Electro-optical semiconductor device with superlinear recombination radiation source

Claim 1

IN AN ELECTRO-OPTICAL SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE COMPRISING A P-N TYPE RECOMBINATION RADIATION SOURCE ASSOCIATED WITH AND OPTICALLY COUPLED TO A PHOTOCONDUCTOR DEVICE WHEREIN SAID RADIATION SOURCE COMPRISESD A SEMICONDUCTIVE BODY HAVING P-TYPE AND N-TYPE REGIONS FORMING AT LEAST ONE JUNCTION AND MEANS CONNECTED TO THE P-TYPE AND N-TYPE REGIONS FOR PASSING CURRENT OF A GIVEN RANGE OF INTENSITY THROUGH THE BODY IN A DIRECTION CAUSING THE INJECTION OF CHARGE CARRIERS FROM ONE REGION ACROSS THE JUNCTION INTO AN ADJACENT REGION CAUSING THE GENERATION OF RADIATION IN A GIVEN SPECTRAL RANGE AND AT A CERTAIN LEVEL AS A FUNCTION OF THE CURRENT PASSING THROUGH THE BODY AS EXPRESSED IN THE RELATION S=F(L)N, WHERE S IS THE OUTPUT RADIATION INTENSITY, I IS THE CURRENT INTENSITY AND N IS THE SUPERLINERITY EXPONENT, AND WHEREIN THE PHOTOCONDUCTOR DEVICE HAS A SPECTRAL RESPONSE CHARACTERISTIC ENABLING IT TO RESPOND TO AND HAVE ITS CONDUCTIVITY SIGNIFICANTLY MODIFIED BY THE RADIATION IMPINGING THEREON FROM THE RADIATION SOURCE, THE IMPROVEMENT COMPRISING MEANS PROVIDING WITHIN THE SAID ADJACENT REGION OF THE SEMICONDUCTOR BODY OF THE RADIATION SOURCE A CONCENTRATION OF NON-RADIATIVE RECOMBINATION CENTERS HAVING A CAPTURE CROSS-SECTION AND A CONCENTRATION OF RADIATIVE RECOMBINATION CENTERS HAVING A CAPTURE CROSS-SECTION WHEREIN THE PRODUCT OF THE CONCENTRATION AND CAPTURE CROSS-SECTION OF THE NON-RADIATIVE CENTERS IS AT LEAST 100 TIMES GREATER THAN THE CORRESPONDING PRODUCT FOR THE RADIATIVE CENTERS, THE SUPERLINEARITY EXPONENT N HAVING A VALUE OF AT LEAST 4 RESULTING FROM THE FACT THAT, BELOW A THRESHOLD VALUE WITHIN THE SAID GIVEN RANGE OF CURRENT INTENSITY, THE NON-RADIATIVE CENTERS DOMINATE THE CAPTURE OF THE INJECTED CARRIERS CAUSING LITTLE RADIATION GENERATION WHEREAS, ABOVE THE SAID THRESHOLD VALUE OF CURRENT INTENSITY, THE RADIATIVE CENTERS DOMINATE THE CAPTURE OF THE INJECTED CARRIERS CAUSING A SUDDEN, VERY LARGE INCREASE IN THE INTENSITY OF RADIATION GENERATION S.