Imagine an antenna that could transmit at terahertz frequencies—generally defined at those between 300 gigahertz (GHz) and 3 terahertz (THz). Such an antenna could send and receive data at rates that would be orders of magnitude faster than any device we currently use. Even the 5G networks now being deployed will operate, at best, on frequencies well below 100 gigahertz.

Now, a team at the Technical University of Munich, headed by Alexander Holleitner and Reinhard Kienberger, has developed a terahertz antenna—but it won’t ever be used to send signals over the air. The TUM team’s antenna is designed to use electrons to transfer data across a minuscule gap on the surface of a chip. Their technique could open the door for much faster on-chip signal generation.

The antenna uses a quantum property of electrons to transmit very high-frequency signals across narrow gaps, and could generate signals for on-chip communication at rates far exceeding any technology currently available for moving bits of information across a chip.