Stacked silicide/silicon mid- to long-wavelength infrared detector
AssigneeCalifornia Institute of Technology
InventorJoseph Maserjian
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The use of stacked Schottky barriers (16) with epitaxially grown thin silicides (10) combined with selective doping (22) of the barriers provides high quantum efficiency infrared detectors (30) at longer wavelengths that is compatible with existing silicon VLSI technology.
Claims10
An improved infrared detector comprising at least one unit comprising a thin single crystal metal silicide layer sandwiched between two single crystal silicon layers, each doped to a first doping level, each said silicon layer forming an interface with said silicide layer, the improvement comprising that portion of each said silicon layer adjacent said interface having a second doping level higher than that of said first doping level, thereby forming a reduced Schottky barrier.
An improved infrared detector comprising a plurality of stacked metal silicide layers, each silicide layer sandwiched between two silicon layers, each doped to a first doping level, each said silicon layer forming an interface with an adjacent metal silicide layer to form repeated p-type Schottky barriers, the improvement comprising that portion of each said silicon layer adjacent said interface having a doping level higher than that of said first doping level, thereby providing a reduced effective barrier height.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.