The broad applications of ultrawide-band signals and terahertz waves in quantum measurements^1,2, imaging and sensing techniques^3,4, advanced biological treatments⁵, and very-high-data-rate communications⁶ have drawn extensive attention to ultrafast electronics. In such applications, high-speed operation of electronic switches is challenging, especially when high-amplitude output signals are required⁷. For instance, although field-effect and bipolar junction devices have good controllability and robust performance, their relatively large output capacitance with respect to their ON-state current substantially limits their switching speed⁸. Here we demonstrate a novel on-chip, all-electronic device based on a nanoscale plasma (nanoplasma) that enables picosecond switching of electric signals with a wide range of power levels. The very high electric field in the small volume of the nanoplasma leads to ultrafast electron transfer, resulting in extremely short time responses. We achieved an ultrafast switching speed, higher than 10 volts per picosecond, which is about two orders of magnitude larger than that of field-effect transistors and more than ten times faster than that of conventional electronic switches. We measured extremely short rise times down to five picoseconds, which were limited by the employed measurement set-up. By integrating these devices with dipole antennas, high-power terahertz signals with a power–frequency trade-off of 600 milliwatts terahertz squared were emitted, much greater than that achieved by the state of the art in compact solid-state electronics. The ease of integration and the compactness of the nanoplasma switches could enable their implementation in several fields, such as imaging, sensing, communications and biomedical applications.

超宽带信号和太赫兹波在量子测量^1,2、成像和传感技术^3,4、先进的生物治疗⁵和超高数据速率通信⁶中的广泛应用引起了对超快电子学的广泛关注。在此类应用中，电子开关的高速操作具有挑战性，尤其是在需要高振幅输出信号时⁷。例如，虽然场效应和双极结器件具有良好的可控性和稳健的性能，但它们相对于其导通状态电流的相对较大的输出电容大大限制了它们的开关速度⁸. 在这里，我们展示了一种基于纳米级等离子体（nanoplasma）的新型片上全电子设备，该设备能够实现具有广泛功率水平的电信号的皮秒切换。小体积纳米等离子体中的非常高的电场导致超快的电子转移，从而导致极短的时间响应。我们实现了超快的开关速度，高于 10 伏/皮秒，这比场效应晶体管大两个数量级，比传统电子开关快十倍以上。我们测量了极短的上升时间，低至 5 皮秒，这受到所采用的测量设置的限制。通过将这些设备与偶极天线集成，发射了功率频率折衷为 600 毫瓦太赫兹平方的高功率太赫兹信号，远高于紧凑型固态电子设备中现有技术所能达到的信号。纳米等离子体开关的易于集成和紧凑性使其能够在多个领域实现，例如成像、传感、通信和生物医学应用。