Integrated semiconductor light-emitting display array

Claim 1

A composite integrated circuit LED display array comprising: a light-transmissive monolithic planar substrate of a single III-V crystal including a plurality of LED devices carried in the body of said substrate and forming an array of LED devices, each of said LED devices being adapted when energized to emit light at the back surface of said substrate, said LED devices being optically isolated from one another, the optical isolation being affected by a light-absorbing doped region between said LED devices, said doped region being adapted to absorb light emitted by the individual LED devices, each of said LED devices being constituted by at least one diode having a separate p-n junction at which said light is radiated, said junction being at the back surface of said crystal, said light being transmitted through said crystal for being observed at the front surface of said crystal; a monolithic integrated circuit array of circuit elements corresponding to and adapted for energizing respective ones of said LED devices, said integrated circuit array being adjacent the back surface of said crystal; and interconnection means sandwiched between said arrays for providing electrical interconnections between respective ones of said LED devices and circuit elements at said back surface, said circuit elements being selectively operable for independently energizing corresponding ones of said LED devices to emit light at said back surface, said light being transmitted through said substrate for being observed at the front surface of said substrate.