Light emitting and receiving device

Claim 1

A light-emitting and receiving device integrated into a single semiconductor chip comprising: a substrate of a first conductivity type defining the collector of a base open phototransistor; a first layer of the second type of conductivity formed on one side of said substrate and defining the base of said open phototransistor; a second layer of said first type of conductivity formed on said first layer and defining the emitter of said open phototransistor, said first and second layers being separated into at least one central photo-emitting region and at least one photo-sensitive receiving region outward from said photo-emitting region, a first contact on the opposite side of said substrate defining a first terminal, second contacts on said layer in said photo-emitting and photo-sensitive regions and defining a pair of second terminals so that application of an electrical signal to one of said second terminals causes said light-emitting region to emit light and application of an electrical signal to the other of said second terminals causes said photo-sensitive region to produce an electrical signal in response to incident radiation; and a groove separating said layers into at least two photo-transistors each having a central photo-emitting region and a photo-sensitive region outward therefrom.