Materials, systems and methods for optoelectronic devices
AssigneeInVisage Technologies, Inc.
InventorsHui Tian, Edward Hartley Sargent
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A photodetector is described along with corresponding materials, systems, and methods. The photodetector comprises an integrated circuit and at least two optically sensitive layers. A first optically sensitive layer is over at least a portion of the integrated circuit, and a second optically sensitive layer is over the first optically sensitive layer. Each optically sensitive layer is interposed between two electrodes. The two electrodes include a respective first electrode and a respective second electrode. The integrated circuit selectively applies a bias to the electrodes and reads signals from the optically sensitive layers. The signal is related to the number of photons received by the respective optically sensitive layer.
Claims48
A photodetector comprising:
- a semiconductor substrate;
- a plurality of pixel regions, each pixel region comprising an optically sensitive layer over the substrate, wherein the optically sensitive layer employs an n-type semiconductor and is contacted using a deep-work-function metal having a work function deeper than 4.5 eV below vacuum;
- a pixel circuit for each pixel region, each pixel circuit comprising a charge store and a read out circuit;
- and
- circuitry to select the charge store of a plurality of adjacent pixel regions for simultaneous reading to a shared read out circuit.
A photodetector comprising:
- a semiconductor substrate;
- a plurality of pixel regions over the semiconductor substrate, each pixel region comprising a first electrode, a second electrode and an optically sensitive layer between the first electrode and the second electrode, wherein the optically sensitive layer employs an n-type semiconductor and is contacted using a deep-work-function metal having a work function deeper than 4.5 eV below vacuum;
- a pixel circuit for each pixel region, each pixel circuit comprising a charge store and a read out circuit;
- circuitry to electrically connect the first electrode for a set of pixel regions to a shared charge store during an integration period of time, the plurality of pixel regions including the set of pixel regions, wherein the shared charge store is the charge store corresponding to one pixel circuit of one pixel region;
- and
- circuitry to read out a signal from the shared charge store, the signal based on intensity of light absorbed by each pixel region of the set of pixel regions during the integration period of time.
A photodetector comprising:
- a semiconductor substrate;
- a plurality of pixel regions over the semiconductor substrate, each pixel region comprising a first electrode, a second electrode and an optically sensitive layer between the first electrode and the second electrode, wherein the optically sensitive layer employs an n-type semiconductor and is contacted using a deep-work-function metal having a work function deeper than 4.5 eV below vacuum;
- and
- pixel circuitry configured in a first mode to read out a signal for each pixel region based on the intensity of light absorbed by the optically sensitive layer of the respective pixel region, and configured in a second mode to read out a signal for a plurality of sets of pixel regions based on the intensity of light absorbed by the optically sensitive layers of each set of pixel regions.
An image sensor comprising:
- a semiconductor substrate;
- a photosensor array having a plurality of pixel regions, the pixel regions arranged into a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns;
- each pixel region comprising at least one optically sensitive material over a portion of the semiconductor substrate, wherein the optically sensitive layer employs an n-type semiconductor and is contacted using a deep-work-function metal having a work function deeper than 4.5 eV below vacuum;
- and
- circuitry formed on the semiconductor substrate that is configured to apply a voltage difference across a plurality of respective pixel regions of the optically sensitive material and to read out a signal based on a flow of current through the plurality of respective pixel regions over a period of time.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.