Patent ID: 11961936
Assignee: nan
Field: Semiconductors (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H  B  G  Y | IPC B  G  H

Claim 8:
9. A photodetector comprising:
a photo absorbing layer comprising an p-doped semiconductor exhibiting a valence band energy and a conducting band energy;
a barrier layer comprising a semiconductor and exhibiting a thickness, a first side of the barrier layer adjacent a first side of the photo absorbing layer; and
a contact layer comprising a doped semiconductor, the contact layer being adjacent a second side of the barrier layer opposing the first side,
wherein the barrier layer exhibits a conduction band energy substantially equal to the conduction band energy of the photo absorbing layer and a valance band energy greater than the valance band energy of the photo absorbing layer such that a valance energy gap is formed between the photo absorbing layer and the barrier layer,
wherein the barrier layer thickness and the valance energy band gap are sufficient to minimize tunneling of majority carriers between the photo absorbing layer and the contact area and substantially block the flow of thermalized majority carriers between the photo absorbing layer and the contact area further wherein during operation the barrier layer functions to achieve passivation of the photo-detector; and,
wherein the contact layer comprises one or more individual sections which are separate from each other in a direction across the photo-detector, each section corresponding to an individual detector element.