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US 8,569,857 B2Granted
Diode bolometer and method for producing a diode bolometer
AssigneeFraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.
InventorsPiotr Kropelnicki, Marco Russ, Holger Vogt
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A bolometer has a semiconductor membrane having a single-crystalline portion, and spacers so as to keep the semiconductor membrane at a predetermined distance from an underlying substrate. The complementarily doped regions of the single-crystalline portion form a diode and the predetermined distance corresponds to a fourth of an infrared wavelength.
Claims16
A bolometer array comprising pixel elements arranged in columns and rows, each one thereof forming a bolometer, comprising:
- an underlying substrate;
- a semiconductor membrane per pixel element, comprising a single-crystalline portion, wherein complementarily doped regions of the single-crystalline portion form a diode and a p-n junction extends between same along a column direction, pixel elements neighboring in the column direction exhibiting equal doping profiles;
- and
- a first and a second spacer per pixel element so as to keep the semiconductor membrane at a predetermined distance from the underlying substrate,
- wherein the predetermined distance corresponds to a fourth of an infrared wavelength,
- wherein a first and a second edge region via which the semiconductor membrane contacts the spacers and which comprise lands for thermal insulation of the semiconductor membrane, follow the complementarily doped regions laterally on both sides of the p-n junction in each pixel element, and
- wherein the bolometer additionally comprises an evaluating circuit for each pixel element and at least part of the evaluating circuit is arranged in the underlying substrate laterally between the first and second spacers;
- wherein in each pixel element the semiconductor membrane additionally comprises a first and a second conductive layer which are electrically insulated from each other by a gap;
- wherein the first conductive layer contacts the first doped region and the second conductive layer contacts the second doped region, and wherein the gap is formed along the p-n junction between the complementarily doped regions.
6 more elements
A bolometer comprising:
- an underlying substrate;
- a semiconductor membrane comprising a single-crystalline portion;
- and
- a spacer so as to keep the semiconductor membrane at a predetermined distance from the underlying substrate,
- wherein complementarily doped regions of the single-crystalline portion form a diode and the predetermined distance corresponds to a fourth of an infrared wavelength,
- wherein the semiconductor membrane contacts the spacers via a first and a second edge region which comprise lands for thermal insulation of the semiconductor membrane,
- wherein the first and second edge regions comprise an amorphized doped semiconductor material, and
- wherein the bolometer additionally comprises an evaluating circuit and at least part of the evaluating circuit is arranged in the underlying substrate laterally between the first and second spacers.
5 more elements
A bolometer comprising:
- an underlying substrate;
- a semiconductor membrane comprising a single-crystalline portion;
- and
- a spacer so as to keep the semiconductor membrane at a predetermined distance from the underlying substrate,
- wherein complementarily doped regions of the single-crystalline portion form a diode and the predetermined distance corresponds to a fourth of an infrared wavelength,
- wherein the semiconductor membrane contacts the spacers via a first and a second edge region which comprise lands for thermal insulation of the semiconductor membrane,
- wherein the first and second edge regions comprise an amorphized doped semiconductor material,
- wherein the bolometer additionally comprises an evaluating circuit and at least part of the evaluating circuit is arranged in the underlying substrate laterally between the first and second spacers, and
- wherein the single-crystalline portion comprises complementarily doped first and second regions forming a diode, and the semiconductor membrane further comprises first and second conductive layers electrically separated from each other with the first conductive layer contacting the first doped region and the second conductive layer contacting the second doped region so that a p-n junction of the diode extends between the first and second conductive layers.
6 more elements
A bolometer array comprising pixel elements arranged in columns and rows, each one thereof forming a bolometer, comprising:
- an underlying substrate;
- a semiconductor membrane per pixel element, comprising a single-crystalline portion, wherein complementarily doped regions of the single-crystalline portion form a diode and a p-n junction extends between same along a column direction, pixel elements neighboring in the column direction exhibiting equal doping profiles;
- and
- a first and a second spacer per pixel element so as to keep the semiconductor membrane at a predetermined distance from the underlying substrate,
- wherein the predetermined distance corresponds to a fourth of an infrared wavelength,
- wherein a first and a second edge region via which the semiconductor membrane contacts the spacers and which comprise lands for thermal insulation of the semiconductor membrane, follow the complementarily doped regions laterally on both sides of the p-n junction in each pixel element, and
- wherein the bolometer additionally comprises an evaluating circuit for each pixel element and at least part of the evaluating circuit is arranged in the underlying substrate laterally between the first and second spacers;
- wherein in each pixel element the semiconductor membrane additionally comprises first and second conductive layers which are electrically separated from each other with the first conductive layer contacting the first doped region and the second conductive layer contacting the second doped region so that the first and second conductive layers are separated from each other along the p-n junction between the complementarily doped regions.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.