Reversible optoelectronic semiconductor device

Abstract

A reversible optoelectronic device for use in a narrow range of light wavelength, comprising a semiconductor body comprising at least one transparent surface region of a first conductivity type and an assembly of two active regions, one of said active regions having a first conductivity type and another said active region having the opposite conductivity type and determining a semiconductor junction having electroluminescent and photosensitive properties, said assembly of said two active regions consisting of a material having a smaller forbidden bandwidth that the material of said surface region, said surface region being a strongly doped and localized in a deposited layer that is of the same composition and that has a low doping, the depth of said junction with respect to the boundary between said layer and said assembly of active regions being between one-half and one-quarter of the diffusion length of the minority carriers in said active region of the first type, and said material of said assembly being selected such that the sum of one third of said diffusion length of minority carriers in said first conductivity type active region and of the diffusion length of said minority carriers in the active region of said opposite conductivity type is between one and three absorption lengths of light rays of said wavelength range.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.