Seeking better surface plasmon polariton (SPP) waveguides is of critical importance to construct the frequency-agile terahertz (THz) front-end circuits. We propose and investigate here a new class of semiconductor-based slot plasmonic waveguides for subwavelength THz transport. Optimizations of the key geometrical parameters demonstrate its better guiding properties for simultaneous realization of long propagation lengths (up to several millimeters) and ultra-tight mode confinement (~λ2/530) in the THz spectral range. The feasibility of the waveguide for compact THz components is also studied to lay the foundations for its practical implementations. Importantly, the waveguide is compatible with the current complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) fabrication technique. We believe the proposed waveguide configuration could offer a potential for developing a CMOS plasmonic platform and can be designed into various components for future integrated THz circuits (ITCs).

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Dalhousie University Halifax NS B3J 2X4 Canada

Department of physics and electrical engineering Northumbria University Newcastle NE1 8ST United Kingdom

Faculty of Information Engineering Department of Information and Communication Engineering Fukuoka Institute of Technology Fukuoka 811 0295 Japan

Institute of Photonics Faculty of Science Ningbo University Ningbo 315211 China

Nanotechnology Centre VSB Technical University of Ostrava Ostrava Poruba 708 33 Czech Republic

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