×

High sensitivity, high resolution detection of signals

  • US 7,085,502 B2
  • Filed: 03/14/2005
  • Issued: 08/01/2006
  • Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2002
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
Patent Images

1. A semiconductor amplifier device that provides a signal representing the magnitude of an input signal, comprising:

  • a semiconductor region including a plurality of spatially separate charge amplifiers configured such that in response to said input signal being coupled into the semiconductor amplifier device (i) the number of said charge amplifiers excited is a known monotonic function of the input signal magnitude over a predetermined dynamic range of the input signal, and (ii) to within a statistically significant metric each excited charge amplifier is excited by a respective quantity of charge that is known in advance of sensing the input signal and is independent of the input signal magnitude; and

    at least one readout electrode coupled to said charge amplifiers to provide an output signal representing the number of charge amplifiers excited by the input signal.

View all claims
  • 0 Assignments
Timeline View
Assignment View
    ×
    ×