Patent · US Expired

Semiconductor optoelectronic switch and method for driving the same

US5414282A · kind A · utility

9Cited by
7References
13Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateJul 20, 1993
Grant dateMay 9, 1995
Priority date
Expiry dateJul 20, 2013

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH10F77/413

Abstract

The invention provides a heterostructure optoelectronic switching device showing a switch operation in response to a light injection for a subsequent light emission. The switching device comprises a pair of first and second bipolar transistors made of semiconductors showing a direct band-to-band transition. Each of the first and second bipolar transistors comprises collector and emitter layers and a base layer having a narrower energy band gap than energy band gaps of the collector and emitter layers. The base layers of the first and second bipolar transistors are connected to the collector layers of the second and first bipolar transistors respectively to allow the device to have a positive feedback feature. The emitter layers of the first and second bipolar transistors are connected to a first terminal. The collector layers of the first and second bipolar transistors are connected respectively through first and second resistors to a second terminal applied with a voltage higher than a voltage applied to the first terminal.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.