Method and apparatus for forming a photodiode
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorsDavid Fattal, Jason Blackstock, Raymond Beausoleil
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Abstract
Embodiments of the invention provide a method and an apparatus for forming a photodiode. One embodiment provides a thin dielectric layer sandwiched between two metallic plates (electrodes), one or both of which are periodically patterned in one or two dimensions. The effect of the pattern is to couple incident light within some range of wavelength and/or incidence angles to surface excitations of the metal surface called surface plasmons, enhancing the electric field near the surface and resulting in dramatically increased photo-absorption and carrier generation in the dielectric layer.
Claims7
A photodiode comprising:
- a region of semiconductor material having a first surface and a second surface;
- a first conductive layer coupled with said first surface of said semiconductor material;
- a second conductive layer coupled with said second surface of said semiconductor material, said second conductive layer comprising a metal layer having a two-dimensional periodic array of openings therethrough, said periodic array of openings configured to couple incident light with surface plasmons of said second conductive layer, for enhancing an electric field near said second surface by converting said incident light into horizontal excitation within said semiconductor material;
- wherein said photodiode provides detecting of said incident light directed toward said second conductive layer having said two-dimensional periodic array of openings therethrough.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.