SOLID-STATE DEVICE

• US 3,765,956 A
• Filed: 10/19/1971
• Issued: 10/16/1973
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/1965
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Chou H. Li
• Original Assignee: Chou H. Li
• Inventors: Li, Chou H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Rutledge, L. Dewayne
• Assistant Examiner(s): Davis, J. M.
• Application Number:
  US05/190,483
• Time in Patent Office: 728 Days
• Field of Search: 75/135 148/1.5,33,172,1.6,186 317/234
• US Class Current: 148/33
• CPC Class Codes: C30B 21/02 by normal casting or gradient freezing
• CPC Class Codes: C30B 21/04 by zone-melting
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/763 Polycrystalline semiconductor regions H01L21/76264 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/764 Air gaps H01L21/76264 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 27/00 Devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state components formed in or on a common substrate details thereof H01L23/00, H01L29/00 - H10K10/00; assemblies consisting of a plurality of individual solid state devices H01L25/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 27/1446 in a repetitive configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/0657 characterised by the shape of the body
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/0661 specially adapted for altering the breakdown voltage by removing semiconductor material at, or in the neighbourhood of, a reverse biased junction, e.g. by bevelling, moat etching, depletion etching
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 31/00 Semiconductor devices sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation and specially adapted either for the conversion of the energy of such radiation into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation; Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment thereof or of parts thereof; Details thereof H10K30/00 takes precedence; devices consisting of a plurality of solid state components formed in, or on, a common substrate, other than combinations of radiation-sensitive components with one or more electric light sources, H01L27/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 33/00 Semiconductor devices having potential barriers specially adapted for light emission; Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment thereof or of parts thereof; Details thereof H10K50/00 takes precedence; devices consisting of a plurality of semiconductor components formed in or on a common substrate and including semiconductor components having potential barriers, specially adapted for light emission H01L27/15; semiconductor lasers H01S5/00
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 438/929 Eutectic semiconductor

Abstract

The ultra-miniaturized, active solid-state devices and circuitries have unique material bodies having signal-translating regions attached thereto for active signal translation. These regions, comprising melt-grown, or simulated melt-grown, metallurgical compounds including oxides, eutectics, and intermetallics, are of controlled compositions, concentration profiles, and electronic or other optoelectromagnetic properties. In some devices, the microstructure of the compounds comprises a plurality of microscopically thin, regularly-shaped and uniformly-spaced bodies of one phase material dispersed in a matrix of another phase material. The electronic conductivities of the bodies are substantially different from that of the matrix, and the bodies all terminate at microscopic distance from the pn junction (or other interfacial rectifying barrier region), so as to confine the signal current carriers to flow mainly in only one of the phases. This achieves carriers microstreaming or microbranching effects. Described also herein are different devices including micron-size eutectic devices, dendritic devices, cellular devices, and granular devices; and their methods of manufacture. The barrier regions may be further modified by diffusion, ion implantation, selective oxidation, electrolytic etching, and surface-contouring. In addition, selected circuit elements may be embedded into these devices to achieve additional carriers movement control or to obtain special beneficial effects.

Claims

2. The device of claim 1 wherein the compound consists essentially of a eutectic.

3. The device of claim 1 wherein the region comprises a eutectic consisting essentially of a substantially pure semiconductor substance and a metallic element having a heat of oxidation exceeding 400 Kcal/mol at 298*K.

4. The device of claim 1 wherein the region comprises a eutectic consisting essentialy of a substantially pure semiconductor substance and a chemical element selected from that class of elements which is preferentially oxidized over the semiconductor substance, under fractional to one full atmospheric pressure of oxygen, at temperatures between 0.3 to 0.75 Tm, where Tm is the absolute melting temperature of the semiconductor substance.

5. The device of claim 1 wherein the region comprises a semiconducting composition characterized by a microstructure of a polycrystalline eutectic consisting essentially of two phases, one of the phases being a matrix phase and the other phase being in the form of microscopically thin phase bodies embedded in the matrix phase, the material of one of the phases being a substantially pure semiconductor substance, the material of the other phase being a substance selected from that class of substances which forms with the semiconductor substance interfacial rectifying barrier region thereby forming a multitude of interfacial rectifying barrier regions in the interfacial contact zones between the thin phase bodies and the embedding matrix phase.

6. The device of claim 1 wherein the region comprises elongated, microscopic subregions of alternately high and low electronic conductivities and locally oriented generally parallel to the flow direction of the current carriers, the high conductivity being over hundred times greater than the low conductivity so that the current carriers flow through the region in the form of microscopically thin streams.

7. The device of claim 1 wherein the region comprises a structure consisting essentially of a plurality of discrete phase bodies of one phase embedded in a multi-layer arrangement in a matrix of a second phase, the bodies having conductivity to the flow of the current carriers differing by over 10 times from that of the matrix so that the flux density of the carriers flowing through the region varies periodically along a direction transversely of the flow direction of the carriers.

8. The device of claim 1 including a material body having an outer surface, and wherein the region comprises a two-phase material integrally joined to the surface, the material comprising a plurality of substantially parallel, elongated, microscopic phase bodies of one phase dispersed according to a regular geometric pattern in a matrix of a second phase, the elongated phase bodies being all locally oriented generally normal to, and terminating within a few microns from, the surface.

9. The device of claim 1 wherein the region comprises a eutectic mass, one of the two phases of the mass being a substantially pure semiconductor substance, the eutectic phase bodies in the mass being elongated and parallel but all terminating within a few microns of one surface of the mass, and including a layer of the semiconductor substance covering the surface, the semiconductor substance in the eutectic phase being doped to an electronic conductivity type opposite to that displayed by the semiconductor substance in the layer thereby forming a multitude of pn junctions in the contact zone therebetween.

10. The device of claim 1 wherein the region comprises a layer of a eutectic selected from that class of eutectics which forms with a semiconductor substance an interfacial,electronic rectifying barrier region, and including a material body consisting essentially of the semiconductor substance, the eutectic layer covering a portion of the material body thereby forming at least one such barrier region in the interfacial zone therebetween.

11. The device of claim 10 including at least one additional material body or particle consisting also essentially of the same semiconductor substance, and wherein the eutectic layer is an interparticulate, polycrystalline layer in the form of a single, substantially continuous network integrally joining all the material bodies in a close-packed, spatial configuration and forming at least one rectifying barrier region between any two adjacent material bodies.

12. The device of claim 1 wherein the compound is a eutectic and the device comprises a mass of the eutectic matrix and a single, semiconducting,eutectic phase body at least partly embedded therein, a core portion of the phase body having an electronic conductivity of one type and an outer portion of the phase body having an electronic conductivity of the opposite type, thereby forming a diode with a pn junction in the interfacial zone between the two portions inside the phase body.

13. The device of claim 12 wherein the pn junction is radiation-exposed to the ambient and selected from that class of junctions which transforms optoelectrical energy from one type to another, one of the types being radiation at the peripheral surface of the junction and nearby zone while the other type being electrical energy at the two terminal surfaces of the junction.

14. The device oF claim 12 including a wall defining a hole that separates the single eutectic phase body into two parts and divides the device into a pair of physically integral, permanently aligned and radiation-coupled diodes.

15. The device of claim 1 wherein the compound is a eutectic consisting essentially of a plurality of elongated, eutectic phase bodies dispersed in a matrix, each phase body having a pn junction therein along the length thereof, and including wall defining an opening that traverses the phase bodies so as to separate each eutectic phase body into two parts and expose two pn junctions therein, thereby forming a pair of physically integral, permanently aligned and radiation-coupled, optoelectrical diode arrays each located on one side of the opening.

16. The device of claim 1 wherein the compound consists essentially of an oxide.

17. The device of claim 1 wherein the region comprises microscopic subregions of alternately high and low electronic conductivities, the high conductivities being over ten times greater than the low conductivities.

18. The device of claim 4 wherein the element is non-doping relative to the semiconductor substance.

19. The device of claim 5 wherein the interfacial rectifying barrier regions are pn junctions.

20. The device of claim 7 wherein the flux density varies along the transverse direction with a period of microscopic length.

21. The device of claim 1 including a material body having an outer surface, and wherein the region comprises a two-phase material integrally joined to the surface, the material comprising a plurality of substantially parallel, elongated, microscopic phase bodies of one phase dispersed in a matrix of a second phase, the elongated phase bodies all extending toward and terminating within a few microns from the surface.

22. The device of claim 21 wherein the surface is generally normally of the direction of carriers flow and wherein the phase bodies have electronic conductivities differing by over ten times from that of the matrix so that the carriers flow through the region in the form of microscopically thin streams.

23. The device of claim 1 wherein the region comprises a eutectic mass, one of the two phases of the mass being a substantially pure semiconductor substance, the eutectic phase bodies in the mass being elongated and parallel but all terminating within a few microns of one surface of the mass.

24. The device of claim 23 including at least one pn junction region extending transversely across the phase bodies and located within a few microns from the one surface.

25. The device of claim 1 wherein the compound is a eutectic and the device comprises a mass of the eutectic matrix and a single, semiconducting, eutectic phase body at least partly embedded therein, a core portion of the phase body having an electronic conductivity different from that of an outer portion of the same body and forming an interfacial rectifying barrier region at the interface between the two portions inside the phase body.

26. The device of claim 25 including a material layer surrounding the phase body and electronically insulating the body from the matrix.

27. The device of claim 1 wherein the compound is a eutectic consisting essentially of a plurality of elongated, eutectic phase bodies dispersed in a matrix, each phase body having a pn junction therein along the length thereof.