establish the validity of the simulation tool. It is
interesting to notice that the super-lattice structure is showing the best
result. The narrowing of the avalanche zone and suppressing hole ioni-
zation rate by electron ionization rate due to band-gap engineering in
super-lattice structure is responsible for better noise performance in
GaN/AlxGa1-xN device. In absence of any published experimental data on
GaN/AlGaN ATT oscillators, the validity of the model is established by
comparing the electrical performance of the Si-based sub--
millimeter/lower THz device under theoretical (through m-QCNLDD
model) and experimental conditions and the corresponding results are
summarized in Table 3. Excellent agreement between theory and
experiment has established the validity of the m-QCNLDD model. The
reliability study of the device is also carried out in terms of doping de-
pendency, bias current dependency and series resistance optimization.
The study revealed that the optimum bias current density and doping
density can be kept well within 5%, however, junction temperature can
be altered within 10% and for that series resistance could be kept below
the device negative resistance for satisfying the oscillation condition.
3.2. T-ray thermograph analysis
The authors have developed an equivalent breast model using
COMSOL Multiphysics® software combined with the newly developed
QCNLDD model. The breast model is considered as a cylindrical cone of
120 mm  50 mm dimension. The phantom model consists of breast skin,
and the rest part is made up with fatty breast tissues. The skin thickness
has not been considered in the analysis. The tumour is a sphere of
approximately 3 mm in diameter. The phantom model is subjected to a
series of external radiation, starting from the low microwave radiation
(11 GHz) to the THz radiation (1.0 THz). The output relevant thermo-
graphs are studied and reported here in the paper for comparison. At the
beginning of the analysis, several grid resolutions are tested and
compared for greater accuracy. The default grids and the refined grids for
11.0 GHz and 1.0 THz DUTs are shown in Figs. 9 and 10, respectively.
Fig. 11 shows the terahertz thermographs of normal fatty breast tis-
sues versus malignant breast tissues under similar exposure conditions. It
is observed that as a result of incident radiation at 1.0 THz frequency, T-
Ray power absorption does not reflect any significant temperature
gradient within the normal breast model. On the other side, for the
malignant case, the thermographs reflect a noticeable temperature
gradient (a rise in temperature from 37  C to 40.5  C), as a result of water
contents in tumour cell. With the increasing frequency (1.0 THz), the
temperature gradient is becoming more prominent as reflected in Fig. 11.
Fig. 12 clearly shows that compared to its THz counterpart; microwave
thermographs are less effective in detecting the position and location of
tumours, due to a less sharp temperature gradient. Though the micro-
wave thermography enhances the temperature of the affected portion
within the breast model, the spreading is quite high and thus the effec-
tiveness of the radiation thermographs falls significantly and in turn, it
may produce more false-positive or false-negative results which is a
major drawback of this technique. Fig. 13 shows the relative temperature
thermographs of microwave and T-ray radiation for malignant breast
model. The comparative study has revealed that the Tray's non-ionizing
thermal imaging is an efficient technique in breast cancer screening and
may be employed in place of presently used X-ray based ionizing imag-
ing. Fig. 14(a–b) shows the rotational images of the microwave & THz-
thermographs for tumour location detection in the developed breast
model. In this case, the radiation source and antenna system are moved
within the semi-circular path and at each position of the radiation source,
the thermographs are captured and compared. It is interesting to observe
12
Sensors International 1 (2020) 100014
that in T-Ray thermography the location of the tumour (as shown in the
figure) can be identified sharply. This reduces the risk of false-positive/
negative outcome drastically and improve imaging efficiency. The ther-
mal stability of the device is ensured by introducing diamond heat sink
and pulse mode operation of the device. Diamond, having high thermal
conductivity, is good for heat spreading and in this way the junction
temperature of the device is kept near the ambient temperature.
In the T-Ray radiation hyperthermia technique, the most important
part is the estimation of surrounding tissue damage under radiation
exposure of say 1 min. The issue of cell damage as a result of microwave
and terahertz radiation is therefore included in the model. The study
(Fig. 15) reveals that a fraction of healthy cellsare damaged in the mi-
crowave thermograph diagnosis technique; the cell damage issue is,
however, less pronounced in the T-ray thermographs.
The temperature increase is due to the presence of more water in
cancer affected cells. The cell damage is greatest in proximity to the T-ray
emitter and decreased gradually with distance. The detectable dimension
of the malignant tumour is approximate ~3–4 mm in diameter. The
published literature has not yet reported regarding the detection of such
small-sized tumour using X-ray/Microwave/Infra-red radiation accu-
rately. Here is the novelty of the study in designing/developing a cost-
effective, compact and room temperature non-ionizing thermography
technique and corresponding in-silico detection of breast tumour of ~
3 mm diameter. To the best of authors' knowledge, this is the first-ever
report on T-Ray thermography study in breast malignancy and corre-
sponding comparison with its microwave counterpart which has poten-
tial for future adoption of this technology [29]. Also in comparison to
many imaging modalities, done earlier [30–33], THz has the highest
accuracy in early detection of breast tumours as observed in the present
study.
4. Conclusion
Super-lattice GaN/AlxGa1-xN -based exotic ATT device oscillator is
designed and studied as a T-Ray source for non-ionizing bio-medical
imaging applications. A modified QCNLDD simulator, indigenously
developed by the authors, is used for this purpose. Reliability study of the
said model is also conducted for optimization of the device and it is
observed that the dimension details could be altered within 5% of the
limit, without affecting the performance of the device. The authors have
studied the role of noise-measure (NM) and it is interesting to find that
the super-lattice structure reduces the NM significantly compared to its
other alternatives. Further experimental validation of the developed
model is established with excellent agreement. The necessity of incor-
porating super-lattice properties within the conventional model is to
improve the effective mobility of carriers in the central active region and
to decrease the effective avalanche zone width; these, in turn, improve
the high-frequency electrical/noise properties of the ATT device. The
variation of Al mole fraction and strain effects on the Terahertz proper-
ties of the device is studied. The study reveals that the increasing Al mole
fraction beyond 35% greatly affects the performance of the devices. The
study reveals the potential of GaN/AlxGa1-xN as a good replacement of
conventional flat profile GaN devices as far as improved admittance
profiles, electrical field profiles; RF power output, noise-measure, and
efficiencies are concerned. The validity of the model is ensured by
incorporating experimentally obtained field-dependent material param-
eter data and by incorporating the effects of series resistance on the
power-frequency behaviour of the designed device. The observations
provide evidence for the suitability of the GaN/AlxGa1-xN material pair in
developing a high-power (~4.0  109 W.m2) T-ray source at 1.0 THz.
THz-system could be developed with the designed device as source and a
suitable detector. The device will be embedded in a THz-waveguide and
the radiation pattern will be analysed in a Vector Network Analyzer
[VNA].
Further work has compared T-ray and microwave radiation ther-
mography to detect a (3–4) mm tumour in the breast model. The
S. Adhikari et al.
observed results have established that the non-ionizing T-ray imaging
technique could be an excellent future alternative to ionizing X-ray
mammography techniques in real-time breast-cancer screening. The T-
ray imaging technique has immense potential to be adopted as a novel
technique to do organ imaging safely and avoid ionizing radiations. The
reason includes a better thermal gradient, compared with microwave
radiation, high-contrast and the greatly reduced amount of surrounding
tissue damage. To the best of authors' knowledge, this is the first report
on a super-lattice, ATT-based T-ray source development and in-silico ra-
diation model to assisting non-invasive, low-cost, and accurate identifi-
cation of breast cancer. The betterment of the T-Ray technique, over MRI
is its accuracy and early detection capability. Terahertz imaging is ex-
pected to overcome the limitation of MRI imaging. Also, experimental
validation of the in-house developed model would be very much useful
shortly for other related device development/applications.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to Adamas University for providing the
necessary support to do this work. We acknowledge inputs provided by
our collaborators from North Eastern Hill University.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data related to this article can be found at https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.sintl.2020.100014.
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Saikat Adhikari was born in 1981. He had received his M.Sc.
degree in Physics (Specialization in Electronics) from Central
University (G.G.V.) of Chhattisgarh in 2004. After that he had
also received his Post Graduate Diploma in Applied GIS &
Remote Sensing from Jadavpur University, Kolkata in 2006. He
has established professional credibility in developing numerous
educational & applied physics applications for various fields and
purposes. Presently he is pursuing Ph.D. in the domain of
Medical Imaging from Department of Physics, Adamas Univer-
sity, Kolkata. He has total 10 publications in the SCOPUS jour-
nal, Proceedings of the IEEE International Conferences and
Springer Book chapters
S. Adhikari et al.
Dinesh Bhatia pursued his PhD in Biomechanics and Rehabil-
itation Engineering from MNNIT, Allahabad, India in 2010 with
Bachelor's (2002) and Master's degree (2004) in Biomedical
Engineering from Mumbai University. He completed his MBA
(Dual Specialization) from IMT Ghaziabad in 2007. He is
currently working as Associate Professor in the Department of
Biomedical Engineering, North Eastern Hill University (NEHU),
Shillong, Meghalaya, India since August 2013. He was selected
for the “Young Scientist Award (BOYSCAST)” in (2011-12) by
Government of India to pursue research in osteoarthritis (OA)
for one year at Adaptive Neural Systems Laboratory, Biomedical
Engineering Department, Florida International University,
Miami, Florida, USA where he was leading a multidisciplinary
team of researchers. He is also the recipient of “INAE fellowship
award” in 2011 by Indian National Academy of Engineering. He
was selected as one of the twelve young Biomedical scientists by
the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Govt. of India to
pursue research fellowship (2014-15) in the field of sensory
prosthetics at University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK. He has
attended Biomechanics and Human Gait training at Munich,
Germany in March, 2017 and training of use of rTMS, EEG and
EMG equipment(s) in disabled children in Ivanovo, Russia in
September, 2017. He delivered an Invited Talk on Gait and
Osteoarthritis in Kaula Lampur, Malaysia in August, 2018. He
has several research papers in reputed journals, conference,
seminars and symposia with teaching and research experience
of more than seventeen (17) years. He is invited panel member
of many professional bodies, editorial boards, committees, so-
cieties and forums. He has worked on several funded projects
from Government of India on physically challenged, disabled,
paralyzed persons, environment and waste management and
few projects are still ongoing. He authored a book titled
“Medical Informatics” published (2015) by PHI, “Current as-
pects in Stroke Rehabilitation” (2016) by ABS Publishers,
“Smart healthcare monitoring for disease diagnosis” (2020) by
Elsevier and two books on ECG and EEG signal processing with
Lambert Publishers, Germany (2019). He has published 05
books and 15 books chapters till date and supervised several
UG, PG and doctoral students. His research focuses on under-
standing muscle mechanics, joint kinematics and dynamics
involved in performing locomotion and routine tasks and
undermining it effects during an injury or disease. His areas of
interest are medical instrumentation, biomechanics and reha-
bilitation engineering, medical informatics, signal and image
processing, marketing, international business and environ-
mental sustainability.
14
Sensors International 1 (2020) 100014
Dr. Moumita Mukherjee, alumni of Presidency College and
Calcutta University. Dr. Mukherjee received M.Sc. (Physics)
degree with specialization in Electronics and Communication,
M.Tech. Degree in Biomedical-Engineering and Ph.D. (Tech.)
degree in Radio Physics and Electronics (2009), University of
Calcutta, India. She did her Ph.D. (Tech) from DRDO, Ministry
of Defence, Govt. of India. She obtained ‘visiting scientist’ po-
sition from INEX, Newcastle University, UK (2009–2011). She
obtained PDF position from Technical University, Darmstadt,
Germany (2010). Dr. Mukherjee is Adjunct Professor and
member of Board of Studies of the Joint Academic program on
Biomedical Instrumentation under Calcutta University and The
West Bengal University of Health Sciences. Dr. Mukherjee is
former Scientist (Reader grade) -DRDO Centre of Excellence
under Ministry of Defence, Govt. of India (2010–2015). In
continuation to that she has joined Adamas University in 2015
and presently working as Associate Professor – Dept. of Physics
and Associate Dean & Academic coordinator of School of Sci-
ence. She has guided more than 35 Post-Graduate (M.Tech &
M.Sc.) thesis under Calcutta University & West Bengal Univer-
sity of Health Sciences, West Bengal University of Technology
(WBUT) and Adamas University. She is presently guiding/
completed 11 (Eleven) Ph.D. theses under Adamas University
and WBUT as Supervisor/Jt. Supervisor. Her research interest is
focused on THz-electronics, Semiconductor devices based on
wide-band-gap semiconductors, Graphene electronics, Photo-
sensors, nano-biosensors and Medical Electronics & in-
struments. She has published more than 150 peer-reviewed
research papers on THzElectronics, Semiconductor devices,
Biomedical Electronics and photonics in leading International
refereed journals & reviewed / edited volumes & proceedings of
IEEE/IoP/SPIE/ELSEVIER/SPRINGER/IEE– with citation glob-
ally. She is principal investigator of three industry funded
research projects. She is reviewer of a number of international
peer reviewed journals and editorial board member of interna-
tional journals. She is the author of a number of international
book-chapters, and worked as a Volume Editor and author of
three ISBN numbered books published from UK and India. She
has delivered a number of invited talks and presented several
research articles in IEEE International Conferences and acted in
various capacities in IEEE & DST International Conferences in
India and abroad. Dr. Mukherjee has received National Merit
Scholarship award from Govt. of India and was enlisted in
‘Marques Who's Who in Science and Engineering’ and ‘Marques
Who's Who in the World’. She has received “IEEE best paper
award” two times in 2009 and 2010, prestigious ‘Best Scientist
Award’, ‘Bharat Gaurav Award’ in 2015, Best paper award in
Science and Technology Congress, India in 2012, Best paper
award in International conference MICRO - 2019. Dr. Mukher-
jee is the Member of IEEE (USA), IEEE-ED society (USA) and life
member of Biomedical Society of India, Indian Science News
Association and Indian Science Congress