Sensitivity increase of point contact hot carrier microwave detector

A new design of a point contact microwave detector constructed on the basis of the charge carrier heating phenomena in a semiconductor is presented. The voltage sensitivity of the detector is increased by introducing an n-type Al_0.3Ga_0.7As/GaAs hetero-junction as an additional nonlinear element connected in series with the non-injecting point contact. When measured at room temperature in the X-band frequency range, the voltage sensitivity of this detector is 20 times greater than the sensitivity of the usual diode with a non-injecting point contact.