Abstract: An environmental interface for a semiconductor electro-optical conversion device layer that is optically transparent, electrically conductive and chemically passivating, made of an elemental semiconductor with an indirect band gap>1 electron volt in a layer between 20 and 200 Angstroms thick. A GaAs covered by GaAlAs converter with a 100 Angstrom Si layer over the GaAlAs is illustrated.

Abstract: A surface termination of a compound semiconductor is provided wherein conditions are provided for a pristine surface to be retained in an unpinned condition and a surface layer of a non-metallic material is provided. A GaAs substrate is heated in an oxygen-free atmosphere at high temperature with hydrogen sulfide, producing a pristine surface with a coating of gallium sulfide covered with a 1,000 nanometer covering of low temperature plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposited silicon dioxide.

Abstract: An ohmic contact to intermetallic semiconductors with a resistance of much less than 10.sup.-6 ohm cm.sup.2 can be provided by introducing between the semiconductor and an external metal contact an atomically compatible barrier-free graded layer of a conductor having at the interface with a metal external contact an energy gap width of the semiconductor less than 0.5 electron volts. An ohmic contact for gallium arsenide can be provided by a graded region of indium gallium arsenide that decreases to indium arsenide at the interface with a metal.

Abstract: User-machine interaction through a touch input display screen is enhanced through the use of surface coding in the form of stylus diameter or reflectivity peripheral surface features that are sensed in optical sensing apparatus.

Abstract: The location of an object in a work area is established by sweeping a single light beam over the area and employing in coordinate calculations the rotational arc of the light source, and the serial events of the light variation when the beam is reflected from a mirror positioned on the opposite periphery intersects the object and the light variation when the beam directly intersects the object.

Abstract: An FET transistor is provided having a two element semiconductor channel region between metal contacts and epitaxial therewith a graded three element seminconductor, in which two of the three elements are in common with the semiconductor of the channel, positioned between a Schottky barrier gate of the same contact metal and the channel. An FET with a GaAs channel between tin source and drain contacts, a graded 500 to 1000 Angstrom thick GaAlAs region epitaxial with the channel and a Schottky barrier tin metal gate over the GaAlAs region.

Abstract: A thin film transistor technology where a gate member on a substrate surface is in electric field influenceable proximity to active semiconductor devices in the direction normal to the substrate surface and the ohmic electrodes of the active device are parallel with the substrate surface. The gate is formed on the substrate and conformal coatings of insulator and semiconductor are provided over it. A metal is deposited from the direction normal to the surface that is thicker in the horizontal dimension than the vertical so as to be susceptible to an erosion operation such as a dip etch which separates the metal into self-aligned contact areas on each side of a semiconductor device channel without additional masking. Self-alignment of the source, drain and gate can be achieved by insulator additions above and under the gate fabricated without additional masking.

Abstract: A layer of an amphoteric dopant on the surface of a group III-V intermetallic semiconductor crystal will diffuse into the crystal surface in a heating cycle forming a stable contact. The contact can be ohmic or rectifying depending on the localized presence of an excess of one crystal ingredient. A layer of Si on GaAs upon heating forms a rectifying contact. When the layer of Si contains As, the contact is ohmic.

Abstract: The mobility of carriers in the channel region of a field effect transistor can be increased by providing a layered structure wherein electrons are separated from impurities. The channel is made up of external layers of wide bandgap material and internal layers with a narrower bandgap where the bottom of the conduction band of one layer is below the top of the valence band of the adjacent layer. A structure is shown with a layered channel having AlSb external layers and at least one or both of InAs and GaSb internal layers.

Abstract: A semiconductor superlattice is provided with a one-dimensional quantum pipeline type carrier path. The pipeline is formed at the intersection of different energy level layers of the superlattice. Conductivity modulation through an adjacent exposed surface is employed for control in the pipeline and in arrays thereof. The pipeline carrier path involves both electrons and holes. A structure of Ga.sub.1-x Al.sub.x As with alternating 100.ANG. and 500.ANG. thick layers of different x has positioned, intersecting those layers, a 100.ANG. thick GaAs layer covered by a GaAlAs layer. Control and contacting electrodes are positioned on the exposed surfaces.

Abstract: Digital logic driving stage circuitry is provided connected between ground and a single voltage with an enhancement mode type field effect transistor and a depletion mode type field effect transistor connected source to drain in series between the single voltage and ground. The gate of the enhancement mode type field effect transistor is the input of the logic signal and the gate of the depletion mode type field effect transistor is connected to ground, with the output at the connection between the transistors. A family of digital logic circuits is provided with circuit units made up of an enhancement mode logic input, depletion mode load circuitry stage and an enhancement mode input grounded source follower load driving stage.

Abstract: An Auger electron microscope is equipped with a field-emission tip maintained at an essentially constant distance above the surface of the specimen. The tip may consist of a tungsten (100) whisker having a radius of .about.50 nm at the apex, the working distance being on the order of 1 mm. Auger electrons emitted from the surface of the specimen are collected by an electron energy analyzer for conventional processing. Mutual scanning displacement between the tip and specimen is obtained through use of an xyz-drive module, which is also responsible for adjusting the working distance of the tip. The entire microscope setup is mounted on vibration damping means and may be inserted into a vacuum system by means of an appropriate flange, if desired.

Abstract: In a transistor structure a buried gate positioned in the layer above a conduction channel and below a broad gate which overlaps the source and drain, when the voltages applied to the buried gate and the overlapping gate are varied independently, a potential well between two barriers can be established which permits conduction by the physical mechanism of resonant transmission. The potential well between two barriers required for the resonant transmission mechanism is achieved in one structure by a buried gate under an overlapping gate with both width and separation dimension control and in a second structure using split-buried gate under an overlapping gate that is embossed in the region of the split gate. With gate and separation dimensions of the order of 1000 .ANG. switching speeds of the order of 10.sup.-12 seconds are achieved.

Abstract: Correlation of light beam movement with electrical timing in a light beam interrupt data input interface device is provided by determining the magnitude of an angular difference between the electrical system and a line through the scanning axis for use as a correction factor. The correlation principle involves a combination of measurement with respect to the electrical system and the application of geometric principles to provide a correction factor.

Abstract: An electrical device which employs two-dimensional space charge modulation in a semiconductor structure. The device has an approximately Debye length wide contact and a rectifying contact positioned adjacent to each other within a Debye length on a semiconductor body and a contact remotely positioned. A bias on the rectifying contact will effect conduction between the other contacts.

Abstract: The bonding of an external metal taken from the group of Cu, Ni, Fe, Ti, Mo and alloys thereof to an oxide ceramic substrate is accomplished through the use of an ionic diffusion accommodating metal oxide where the ionic diffusion oxide metal is taken from the group of Fe, Mn, Ti and the combination 33 Ni 67 V. The bond adhesion and processing parameters can be enhanced by addition of Li, Ni, Cu, Co and Mo and the ceramic can be at least one member of the group of glass, pyrex, Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 and SiO.sub.2 glass.

Abstract: Picosecond response photoconductors and photoresponsive elements can be provided that retain high carrier mobility and yet have short lifetime by providing on a crystal mismatched substrate a textured layer of domain regions wherein the domain size is such that the lifetime is proportional to the square of the size divided by the diffusion coefficient of the semiconductor material. The crystalline orientation in the domains with respect to the substrate is maintained. An embodiment is an approximately 0.1 micron thick textured layer of <111> GaAs grown on a <0001> hexagonal monocrystalline Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 having domains approximately 1.0 micron with a carrier lifetime about 5 picoseconds and a carrier mobility of about 80 cm.sup.2 volt.sup.-1 sec.sup.-1.

Abstract: Absolute electrical parameter values using reflected microwaves are achieved through measurement of a sample that completely fills the cross section of the waveguide. A test sample holder for a wafer shaped sample employs a choke flange type plate and a backing plate for the wafer. Semiconductor sheet resistivity and mobility values are measured.

Abstract: Crystalline compound semiconductors are passivated with a layer of the most volatile element thereof to prevent the formation of oxides that would interfere with further processing. A GaAs crystal is provided with a surface layer of arsenic. The arsenic layer is formed by exposure to light having a photon energy greater than 1.8 eV, at a power density of 0.01 to 0.5 watts per cm.sup.2 while the GaAs immersed in a 1:1 HCl:H.sub.2 O solution for a period of 10-30 minutes. The intermediate processing passivated GaAs crystal may be stored and handled in air and the As layer is removed by low temperature baking.

Abstract: Information is transferred interactively between a user and an information processor by establishing the direction of the user's gaze or visual focus with relation to portions of a viewing surface and thereafter the direction of the user's gaze or visual focus to a specific portion of the viewing surface conveys information. The direction of a user's gaze is established through a reflected signal from the operator's eyeball.