Imaging device

• US 20040218085A1
• Filed: 02/23/2004
• Published: 11/04/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 08/24/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hamamatsu Photonics KK
• Original Assignee: Hamamatsu Photonics KK
• Inventors: Natsume, Yoshio, Sugawara, Takeo
• Granted Patent: US 7,295,736 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/340
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/06 the relative position of the fibres being the same at both ends, e.g. for transporting images
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/08 with fibre bundle in form of plate
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/4203 Optical features
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/4249 comprising arrays of active devices and fibres

Abstract

An image pickup device according to the present invention comprises (1) a fiber optical plate constituted by bundling a plurality of optical fibers, including a core and a cladding covering an outer periphery thereof and having a light incident surface and a light-emitting surface inclined with respect to the optical axis direction of a plurality of optical fibers; (2) a plurality of columnar crystals having light permeability, formed on the light-emitting surface of the fiber optical plate; and (3) a solid-state image pickup device having photoelectric converters arrayed and formed in two-dimensional fashion on a main surface of a semiconductor substrate and optically coupled to a plurality of columnar crystals.

Claims

1. An image pickup device, comprising:

a fiber optical plate constituted by bundling a plurality of optical fibers including a core and a cladding covering an outer periphery of the core, and having a light incident surface and a light-emitting surface inclined with respect to the optical axis of the plurality of optical fibers;

a plurality of columnar crystals having light permeability formed on the light-emitting surface of the fiber optical plate; and

a solid-state image pickup device having photoelectric converters arrayed and formed in two-dimensional fashion on a main surface of a semiconductor substrate and optically coupled to said plurality of columnar crystals.

2. An image pickup device according to claim 1, wherein said plurality of columnar crystals are constituted of a least one of CsI, NaI, LiI, KI, KBr, KCl and NaCl.

3. An image pickup device according to claim 1, wherein a sectional area at an end part of the light incident side of each of said columnar crystals is made smaller than the sectional area at an end part of the light-emitting side of each of said optical fibers.

4. An image pickup device according to claim 1, wherein said plurality of columnar crystals are formed by crystal growth by the use of oblique vapor deposition on said light-emitting surface of the fiber optical plate.