High resistance photoconductor structure for multi-element infrared detector arrays
US4731640A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | May 20, 1986 |
| Grant date | Mar 15, 1988 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 20, 2006 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH10F77/1237
Abstract
A high resistance, low noise, multi-layer, thin film photoconductive, infrared detector operable to be easily coupled to charge couple devices; having an enhanced photoconductive gain due to the use of a bias voltage across a depletion layer of n-doped HgCdTe resulting in the flow of electron charge in the bulk of depletion region and the flow of electron holes along the surface of the depletion region. In one embodiment of this invention an additional layer is incorporated into the structure having specific thickness, of 1/4 of the wavelength of the energy received. This additional layer of material behaves as resonant cavity enhancing the quantium efficiency. In a further embodiment, a configuration for a high resistance photoconductor detector structure is disclosed utilizing a cylindrical topography to circumvent lateral edge problems in the high resistance photoconductive structure. Finally, arrays composed of a multiplicity of the described detectors are taught using the cylindrical topography embodiment.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.