Photoconductive device and method of operating the same

A photoconductive device of charge injection blocking type comprising:

• a target section having a transparent substrate;
• a transparent electrode formed on said transparent substrate;
• a photoconductive layer formed on said transparent electrode to apply photoelectric conversion to incident light, said photoconductive layer having blocking type contact and comprising an amorphous semiconductor layer capable of charge multiplication in at least a part of said photoconductive layer;
• an electron beam control section for emitting, accelerating, deflecting and focusing an electron beam to scan said target section;
• and
• a means for applying the electric field to the amorphous semiconductor layer so as to induce the charge multiplication in the amorphous semiconductor layer.

A photoconductive device having an image pick-up tube comprising:

• a substrate;
• a photoconductive layer formed on or above the substrate, having an amorphous semiconductor layer being capable of charge multiplication therein;
• means for applying electric field to the amorphous semiconductor layer so as to induce the charge multiplication in the amorphous semiconductor layer;
• and
• means for blocking charge injection from the means for applying into the amorphous semiconductor layer.

The photoconductive device having an image pick-up tube comprising:

• a photoconductive layer converting incident light into photocarriers and multiplying carriers in an amorphous semiconductor layer of the photoconductive layer according to an electric field applied to the amorphous semiconductor layer;
• means for applying the electric field to the amorphous semiconductor layer so as to induce avalanche multiplication phenomenon in the amorphous semiconductor layer;
• and
• means for blocking charge injection from the means for applying into the amorphous semiconductor layer.

A photoconductive device having an image pick-up tube comprising:

• a photoconductive layer having a photocarrier generation layer for absorbing incident light and generating most of photocarriers, and also having an amorphous semiconductor layer for multiplying carriers therein;
• means for applying electric field to the amorphous semiconductor layer so as to induce avalanche multiplication phenomenon in the amorphous semiconductor layer;
• and
• means for blocking charge injection from the means for applying into the amorphous semiconductor layer.