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US 5,315,129 AGranted
Organic optoelectronic devices and methods
AssigneeUniversity of Southern California
InventorsStephen R. Forrest, Franky F. So
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AssigneeUniversity of Southern California
InventorsStephen R. Forrest, Franky F. So
Estimating the term…
Organic optoelectronic devices, such as a modulator (54) and a photodetector (73) comprising alternating layers (58) of two crystalline planar organic aromatic semiconductors (60 and 62), have been grown by organic molecular beam deposition. These organic substances have been deposited in ultra-thin layers only 10 .ANG. in depth using organic molecular beam deposition methods. Due to the anisotropic character of these organic materials,, the devices formed using these methods possess unique electronic and optical properties. The preferred embodiment of the invention utilizes 3,4,9,10-perylenetetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA) and 3,4,7,8-naphthalenetetracarboxylic dianhydride (NTCDA). While the inventors have identified PTCDA and NTCDA as excellent materials for the manufacture of organic optoelectronic IC devices, the broad scope of the present invention encompasses the use of any planar organic aromatic semiconductor which readily forms a crystalline structure. The preferred method of the invention employs a chamber (23) containing an inorganic substrate (32) with appropriate material for making electrical contact to the organic structures and sources of PTCDA (36) and NTCDA (38). The chamber (23) is maintained at a pressure which is generally less than 10.sup. -6 Torr. The substrate (32) is separated from the source materials by a minimum separation distance of 10 cm. The substrate (32) is held below 150K while the PTCDA and NTCDA are alternately heated. The methods described above may also be employed to fabricate an organic phototransistor/photodetector (78).
An optoelectronic device formed by a process comprising the steps of:
A quasi-epitaxial optoelectronic device comprising:
An organic multiple quantum well light modulator (54) comrpising:
An organic multiple quantum well photodetector (73) comprising:
A bipolar transistor formed on a substrate (80, 80') and comprising three layers (84, 86, 88, 84', 86', 88') of semiconductor material, at least one of which layers comprises a planar crystalline organic aromatic semiconductor material selected from the group of organic compounds consisting of polyacenes and porphyrins and derivatives thereof, with appropriate contacts (82, 90, 82', 89, 90') made to at least two layers thereof.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.