Patent ID: 6906358

Claim:
A photosensitive diode, comprising: an active region defining a majority carrier of a first conductivity type and a minority carrier of a second conductivity type; at least one extraction region disposed on a first side of said active region, having a majority carrier of said second conductivity type and extracting carriers of said second conductivity type from said active region in a condition of reverse bias; at least one exclusion region disposed on a second side of said active region, said exclusion region having a majority carrier of said first conductivity type and preventing entry of minority carriers of said second conductivity type into said active region in a condition of reverse bias, said exclusion region including a superlattice having a plurality of layers, said superlattice including at least one selected from the group containing layers of CdTe and HgTe, layers of Hg (1-x) Cd x Te and Hg (1-y) Cd y Te where x is not equal to y and both x and y are less than 0.4, and layers of InAs and In x Ga (1-x) Sb where x is less than 0.25, said exclusion region being approximately 19 μm thick in a growth direction of said exclusion region; and at least two biasing contacts for applying said reverse bias through said photodiode and enabling a flow of said carriers of said second conductivity type from said exclusion region to said active region and from said active region to said extraction region, one said contact being coupled to said exclusion region and the other said contact being coupled to said extraction region.