Towards rectennas for solar energy harvesting

The modeling of terahertz components for application in rectifying antennas (rectennas) for solar energy harvesting is described. The components under consideration are metal insulator insulator metal (MIIM) rectifiers and patch antennas. The Schrödinger equation is solved using numerical methods, to predict the bound states that occur in the conduction band notch between the two insulators. These states provide for resonant tunneling in the forward bias condition so reducing the dynamic resistance of the diode allowing better matching with the antenna. The antenna separation is optimized to produce a broadband performance to cover the solar spectrum so indicating feasibility for their use in this application.