Patent ID: 8766392

Claim:
A photodiode array comprising: a thin active area substrate having at least a front side with a surface and a back side; a plurality of diode elements integrally formed in the substrate forming said array, wherein each diode element has a p+ fishbone pattern on said front side, further comprising a plurality of contiguously interconnected p+ bones, a p+ bone frame periphery, and at least one shallow n+ region between adjacent p+ bones, wherein each p+ bone is protected by a thick oxide layer and wherein a last one of the plurality of bones is part of the p+ bone frame periphery, and a plurality of front surface cathode and anode contacts, wherein at least one of said contacts is connected to only the last one of the bones and wherein said anode contacts comprise at least one metal bar positioned on top one of said p+ bones and connected to a wire bonding pad, wherein said at least one shallow n+ region increases the stability of the diode element relative to a diode element without said shallow n+ region.