Patent ID: 8053663

Claim:
A panel-shaped light receiving or emitting semiconductor module characterized by comprising: multiple spherical or nearly spherical, granular semiconductor elements each having light receiving or emitting capability and arranged in multiple rows and columns with their conducting direction aligned; a conductive connection mechanism electrically connecting in parallel multiple semiconductor elements in each row and electrically connecting in series multiple semiconductor elements in each column; and a conductive inner metal case housing said multiple semiconductor elements and constituting said conductive connection mechanism, each of said multiple semiconductor elements comprising: a granular base consisting of a p-type or-n-type semiconductor crystal; another conductive layer formed on the surface of the base except for one end portion thereof and having a conductivity type different from the base; a nearly spherical pn junction formed by said base and said another conductive layer; and first and second electrodes formed on the surface of said base on either side of a center thereof and ohmic-connected to said one end portion of said base and said another conductive layer, respectively; said inner metal case comprising multiple reflecting surface-forming grooves each housing a row of multiple semiconductor elements and having a width decreasing from an opening to a bottom; said reflecting surface-forming grooves each comprising a light reflecting bottom plate and a pair of light reflecting oblique plates extending upward from either end of the bottom plate in an integrated manner; said bottom plates each having a mount protruding in a center portion in a width direction, on which a corresponding row of multiple semiconductor elements is placed and to which one of the first and second electrodes of the semiconductor elements is electrically connected; and multiple metal finger leads electrically connected to one of the oblique plates of each reflecting surface-forming groove and electrically connected to the other of the first and second electrodes of the corresponding row of multiple semiconductor elements being provided, and a cutoff slit for cutting off a conductive part short-circuiting the first and second electrodes of a corresponding row of multiple semiconductor elements being formed in said bottom plate on one side of said mount over an entire length of the row.