Characteristics of integrated MOM junctions at DC and at optical frequencies

We present a new metal-oxide-metal device (Ni-NiO-Ni, "Edge MOM") which is stable, reproducibly fabricated, and with a 10^-10-cm²tunneling area. Performing detection experiments, the device's nonlinear I-V characteristic is shown to be invariant at audio frequencies, 10.6, 3.39, and 0.6328 μm. Similar devices with 10^-8-cm²tunneling areas perform as well as the Edge MOM's in the visible and the near-infrared range, but deteriorate in performance at the 10-μm range. A dominant competing effect is a thermal-induced signal, which increases with frequency and temperature. Coupling mechanisms at the various regimes are investigated. The device can serve as a broad-band detector and mixer, and might in the future be a basic element of broad-band amplifiers and oscillators.