EP0276683A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
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Photoelectric conversion device
Assignee: Hitachi Ltd
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Filing: 1988-01-12
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2008-01-12
Abstract
Abstract Disclosed is a photoelectric conversion device which comprises: a photoconductive layer (34, 44, 57, 67) made of amorphous semiconductor material which shows charge multiplication and which converts photo signals (37, 47, 50, 60) into electric signals; and a substrate (31, 41, 51, 61) having electric circuits or the like (32, 42, 56, 66) (for example switching elements) for reading the electric signals. The amorphous semiconductor material used according to the invention shows the charge multiplication action under predetermined intensity of electric field so that a high sensitive photoelectric conversion device having a gain which is not smaller than 1 is realized.
Inventors
- 👤 Sachio Ishioka
- 👤 Yukio Takasaki
- 👤 Tadaaki Hirai
- 👤 Kazutaka Tsuji
- 👤 Tatsuo Makishima
- 👤 Yasuhiko Nonaka
- 👤 Tatsuro Kawamura
- 👤 Takashi Yamashita
- 👤 Kazuhisa Taketoshi
- 👤 Keiichi Shidara
- 👤 Fumihiko Ando
- 👤 Kenkichi Tanioka
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-09 02:20
CPC Classifications
H; H10; H10F; H10F30/00; H10F30/10; H10F30/15; H10F77/00; H10F77/10; H10F77/12; H10F77/121
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 12
Claim 1
Independent Claim
86 words
A photoelectric conversion device comprising: a substrate (31, 41, 51, 61) having at least one electrode (32, 42, 56, 66) for reading electric signals; semiconductor layers (34, 44, 57, 67) formed on said substrate, wherein said electric signals are generated in accordance with external photo signals (37, 47, 50, 60); and a conductive layer (35, 45, 58, 68) formed on said semiconductor layers, wherein said semiconductor layers have at least a photoconductive layer (34, 44, 57, 67) made of amorphous semiconductor material which shows charge multiplication.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
86 words
A photoelectric conversion device comprising: a substrate (31, 41, 51, 61) having at least one electrode (32, 42, 56, 66) for reading electric signals; semiconductor layers (34, 44, 57, 67) formed on said substrate, wherein said electric signals are generated in accordance with external photo signals (37, 47, 50, 60); and a conductive layer (35, 45, 58, 68) formed on said semiconductor layers, wherein said semiconductor layers have at least a photoconductive layer (34, 44, 57, 67) made of amorphous semiconductor material which shows charge multiplication.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
15 words
A photoelectric conversion device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said conductive layer is transparent.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
31 words
A photoelectric conversion device as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein said conductive layer and said semiconductor layers or said electrode and said semiconductor layers have a charge-injection blocking structure.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
25 words
A photoelectric conversion device as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein said semiconductor layers have a charge-injection blocking layer contacting with said conductive layer.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
71 words
A photoelectric conversion device comprising: a semiconductor substrate (51, 61) having electric circuits and at least one electrode (56, 66) for reading electric signals; a charge-injection blocking structure formed on said semiconductor substrate; a photoconductive layer (57, 67) made of amorphous semiconductor material which shows charge multiplication and which generates electric signals in accordance with external photo signals (50, 60); and a conductive layer (58, 68) formed on said photoconductive layer.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
71 words
A photoelectric conversion device comprising: a semiconductor substrate (51, 61) having electric circuits and at least one electrode (56, 66) for reading electric signals; a charge-injection blocking structure formed on said semiconductor substrate; a photoconductive layer (57, 67) made of amorphous semiconductor material which shows charge multiplication and which generates electric signals in accordance with external photo signals (50, 60); and a conductive layer (58, 68) formed on said photoconductive layer.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
79 words
A photoelectric conversion device as claimed in claim 5, wherein said electric circuits have at least one FET which has a first, a second and a third electrode (52, 53, 54; 62, 63, 64), carriers flowing between said first and second electrodes (52, 53; 62, 63) are controlled by electric field from said third electrode (54, 64), and one of said first and second electrodes (53, 63) is connected with said at least one signal reading electrode (56, 66).
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
22 words
A photoelectric conversion device as claimed in any of claims 1 to 6, wherein said photoconductive layer is mainly made of selenium.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
19 words
A photoelectric conversion device as claimed in claim 7, wherein said photoconductive layer contains arsenic and/or germanium or tellurium.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
26 words
A photoelectric conversion device as claimed in any of claims 1 to 8, wherein said semiconductor layers are layers of a plurality of amorphous semiconductor layers.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
35 words
A photoelectric conversion device as claimed in claim 9, wherein said semiconductor layers have a photoconductive layer made of an amorphous selenium layer and an amorphous silicon layer, the latter optionally containing a hydrogen element.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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