Semiconductor device
OwnerAlan Ernest Owen, John Mavorinventors
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Abstract
The invention relates to a photo-sensitive solid-state electronic device whose anode-cathode current is modified by photon induced changes in the electrical condition of a dielectric layer on the semiconductor body. The invention is primarily concerned with the nature of the photosensitive material used for the device which is chosen to cause charge injection into the dielectric layer. The semiconductor body may define a FET, an MIS or a CCD device and the photosensitive material is conveniently an optically active organic dyestuff.
Claims10
A bistable illumination-sensitive switch device comprising a semiconductor body, a first electrode and a second electrode in or on said body between which a channel current can flow in a region of the body adjacent to a surface thereof, a dielectric layer on at least a part of said surface, a charge injecting photosensitive material on said dielectric layer having the ability to inject charges into said dielectric layer, the charge injecting photosensitive material being adjacent to an auxiliary electrode which, while the device is illuminated and electrically biased in an appropriate way will cause charge injection into the dielectric layer to modify the electrical condition of the dielectric layer and affect the channel current flowing in the semiconductor body after the illumination ceases.
A device as claimed in claim 7, in which the dielectric layer is overlain by the charge injecting photosensitive material and the layer of charge injecting photosensitive material is contacted by a conducting grid forming the auxiliary electrodes.
A semiconductor body, a first electrode and a second electrode in or on said body between which a channel current can flow in a region of the body adjacent to a surface thereof, a dielectric layer on at least a part of said surface, a charge injecting photosensitive material on said dielectric layer having the ability to inject charges into said dielectric layer, the charge injecting photosensitive material being adjacent to an auxiliary electrode which, while the device is illuminated and electrically biased in an appropriate way causes charge injection into the dielectric layer producing a modification of the electrical condition of the dielectric layer and accordingly of the channel current flowing in the semiconductor body persisting indefinitely after the illumination ceases.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.