A semiconductor device for producing radiation in response to incident radiation of wavelength is made of a sandwich of semiconductor materials providing electrically in series a radiation detector which responds electrically to incident radiation, a capacitor for integrating the effect of the incident radiation and a radiation emitting diode which produces output radiation of a different wavelength and of intensity representative of the intensity of the incident radiation.
A three-terminal semiconductive photodetector which operates by detecting the carriers accumulated in an inversion layer formed between a semiconductor and a dielectric film when light falls on the device. The amount of charge in the inversion layer is proportional to the light falling on the device and the time during which a pulse of electrical energy is applied between the semiconductor and an electrode on the opposite side of the dielectric layer. The charge is collected by a reverse-biased p-n junction formed in the semiconductor material when the pulse inducing the inversion layer is removed.
An electroluminescent semiconductor device having localized emission. The device comprises a p-n diode of which a region is covered with a dielectric layer which itself is covered partly by an electrode polarized with respect to the said region to establish an electric field zone influencing the injected carriers. Application to the localized control of the emission of an electroluminescent diode.
A metal-nitride-oxide semiconductor memory device wherein information is written into the device by the combination of an applied electric field and a source of light, and thereafter read out by reflecting light from the surface of an area of the device whose oxide-nitride interface has been previously charged with information written into the device.
Optical radiation generation and detection using metal-to-metal diode junctions. Coherent optical radiation is generated by using an antenna connected to a metal-to-metal diode junction with non-linear current-voltage characteristics and by coupling to the junction electromagnetic radiation energy to interact with the junction, causing emission from the antenna at optical frequency absent from the input. Optical diodes are shown in the forms of a mechanically contacted cat whisker system and as single and multiple microscopic solid portions in an integrated solid mass, defining both the antenna and the junction, preferably as a deposit of solid layers upon a substrate, preferably as overlapping printed circuit line structures. Arrays of such junctions provide enhanced effects; useful arrays include Franklin-Marconi geometries, fish-bone antennas and row and column arrays. Such solid diode constructions and arrays thereof are used not only for optical radiation generation but also detection and mixing including use in an image scanner, energy converter and a broad band detector. The diodes as a radiation source are used in combination with an absorbtion cell in spectroscopic analysis, a feedback loop in a stable frequency source, and an optical frequency communicating system.
Optical radiation generation and detection using metal-to-metal diode junctions. Coherent optical radiation is generated by using an antenna connected to a metal-to-metal diode junction with non-linear current-voltage characteristics and by coupling to the junction electromagnetic radiation energy to interact with the junction, causing emission from the antenna at optical frequency absent from the input. Optical diodes are shown in the forms of a mechanically contacted cat whisker system and as single and multiple microscopic solid portions in an integrated solid mass, defining both the antenna and the junction, preferably as a deposit of solid layers upon a substrate, preferably as overlapping printed circuit line structures. Arrays of such junctions provide enhanced effects; useful arrays include Franklin-Marconi geometries, fish-bone antennas and row and column arrays. Such solid diode constructions and arrays thereof are used not only for optical radiation generation but also detection and mixing including use in an image scanner, energy converter and a broad band detector. The diodes as a radiation source are used in combination with an absorbtion cell in spectroscopic analysis, a feedback loop in a stable frequency source, and an optical frequency communicating system. In a scanner, read-out from the junctions is shown indirectly, using an electron beam, and directly using leads connected to respective antennae. Local oscillators directing radiation upon an image disecting array, mixing in the junctions with incident radiation from the image create superheterodyne beats leading to improved levels of detection. By phase locking the local oscillator to the frequency of coherent image-illuminating radiation, and detecting phase of the beats relative to the illuminating radiation, as well as amplitude, a holographic display of the image is achieved.
