Patent ID: 6271537
Filing Date: 2001-08-07
Classification: H01L,Y02E,Y10S

Abstract:
A quantum-well semiconductor device that senses radiation energy, comprising:a substrate of a substantially transparent semiconductor material to receive the radiation energy;a plurality of quantum-well structures formed over said substrate, arranged in columnar shapes and spatially separated from one another by a gap to form an optical grating that diffracts the radiation energy said gap being electrically insulating, anda plurality of separate metallic elements respectively formed over said quantum-well structures to enhance a diffraction efficiency of said optical grating,wherein each quantum-well structure includes, a first conductive contact layer formed over said substrate, a quantum-well stack having a plurality of alternating quantum-well layers formed in parallel over said first conductive contact layer and operating to absorb radiation polarized perpendicularly to said quantum-well layers, and a second conductive contact layer formed over said quantum-well stack, andwherein said gap between two adjacent quantum-well structures is configured to spatially separate and electrically insulate each layer of one quantum-well structure from each layer of another quantum-well structure.