Abstract: A method and apparatus for improving the operation of infrared detectors of a type generally characterized by a semiconductive substrate of a first conductivity type which includes a detection region defined or bounded by a heavily doped backside electrode and buried layer of the first conductivity type. A charge coupled device (CCD) readout structure for transfers charge in an epitaxial layer of second conductivity type which overlies the substrate, and the detector further includes a heavily doped layer of the second conductivity type positioned between the epitaxial layer and the substrate to shield the charge carriers of the substrate from the CCD voltages. Means are provided by the present invention for the injection of minority charge carriers into the epitaxial region which are subsequently transferred to output means by the CCD.

Abstract: There is disclosed an all silicon monolithic focal plane array of infrared detectors for image detection. The structure comprises two epitaxial layers grown on an extrinsically doped silicon substrate. The detectors are formed in and extend through the substrate, the material of which is sensitive to specific wavelength infrared signals according to the dopant used in the substrate. The collection of charges takes place on a first buried layer formed around a portion of the first epitaxial layer-substrate interface, and the charges are then transferred through a second buried layer of the same conductivity type to a conducting surface layer on the upper portion of the second epitaxial layer. The signal readout function is performed by a charge coupled device shift register constructed in the second epitaxial layer by providing selectively spaced electrodes in an insulating layer.

Abstract: There is disclosed an all silicon monolithic focal plane array of infrared detectors for image detection. The structure comprises an epitaxial layer grown from an extrinsicly doped silicon substrate. The detectors are formed in and extend through the substrate the material of which is sensitive to specific wavelength infrared signals according to the dopant used in the substrate. The signal readout function is performed by a charge coupled device shift register constructed in the epitaxial layer by separating electrodes from it in an insulating layer formed on it. Carriers generated in the detecor by incident infrared radiation are directly injected into the CCD shift register and detected at the output end. The monolithic construction and the use of an epitaxial layer to form the CCD shift register results in low cost, high yield and high efficiency devices.

Abstract: There is disclosed an all silicon monolithic focal plane array of infrared detectors for image detection. The structure comprises an epitaxial layer grown on an extrinsically doped silicon substrate. The detectors are formed in and extend through the substrate, the material of which is sensitive to specific wavelength infrared signals according to the dopant used in the substrate. The collection of charges takes place on a buried layer formed around a portion of the epitaxial layer-substrate interface, and the charges are then transferred through a surface layer of the same conductivity type to the surface of the epitaxial layer. The signal readout function is performed by a charge coupled device shift register constructed in the epitaxial layer by providing selectively spaced electrodes in an insulating layer.

Abstract: The specification describes a self-aligning masking technique for the fabrication of charge coupled device-metal oxide semiconductor (CCD/MOS) transistor combinations. Both the CCD devices and the output MOS transistors are formed on the same semiconductor substrate during the same processing steps. Two layers of polycrystalline silicon, isolated from each other by a layer of dielectric material and isolated from the semiconductor substrate by another dielectric layer are used to form two sets of partially overlapping semiconductor strips. These strips and predetermined portions of the substrate are then doped, with a conductivity determining impurity opposite the conductivity type of the substrate. This process produces two self-aligned sets of gate electrodes for a two-phase or a four-phase CCD device and also produces two output self-aligned gate field effect transistors at the end of the CCD array.

Abstract: There is disclosed a circuit for removing the DC or background representing charge component of a signal to be passed through a charge coupled device shift register without degrading the information carried by the AC component of the signal. Such a circuit may, for example, be used to remove the constant background illumination component of the input from a semiconductor imaging device to increase the contrast ratio of the image signal. The circuit comprises two electrode defined potential wells or buckets formed in a semiconductor substrate with a control gate between them and a transfer gate which controls the flow of the charges in the first bucket to a P-N junction. Like the well defining electrodes, the control gate and transfer gate are electrodes separated from the semiconductor substrate by an insulation layer.