Radiant energy systems, memories and thermal imaging methods and apparatus
First Claim
1. A radiant energy sensing element comprising a semiconductor capacitor having a semiconductor body member and at least one pair of electrodes and a second capacitor including a dielectric having a polarizable remanent dipole structure coupled to said semiconductor capacitor in such a way that an inversion layer is formed in said semiconductor body member, which when irradiated separates the electron /e/-hole/h/ pairs and collects the mobile carriers in the inversion layer.
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Abstract
A very thin insulator having a dipole structure such as a dielectric material having ferroelectric properties and, preferably, also having thermodielectric properties, is used as the insulator insulating an electrode of an electrode pair from a semiconductor body sandwiched between said electrode pair. The utilization of the charge storage and transfer ability serves as a large scale memory device. Radiation detection and solar energy conversion systems based on establishment of an inversion layer by the bound charge of thermodielectric layer or an electret and irradiation of the semiconductor to separate the electron-hole pair and subsequent collection of minority carriers. Since there is no physical junction, the voltage is high, and can be an alternating current voltage which can be transformed. In one embodiment the dielectric material exhibiting thermodielectric properties provides the bound charge and is used in a thermal imaging system. In such system a matrix or mosaic of charged thermodielectric capacitors biased to near the Curie temperature, are exposed to a source of infrared to be detected. Such mosaic of thermodielectric capacitors is used to convert the IR image to electrical signals.
37 Citations
23 Claims
- 1. A radiant energy sensing element comprising a semiconductor capacitor having a semiconductor body member and at least one pair of electrodes and a second capacitor including a dielectric having a polarizable remanent dipole structure coupled to said semiconductor capacitor in such a way that an inversion layer is formed in said semiconductor body member, which when irradiated separates the electron /e/-hole/h/ pairs and collects the mobile carriers in the inversion layer.
- 4. Radiation detector comprising a semiconductor capacitor having a semiconductor body member and at least one pair of electrodes and a second capacitor coupled to said semiconductor capacitor in such a way that an inversion layer is formed in said semiconductor body member, which when irradiated generates the electron /e/-hole/h/ pairs and collects the mobile carriers in the depletion layer.
- 11. In a method of converting solar energy to electrical energy comprising establishing an inversion layer in a semiconductor body by applying a bias potential to a pair of electrodes one of which is insulated from said semiconductor body, subjecting said inversion layer to solar energy to generate the electron /e/--hole /h/ pairs, and collecting the minority carriers, the improvement wherein the bias potential applied to said pair of electrodes is generated in situ by solar to electrical energy conversion.
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18. A double capacitor comprising a pair of electrodes, a thin dielectric layer and a semiconductor body sandwiched between said pair of electrodes, said dielectric having ferroelectric properties and means for biasing said dielectric layer to near the Curie point thereof.
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19. A thermal detector comprising
a pair of electrodes, a layer of material having thermodielectric properties and a semiconductor layer sandwiched between said pair of electrodes, means for biasing said layer of material having thermodielectric properties to near its Curie temperature, voltage supply means for charging the electrodes and said dielectric to a selected potential, means for exposing said layer to a source of thermal energy to be detected, and readout means connected to said pair of electrodes.
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20. An imaging system comprising
a pair of transversely oriented electrode arrays, at least one of said electrode array being transparent to radiant energy of a selected wave length (IR) a dielectric means sandwiched between said electrode array, said dielectric means constituted of a dielectric having thermodielectric properties, means for biasing said dielectric material to its Curie temperature, means for applying a charging potential to said electrode arrays and said dielectric material, means for projecting an energy image upon said dielectric material, and readout means coupled to said electrode arrays for developing an electrical signal for each cross point of said array which is proportional to said energy image imaged upon said dielectric material at each cross point, respectively.
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23. A night vision system comprising a pair of transversely oriented electrode arrays,
a thermodielectric material sandwiched between said electrode array, means for biasing said thermodielectric material to near its Curie temperature, means for applying a charging potential to said electrodes and said thermodielectric material, means for focusing a radiant energy image upon said thermodielectric material, and readout means coupled to said electrode arrays for developing an electrical signal for each cross point of said transversely oriented electrode arrays corresponding to the change in the thermal dielectric property of said thermal dielectric material due to the radiant energy impinging upon said dielectric material at each of the cross points of said transversely oriented electrode arrays, respectively.
Specification