Semiconductor device for scanning digital signals

Claim 2

A semiconductor device for digital scanning including: a plurality of voltage controlled type circuit elements of substantially identical electric characteristics disposed one after another, each having a first and a second electrode and a control electrode for voltage control of electric current flowing between the first and the second electrode; first means for connecting the control electrode of each circuit element to that of a succeeding one through a resistive element; second means, connected between the first and the second electrode of each circuit element, for supplying them with an electric current; and third means for applying electric pulses of a waveform, the height of which varies monotonically and non-linearly between a maximum and a minimum value with respect to time, between the control electrode of the first circuit element and that of the last, said maximum value being sufficiently great to permit the electric current to flow between the first and the second electrode of the last circuit element, the minimum value being sufficiently small to permit the electric current to flow between the first and the second electrode of only the first circuit element, so that the number of circuit elements in which the electric current flows between the first and the second electrode varies substantially linearly with time.

Claim 3

A semiconductor device in accordance with claim 1, wherein said voltage controlled type circuit element is a field efFect transistor.

Claim 4

A semiconductor device in accordance with claim 2, wherein the field effect transistor is an enhancement type field effect transistor.

Claim 5

A semiconductor device in accordance with claim 2, wherein the resistors connected between the gate electrodes of the field effect transistors comprise a resistive substance layer which is formed by vacuum evaporation on an insulating layer existed between the gate electrodes.

Claim 6

A semiconductor device for digital scanning including: a first and a second row consisting of a plurality of voltage controlled type circuit elements of substantially identical electric characteristics disposed one after another, each having a first and a second electrode, and a control electrode for voltage control of electric current flowing between the first and the second electrode, said two rows having the same number N of circuit elements; first means for connecting the control electrode of each circuit element to that of a succeeding one through a resistive element; second means for connecting the second electrode of the n-th circuit element of the first row with the first electrode of the (N-n+1)-th circuit element of the second row, n being a positive integer not greater than N; third means, connected between the first electrode of the n-th circuit element of the first row and the second electrode of the (N-n+1)-th circuit element of the second row, for supplying an electric current thereto. fourth means for applying electroc pulses of a waveform, the height of which increases monotonically and non-linearly from a minimum to a maximum value with time, between the control electrode of the first circuit element and that of the last of the first row, said maximum value being sufficiently great to permit the electric current to flow between the first and the second electrode of the N-th circuit element, the minimum value being sufficiently small to permit the electric current to flow between the first and the second electrode of only the first circuit element of the first row, so that the number of circuit elements in which the electric current flows between the first and the second electrode increases substantially linearly with time; and fifth means for applying electric pulses of a waveform, the height of which decreases monotonically and non-linearly from a maximum to a minimum value with time, between the control electrode of the first circuit element and that of the last circuit element of the second row, said maximum value being sufficiently great to permit the electric current to flow between the first and the second electrode of the last circuit element, the minimum value being sufficiently small to permit the electric current to flow between the first and the second electrode of only the first circuit element of the second row, so that the number of circuit elements in which the electric current flows between the first and the second electrode decreases substantially linearly with time and so that a circuit element, through which the electric current flows, shifts from one end to the other of the rows with a substantially constant velocity.

Claim 7

A semiconductor device for digital scanning including: a first and a second row consisting of a plurality of voltage controlled type circuit elements of substantially identical electric characteristics disposed one after another, each having a first and a second electrode, and a control electrode for voltage control of electric current flowing between the first and the second electrode, said two rows having the same number N of circuit elements; first means for connecting the control electrode of each circuit element to that of a succeeding one through a resistive element; second means for connecting the second electrode of the n-th circuit element of the first row with the first electrode of the (N-n+1)-th circuit element of the second row, n being a positive integer not greater than N; third means, connected between the first electrode of the n-th circuit element of the first row and the second electrode of the (N-n+1)-th circuit element of the second row, for supplying an electric current thereto. fourth means for applying electroc pulses of a waveform, the height of which increases monotonically and non-linearly from a minimum to a maximum value with time, between the control electrode of the first circuit element and that of the last of the first row, said maximum value being sufficiently great to permit the electric current to flow between the first and the second electrode of the N-th circuit element, the minimum value being sufficiently small to permit the electric current to flow between the first and the second electrode of only the first circuit element of the first row, so that the number of circuit elements in which the electric current flows between the first and the second electrode increases substantially linearly with time; and fifth means for applying electric pulses of a waveform, the height of which decreases monotonically and non-linearly from a maximum to a minimum value with time, between the control electrode of the first circuit element and that of the last circuit element of the second row, said maximum value being sufficiently great to permit the electric current to flow between the first and the second electrode of the last circuit element, the minimum value being sufficiently small to permit the electric current to flow between the first and the second electrode of only the first circuit element of the second row, so that the number of circuit elements in which the electric current flows between the first and the second electrode decreases substantially linearly with time and so that a circuit element, through which the electric current flows, shifts from one end to the other of the rows with a substantially constant velocity.

Claim 8

A semiconductor device in accordance with claim 5, wherein the voltage controlled type circuit element is a field effect transistor.

Claim 9

A semiconductor device in accordance with claim 6, wherein the field effect transistor is an enhancement type field effect transistor.

Claim 10

A semiconductor device in accordance with claim 6, wherein the resistor connected between the gate electrodes of the field effect transistors comprises a resistive substance layer which is formed by vacuum evaporation on an insulating layer disposed between the gate electrodes.

Claim 11

A semiconductor scanning device comprising: a plurality of discrete voltage sensitive switching elements, each having an input electrode, an output electrode and a control electrode, the application of a voltage to the control electrode of an element of a predetermined magnitude causing a conductive path to be provided between said input and output electrode, whereby a signal supplied to said input electrode may be provided at the output electrode; means for resistively connecting the control electrodes of each of said elements together; and means for supplying a saw-tooth control voltage to the control electrodes of said plurality of elements, the magnitude of which varies non-linearly with time, whereby said elements will be switched ON to provide a conductive path between their respective input and output electrodes at different instances in time.

Claim 12

A semiconductor scanning device comprising: a plurality of discrete voltage sensitive switching elements, each having an input electrode, an output electrode and a control electrode, the application of a voltage to the control electrode of an element of a predetermined magnitude causing a conductive path to be provided between said input and output electrode, whereby a signal supplied to said input electrode may be provided at the output electrode; means for resistively connecting the control electrodes of each of said elements together; and means for supplying a saw-tooth control voltage to the control electrodes of said plurality of elements, the magnitude of which varies non-linearly with time, whereby said elements will be switched ON to provide a conductive path between their respective input and output electrodes at different instances in time.

Claim 13

A semiconductor scanning device according to claim 9 wherein each of said voltage sensitive switching elements comprises a field effect transistor, the source and drain electrodes of which correspond to said input and output electrodes and the gate electrode of which corresponds to said control electrode.

Claim 14

A semiconductor scanning device according to claim 10, wherein said field effect transistors are formed on a common substrate into which the respective source and drain regions of said field effect transistors are formed and wherein the resistively connected gate electrodes are in the form of a longitudinal metallic resistive layer disposed on each gate insulator layer of each respective field effect transistor.

Claim 15

A semiconductor scanning device according to claim 11, wherein said metallic resistive layer is made from a material selected from the group consisting of tantalum, molybdenum, tungsten, chromium, titanium, and tin oxide.

Claim 16

A semiconductor scanning device according to claim 10, wherein each field effect transistor comprises an enhancement type field effect transistor.

Claim 17

A semiconductor scanning device according to claim 10, wherein each field effect transistor comprises a depletion type field effect transistor, and further including means for superimposing a D. C. bias voltage onto said control voltage supplying means.

Claim 18

A semiconductor scanning device according to claim 10, wherein said voltage sensitive switching elements are disposed in two parallel rows on a common substrate, into which the respective source and drain regions of said field effect transistors are formed and wherein a source and a drain of a respective field effect transistor adjacent each other in separate rows are connected together, and the resistive connection between the gate electrodes are in the form of a longitudinal metallic resistive layer disposed on each gate insulating layer of each respective field effect transistor in a parallel row.

Claim 19

A semiconductor device comprising: a semiconductor substrate having a first conductivity type and having a main surface; a row of a plurality of pairs of semiconductor regions of a second conductivity type opposite said first conductivity type disposed in the main surface of said substrate, each pair being spaced apart and each region of said pair being spaced with respect to each other; a first layer of insulator material disposed over each of said pairs of regions and on said substrate except for predetermined portions of the regions of each pair of regions; a plurality of pairs of electrodes extending through said first layer of insulator material and contacting said respective regions of said pairs of regions; an electrode layer disposed on the portion of said first insulator layer between said respective regions of each pair ; and a resistive layer disposed on said electrode layer between said regions and extending continuously to overlie each portion of said substrate disposed between the regions of each pair of regions.

Claim 20

A semiconductor device comprising: a semiconductor substrate having a first conductivity type and having a main surface; a row of a plurality of pairs of semiconductor regions of a second conductivity type opposite said first conductivity type disposed in the main surface of said substrate, each pair being spaced apart and each region of said pair being spaced with respect to each other; a first layer of insulator material disposed over each of said pairs of regions and on said substrate except for predetermined portions of the regions of each pair of regions; a plurality of pairs of electrodes extending through said first layer of insulator material and contacting said respective regions of said pairs of regions; an electrode layer disposed on the portion of said first insulator layer between said respective regions of each pair ; and a resistive layer disposed on said electrode layer between said regions and extending continuously to overlie each portion of said substrate disposed between the regions of each pair of regions.

Claim 21

A semiconductor device according to claim 16, wherein the thickness of said resistive layer varies along the length thereof.

Claim 22

A semiconductor device according to claim 16, wherein the width of said resistive layer varies along the length thereof.

Claim 23

A semiconductor device according to claim 16, further including Means for applying a saw-tooth wave form the magnitude of which varies non-linearly with respect to time to said resistive layer.

Claim 24

A semiconductor device according to claim 16, wherein the distance between each adjacent pair of said semiconductor regions decreases from one end of said row to the other end thereof.