Responsivity enhanced photodetector with photon-trapping nanostructures
AssigneeAttollo Engineering, LLC
InventorsBora Onat, M. Saif Islam
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A back-illuminated photo detector array (PDA) includes a front side and a back side. The back side receives optical energy incident on the back side at an incident direction. The front side includes a detection layer that includes detection structures and a plurality of photon-trapping nanostructures (PTN). The PTN cause optical energy incident on the back side to disperse in a direction perpendicular to the incident direction, and thereby improve an absorption efficiency of the back-illuminated PDA.
Claims29
Photo Detector Array (PDA), comprising:
- a back side that receives optical energy incident on the back side at an incident direction;
- and
- a front side that includes a detection layer that absorbs the optical energy incident on the back side via a substrate, wherein the detection layer includes a plurality of detector structures and fill regions between adjacent detector structures, wherein the fill regions include a plurality of nanostructures which cause optical energy incident on the fill region to disperse perpendicularly to the incident direction to be absorbed by an absorber layer of the plurality of detector structures.
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A method, comprising:
- receiving, at a back surface of a photo detector array (PDA), incident optical energy in an incident direction;
- absorbing, at adjacent detection structures of the photo detector, the optical energy;
- and
- using photon-trapping nanostructures to cause optical energy incident on fill regions between adjacent detection structures to disperse perpendicularly to the incident direction towards the adjacent detection structures.
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A Photo Detector Array (PDA), comprising:
- a back side that includes a substrate;
- and
- a front side that includes a detection layer that absorbs optical energy incident on the front side in an incident direction, wherein the detection layer includes a plurality of detector structures and fill regions between adjacent detector structures, wherein the fill regions include a plurality of nanostructures, and wherein the plurality of nanostructures cause optical energy received at the fill region to disperse perpendicularly to the incident direction to be absorbed by an absorber layer of the plurality of detector structures.
A photo detector structure, comprising:
- a detection surface configured to receive incident light from an incident direction;
- and
- an absorption layer that absorbs optical energy from the detection surface and generates an electrical signal indicative of characteristics of the received energy, and wherein the absorption layer absorbs optical energy dispersed towards the photo detector structure in a direction perpendicular to the incident direction by a plurality of photon trapping nanostructures arranged adjacent to the photo detector structure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.