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Electro-optical semiconductor device and a method of emitting light

Assignee: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
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Filing: 1985-11-05
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Granted: 1989-04-11
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Expires: 2005-11-05
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Abstract

Abstract An electro-optical device using a doped semiconductor medium under conditions of controlled excitation energy. The semiconductor medium is a doped binary, ternary or quaternary semiconductor alloy, namely, an III-V semiconductor alloy having at least one element from column III, and at least one element from column V of the Periodic Table, and doped with vanadium, titanium or niobium. Such an electro-optical device may be made into a laser or into a light emitting diode.

Inventors

  • 👤 Claude Naud
  • 👤 Gerard Guillot
  • 👤 Benoit Deveaud
  • 👤 Bernard Clerjaud

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction US
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-11-02 14:21
CPC Classifications
H; H10; H10H; H10H20/00; H10H20/80; H10H20/81; H10H20/822; H10H20/824; H10H20/8242; H01; H01S; H01S5/00; H01S5/30; H01S5/305; H01S5/3068

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 20
Claim 1
Independent Claim 141 words
An electro-optical device for emitting light radiation, said device comprising: a semi-conductor structure having an active layer of a semiconductor medium, said medium being a binary, ternary or quaternary III-V semiconductor alloy comprising at least one element from column III of the Periodic Table selected from the group consisting of gallium, indium and aluminum, and at least one element from column V of the Periodic Table selected from the group consisting of arsenic and phosphorous, and doped with vanadium, titanium or biobium as dopant, said medium being capable of two highly absorbent transitions; and means for exciting the doped semiconductor alloy with a controlled energy greater than the threshold of one of said two highly absorbent transitions, whereby energy is transferred between the energy bands of the semiconductor alloy and the energy levels of the dopant, and light radiation is emitted.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim 141 words
An electro-optical device for emitting light radiation, said device comprising: a semi-conductor structure having an active layer of a semiconductor medium, said medium being a binary, ternary or quaternary III-V semiconductor alloy comprising at least one element from column III of the Periodic Table selected from the group consisting of gallium, indium and aluminum, and at least one element from column V of the Periodic Table selected from the group consisting of arsenic and phosphorous, and doped with vanadium, titanium or biobium as dopant, said medium being capable of two highly absorbent transitions; and means for exciting the doped semiconductor alloy with a controlled energy greater than the threshold of one of said two highly absorbent transitions, whereby energy is transferred between the energy bands of the semiconductor alloy and the energy levels of the dopant, and light radiation is emitted.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 65 words
A device according to claim 1, wherein the light emission is a luminescent emission corresponding to internal emission in vanadium in the V 3+ form, in titanium in the Ti 2+ or Ti 3+ form, or in niobium in the Nb 3+ , and corresponding to a wavelength lying between about 1.5 μm and about 2.3 μm depending on the alloy and the impurity used.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 45 words
A device according to claim 2, wherein the transition responsible for said luminescent emission is a 1E or 3T2→3A2 transition for V 3+ , Ti 2+ , and Nb 3+ , or a 2T2→2E transition for Ti 3+ , with the notation being Mulliken notation.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim 22 words
A device according to claim 1, wherein the semiconductor alloy is selected from: GaP, GaAs, and InP, and the dopant is vanadium.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim 17 words
A device according to claim 4, wherein the semiconductor alloy is GaAs and the dopant is vanadium.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim 30 words
A device according to claim 1, wherein the vandium, titanium or niobium dopant is at a concentration of 10 14 to 10 17 atoms per cm 3 of semiconductor alloy.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim 22 words
A device according to claim 1, wherein the semiconductor alloy contains less than 10 16 undesired impurity atoms per cm 3 .
Claim 9
Dependent Claim 18 words
A device according to claim 1, wherein the semiconductor medium is a polycrystalline or a monocrystalline solid medium.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim 31 words
A device according to claim 1, wherein the semiconductor medium is an epitaxial layer on a substrate constituted by an alloy suitable for establishing lattice size matching with the epitaxial alyer.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim 45 words
A device according to claim 1, wherein said doped alloy includes a highly absorbent transition suitable for introducing a radiating transition which generates said light emission by means of a non-radiating transition, and which is arranged to emit coherent light radiation from said radiating transition.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim 38 words
A device according to claim 10, wherein the excitation means include optical pumping means using photons, having wavelengths associated with energies less than the transition energy between the valence band and the conduction band of the semiconductor alloy.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim 42 words
A device according to claim 10, wherein the excitation means includes optical pumping means using photons whose wavelengths are associated with energies greater than or equal to the transition energy between the valence band and the conduction band of the semiconductor alloy.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim 23 words
A device according to claim 12, wherein the optical pumping means comprise a semiconductor laser whose active material is the non-doped base alloy.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim 14 words
A device according to claim 13, wherein the semiconductor laser is a GaAs laser.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim 14 words
A device according to claim 13, wherein the semiconductor laser is an InP laser.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim 36 words
A device according to claim 1, wherein said device is arranged in the form of a light-emitting diode and that the excitation means comprise means for injecting electrons having said energy into the doped semiconductor alloy.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim 19 words
A device according to claim 12, wherein said device is arranged so that it itself constitutes a semiconductor laser.
Claim 19
Independent Claim 137 words
A method emitting light, said method comprising: providing a semiconductor structure having an active layer of a semiconductor medium, said medium being a binary, ternary or quaternary III-V semiconductor alloy comprising at least one element from column III of the Periodic Table selected from the group consisting of gallium, indium and aluminum, and at least one element from column V of the Periodic Table selected from the group consisting of arsenic and phosphorous, and doped with vanadium, titanium or niobium dopant, said medium being capable of two highly absorbent transitions; and exciting the doped semiconductor alloy with a controlled excitation energy greater than the threshold of one of said two highly absorbent transitions, whereby energy is transferred between the energy bands of the semiconductor alloy and the energy levels of the dopant, and light radiation is emitted.
Claim 20
Independent Claim 137 words
A method emitting light, said method comprising: providing a semiconductor structure having an active layer of a semiconductor medium, said medium being a binary, ternary or quaternary III-V semiconductor alloy comprising at least one element from column III of the Periodic Table selected from the group consisting of gallium, indium and aluminum, and at least one element from column V of the Periodic Table selected from the group consisting of arsenic and phosphorous, and doped with vanadium, titanium or niobium dopant, said medium being capable of two highly absorbent transitions; and exciting the doped semiconductor alloy with a controlled excitation energy greater than the threshold of one of said two highly absorbent transitions, whereby energy is transferred between the energy bands of the semiconductor alloy and the energy levels of the dopant, and light radiation is emitted.

References Cited (Backward Citations)

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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows

Annuity Stage Window Opens Payment Deadline Surcharge Period Until Estimated Fee Status
3.5 Years (Year 4) 1992-04-10 1992-10-10 1993-04-11 $2000.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
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