Radiation-sensitive semiconductor device

Claim 1

A radiation-sensitive semiconductor imaging device comprising: a semiconductor body which at its surface has a plurality of distinct radiation-sensitive adjacent diodes for generating charge carriers when exposed to radiation, means for electrically insulating said diodes from each other comprising depletion regions of the semiconductor body, the distances between the diodes being sufficiently small so that said regions are fully depleted, means for causing the potentials of the diodes to adjust in accordance with the amount of charge that is produced during radiation exposure of said sensors, which includes storage means for each diode for collecting charge carriers generated thereby over a finite period of time into charge carried packets, thereby to cause a relative displacement of the potential levels of unequally irradiated photodiodes so that the blooming potential (V mb ) of the device amounts to four times the maximum potential (V mo ) of the potential hump (V m ) between two depleted adjacent diodes, charge read-out means, transfer means operable for transporting charge carrier packets into said read-out means, and a controlling clock generator for operating said transfer means to transfer said charge carrier packets into said read-out means.