INORGANIC SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES SENSITIVE TO INFRARED RADIATION, LIGHT, ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION OF SHORTER WAVELENGTH OR CORPUSCULAR RADIATION

**Definition:** This place covers:

Inorganic semiconductor devices that are sensitive to infrared radiation, visible light, ultraviolet radiation, x-ray radiation, gamma radiation or corpuscular radiation, and which are specially adapted for either the conversion of the radiation energy into electrical energy or for the control of electrical energy by such radiation.

This includes the following kinds of devices:

This place also covers processes and apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment of such devices.

In this subclass, infrared radiation includes far infrared radiation having wavelengths between about 700 nm and about 1 mm.

In this subclass, the periodic system used is the I to VIII Group system indicated in the Periodic Table under Note (3) of section C .

**Glossary:** - chip: a piece of a wafer or a substrate that has been processed to contain devices therein or thereon. The expression "diced chip" refers to the result of dicing a wafer or a substrate into a plurality of chips, whereas "undiced chip" refers to a chip before dicing or with no dicing. - device: an electric circuit element (e.g. diode, transistor, LED, etc.); (depending on the context) can also refer to an integrated device (e.g. CMOS-IC, DRAM device, etc.). A device may be in the form of a bare or packaged chip. - dopant: the atoms or compounds added to a material during doping - doping: the intentional addition of a small quantity of atoms or compounds into a material to achieve a desired characteristic, e.g. to produce an n-type or p-type material - individual: refers to: an electric circuit element not being an integrated device; or a component of an integrated device. Examples of individual devices include: diodes, transistors, photovoltaic cells, Josephson-junction devices, light-emitting diodes [LED], organic LEDs or a single LED component within an integrated device. - integrated device: a device consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state electric circuit elements formed in or on a common substrate - integrated circuit: an integrated device where all the electric circuit elements (e.g. diodes, transistors, LEDs, etc.) are formed in or on a common substrate, including interconnections between the elements - component: an electric circuit element (e.g. diode, transistor, LED, etc.) that is one of a plurality of elements formed in or on a common substrate, e.g. in an integrated device - wafer: this can be one of the following: (a) a slice of semiconductor or electric solid-state active material. For example: a slice of silicon; a slice of a semiconducting compound, e.g. gallium nitride [GaN]; a slice of lithium tantalate [LiTaO 3 ] for superconductor applications. (b) a multilayered laminate, having at least one layer of semiconductor or electric solid-state active material, the layer being meant to be processed into devices. For example: silicon-on-insulator [SOI]; silicon-on-glass [SOG]; silicon-on-sapphire [SOS]; a composite wafer comprising silicon carbide [SiC] on polycrystalline silicon [Si] support; a layer of semiconducting nanowires on glass. A wafer is typically processed by (e.g.) deposition, etching, doping or diffusion, and is then typically diced into chips. - body: the region of semiconductor (resp. solid-state) material(s) within which, or at the surface of which, the physical effects that are characteristic of the device occur, and any bordering semiconductor (resp. solid-state) material(s) that are contiguous with this region. Examples: in a field-effect transistor [FET], the physical effects occur in the channel region between the source and the drain. The semiconductor body includes the channel region, the source and drain regions, and any contiguous semiconductor material; in a light-emitting diode [LED], the physical effects occur at a junction of active semiconductor layers. The semiconductor body includes these active semiconductor layers and any contiguous semiconductor layers, such as buffer layers, possibly a growth substrate, etc., that are between the cathode and anode electrodes; in a thermoelectric device, the solid-state body includes all solid-state materials in the path of current between the electrodes. - electrode: a conductive region in or on the semiconductor body or solid-state body of a device (and other than the body itself) which exerts an electrical influence on the body, irrespective of whether or not an external electrical connection is made thereto. The term covers metallic regions which exert electrical influence on the body through an insulating region (e.g. in intentional non-parasitic capacitive coupling), or inductive coupling arrangements. In a capacitive coupling arrangement, the dielectric region is regarded as part of the electrode. The overall conductive wiring may comprise multiple portions. In such a case, only the wiring portions that exert an electrical influence on the body are considered portions of the electrode. Examples: conductive layer(s) in direct physical contact with the body; conductive region(s) exerting an inductive coupling onto the body; a multilayer structure which exerts influence on the body through an insulating region, e.g. in intentional non-parasitic capacitive coupling. - interconnection: a conductive arrangement for conducting electric current from an electrode of a circuit element to another part of the circuit. Examples include metal wirings. - container: a solid construction in which (one or more) devices are placed, or which is formed around the devices, for forming packaged devices. A container requires a partial or total enclosure and it may also comprise a filling. - encapsulation: an enclosure consisting of (one or more) layers, e.g. comprising organic polymers, which at least partially enclose the (one or more) devices, thereby protecting them. An encapsulation is often used to hermetically seal devices. - field-effect: refers to semiconductor technology wherein a voltage applied to a gate electrode creates an electric field that allows for control of current near the interface of the gate and the body, e.g. to create an inversion channel between the source and drain of a MOSFET - package: the collection of all elements, which are external to the chip, that protect the chip or connect it to another object. Package therefore covers encapsulations, containers, package substrates, interposers, heatsinks or the like. Package does not include objects at a higher system level, like circuit boards and beyond, e.g. a housing in which the circuit board is enclosed. - unipolar: refers to semiconductor technology that primarily involves one type only of charge carrier, i.e. it involves either holes or electrons but not both - bipolar: refers to semiconductor technology that involves multi-carrier-type operation, i.e. which simultaneously uses both electrons and holes as charge carriers - MIS: metal-insulator-semiconductor - MOS: metal-oxide-semiconductor - FET: field-effect transistor - MISFET: metal-insulator-semiconductor field-effect transistor - TFT: thin-film transistor - active material: material within which the physical effects that are characteristic of the device occur - coating: one or more layers which are formed essentially conformally on and directly associated with at least a portion of the semiconductor device, e.g. having passivating or optical effects - Group IV material: material comprising only Group IV elements, except for dopants or other impurities - Group III-V material: material comprising only Group III and Group V elements, except for dopants or other impurities - Group II-VI material: material comprising only Group II and Group VI elements, except for dopants or other impurities - Group I-III-VI material: material comprising only Group I, Group III and Group VI elements, except for dopants or other impurities - heterojunction: interface between two different materials, the difference lying in the crystal structure and/or the composition (example: p-type amorphous silicon/n-type crystalline silicon) - homojunction: interface between materials having the same composition, the same crystal structure and different dopants or dopant concentrations - hybrid: refers to an image sensor having two substrates that are connected together, wherein the sensing elements are in one substrate and the driving circuitry is in the other substrate - intrinsic region or layer: semiconductor region or layer that is undoped or not intentionally doped such that electron and hole densities are approximately equal - junction box: enclosure attached to a photovoltaic module for electrically connecting modules together - photovoltaic cell, solar cell: photovoltaic device that converts electromagnetic radiation (e.g. light) into direct current electricity for the purpose of providing electrical energy (not for light detection purposes). It is often, but not necessarily, part of a photovoltaic module. - photovoltaic module: assembly of multiple photovoltaic cells that are electrically connected together - PIN, p-i-n: junction having a p-type region/intrinsic region/n-type region structure, wherein the intrinsic layer is the light-absorbing layer. Contrast with SHJ photovoltaic cells, wherein the intrinsic layer is not the light-absorbing layer. - PN, p-n: junction having a p-type region/n-type region structure - Silicon heterojunction [SHJ] photovoltaic cell: heterostructure comprising two silicon materials having different crystalline structure and including a very thin intrinsic interlayer therebetween, which is not the light-absorbing layer - Schottky barrier: metal/semiconductor barrier that is non-ohmic and rectifying - multiple-junction photovoltaic cell, tandem photovoltaic cell: photovoltaic cell comprising multiple photovoltaic subcells formed on one another to form a single integrated structure between a single pair of anode/cathode electrodes. Typically, each subcell has a different spectral sensitivity than each other. Tunnel junctions between subcells usually ensure the electrical connection and the current flow between the subcells. - up-conversion: process wherein two or more lower energy photons are converted to a single high energy photon to be absorbed by the photovoltaic cell. Up conversion layers are electrically isolated from the photovoltaic cell and are usually between the back reflector and the photovoltaic cell.