Patent ID: 7466002

Claim:
A photosensitive device including at least a first illumination direction sensing detector configuration that is used to provide an illumination direction indicating signal that varies as a function of an illumination direction relative to the device of incident radiation falling on the device, the illumination direction sensing detector configuration comprising: a first photodetector on a photodetector substrate, the first photodetector being operable to output a first signal that varies depending on an amount of radiation it receives; a first mask layer fixed proximate to a surface of the first photodetector, the first mask layer including a first-layer hole arranged to receive radiation along an interlayer optical path and transmit radiation to the first photodetector; and a second mask layer fixed proximate to a surface of the first mask layer, the second mask layer including a second-layer hole arranged to receive the incident radiation along its illumination direction relative to the device and transmit the incident radiation to the first-layer hole along the interlayer optical path; wherein: the second-layer hole that transmits the incident radiation to the first-layer hole along the interlayer optical path defines an input of the interlayer optical path, the second-layer hole having an input area; the first-layer hole that receives radiation along the interlayer optical path and transmits the radiation to the first photodetector defines an output of the interlayer optical path, the first-layer hole having an output area; the first photodctector is configured to have dimensions arranged relative to the interlayer optical path such that any incident radiation light rays that are at the most extreme angles that may pass through both the first layer hole and the second layer hole and along the interlayer optical path fall within the active area of the first photodetector; and the interlayer optical path is configured to define a nominal peak signal direction and is also configured such that, for a first range of illumination directions that includes the nominal peak signal direction, the amount of radiation received by the first photodetector through the interlayer optical path is a maximum when the illumination direction approximately coincides with the nominal peak signal direction and the amount of radiation received by the first photodetector through the interlayer optical path decreases as a function of increasing deviation between the illumination direction and the nominal peak signal direction throughout the first range, such that the first signal output by the first photodetector varies throughout the first range as a function of the illumination direction of the incident radiation falling on the device.