Hybrid mosaic IR/CCD focal plane
AssigneeHoneywell Inc.
InventorsRobert V. Lorenze, Jr., William J. White
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A hybrid mosaic IR/CCD focal plane structure has high detector element packing densities which may be achieved using cost effective planar processing technology. The focal plane structure preferably includes an insulator layer over a silicon substrate which contains integrated circuit CCD signal processing circuitry. A mosaic photovoltaic (Hg,Cd)Te detector array is fabricated on the insulator layer. The photosignals from the detector array are coupled to the CCD circuitry by thin film electrical interconnects together with contact pads which extend through the insulator layer and are exposed at the surface of the insulator layer.
Claims19
A photodetector system comprising:
- a semiconductor substrate having solid state signal processing circuitry therein;
- an insulator layer over a surface of the semiconductor substrate;
- a plurality of rows of contact pads projecting through the insulator layer to provide electrical contacts to the solid state signal processing circuitry;
- a plurality of rows of photodetector material mounted on the insulator layer, each row of photodetector material having front and back surfaces, a region of first conductivity type proximate the back surface, and a plurality of regions of second conductivity type separated from one another and proximate the front surface;
- first electrical contact means interposed between the back surface and the insulator layer for providing electrical contact to the region of first conductivity type;
- and
- second electrical contact means for providing electrical contact between the regions of second conductivity type and the contact pads in an adjacent row of contact pads.
A photodetector system comprising:
- a semiconductor substrate having solid state signal processing circuitry therein proximate a first surface;
- an insulator layer covering the first surface;
- a row of contact pads surrounded by the insulator layer and exposed at the surface of the insulator layer, the contact pads extending from the surface through the insulator layer to provide electrical contacts to the solid state signal processing circuitry;
- a row of photovoltaic detectors having back surfaces mounted on the surface of the insulator layer and having regions of first conductivity type proximate the back surfaces and regions of second conductivity type proximate front surfaces of the detectors, the row of photovoltaic detectors being aligned essentially parallel to the row of contact pads;
- a common electrical contact to the regions of first conductivity type of all photovoltaic detectors of the row thereof interposed between the back surfaces of the photovoltaic detectors and the insulator layer;
- and
- individual electrical interconnects between the region of second conductivity type of each photovoltaic detector and a corresponding contact pad in the row of contact pads.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.