An image sensor capable of recording both spectral and polarization properties of light using a single chip device includes an at least 2048 by 2048 array of superpixels. Each superpixel includes an array of spectral pixels, and an adjacent array of polarization pixels. Each spectral pixel includes a spectral filter and a stack of photodiodes, where each photodiode has a different quantum efficiency and is, therefore, sensitive to a different wavelength of light passed by the spectral filter. Each polarization pixel includes a polarization filter and a stack of photodiodes, similar to the spectral pixel photodiode stacks.

The present application relates to semiconductor photodetectors, in particular to a silicon carbide-based UV-visible-NIR full-spectrum-responsive photodetector and a method for fabricating the same. The photodetector includes a silicon carbide substrate, and metal counter electrodes and a surface plasmon polariton nanostructure arranged thereon. The silicon carbide substrate and the metal counter electrodes constitute a metal-semiconductor-metal photodetector with coplanar electrodes. When the ultraviolet light is input, free carriers directly generated in silicon carbide are collected by an external circuit to generate electrical signals. When the visible light is input, hot carriers generated in the surface plasmon polariton nanostructure tunnel into the silicon carbide semiconductor to become free carriers to generate electrical signals.

A disclosed semiconductor photodetector includes a first semiconductor layer having a first refractive index and a first band gap; a second semiconductor layer formed on the first semiconductor layer, the second semiconductor layer having a second refractive index and a second band gap; a first electrode; and a second electrode. The second refractive index is greater than the first refractive index, and the second band gap is smaller than the first band gap. The first semiconductor layer includes a p-type first region, an n-type second region, and a non-conductive third region between the first region and the second region. The second semiconductor layer includes a p-type fourth region in ohmic contact with the first electrode, an n-type fifth region in ohmic contact with the second electrode, and a non-conductive sixth region between the fourth region and the fifth region.

A light sensor includes a semiconductor substrate supporting a number of pixels. Each pixel includes a photoconversion zone extending in the substrate between a front face and a back face of the substrate. An optical diffraction grating is arranged over the back face of the substrate at a position facing the photoconversion zone of the pixel. For at least two different pixels of the light sensor, the optical diffraction gratings have different pitches. Additionally, the optical grating of each pixel is surrounded by an opaque wall configured to absorb at operating wavelengths of the sensor.

An infrared detector includes: a first light receiving layer having a first cutoff wavelength; a second light receiving layer having a second cutoff wavelength longer than the first cutoff wavelength; an intermediate filter layer having a third cutoff wavelength that is the same as or longer than the first cutoff wavelength and the same as or shorter than the second cutoff wavelength, the intermediate filter layer being disposed between the first light receiving layer and the second light receiving layer; a first barrier layer disposed between the first light receiving layer and the intermediate filter layer; and a second barrier layer disposed between the second light receiving layer and the intermediate filter layer.

A lateral interband Type II engineered (LITE) detector is provided. LITE detectors use engineered heterostructures to spatially separate electrons and holes into separate layers. The device may have two configurations, a positive intrinsic (PIN) configuration and a BJT (Bipolar junction transistor) configuration. The PIN configuration may have a wide bandgap (WBG) layer that transports the holes above a narrow bandgap (NBG) absorber layer that absorbs the target radiation and transports the electrons. The BJT configuration may have a WBG layer operating as a BJT above an NBG layer. In both configurations, the LITE design uses a Type II staggered offset between the NBG layers and the WBG layers that provides a built-in field for the holes to drift from an absorber region to a transporter region.

A photodetector designing method includes, according to various requirements required by an application equipped with a photodetector including a photoelectric conversion layer having a superlattice structure mostly composed of amorphous selenium, a step of determining a form of the photodetector; a step of determining a type of a substrate suitable for a wavelength to be detected by the photoelectric conversion layer among the requirements, a step of calculating a multiplication factor M representing an amplification gain generated in a process of tunneling in the superlattice structure, and a step of determining, as a layer thickness of the photoelectric conversion layer, a thickness obtained by multiplying a thickness per one layer of the superlattice structure by the number of layers N.sub.SL of the superlattice structure on the assumption that the multiplication factor M is approximate to the number of layers N.sub.SL.

A light-receiving element, comprising a plurality of photodiodes formed by stacking in this sequence, a lower reflection mirror, a resonator including a photoelectric conversion layer, and an upper reflection mirror on a semiconductor substrate, wherein the plurality of photodiodes share the semiconductor substrate and the lower reflection mirror, the plurality of photodiodes includes a first photodiode having a resonance wavelength λ1 and a second photodiode having a resonance wavelength λ2 that is larger than the resonance wavelength λ1, and a reflectance of the lower reflection mirror has a first peak corresponding to the resonance wavelength λ1 and a second peak corresponding to the resonance wavelength λ2.

An electronic device may include an infrared sensor with light sources and a quantum film photodetector. The light sources may emit short-wavelength infrared (SWIR) light through a display panel and the photodetector may receive the SWIR light through the panel after reflection off an object. The light sources and an integrated circuit may be mounted to a wall of a sensor module mounted to the panel. The module may include a lens. The photodetector may be disposed onto the rear wall, lens, integrated circuit, or display panel. The photodetector may include multiple types of quantum film to absorb different wavelengths of SWIR light. The SWIR light may pass through the display panel without distorting images emitted by the display panel. Using a quantum film in the photodetector may allow the photodetector to extend across a large surface area without unnecessarily increasing manufacturing cost for the device.

Mercury cadmium telluride (MCT) dual band photodiode elements are described that include an n-type barrier region interposed between first and second p-type regions. The first p-type region is arranged to absorb different IR wavelengths to the second p-type region in order that the photodiode element can sense two IR bands. A portion of the second p-type region is type converted using ion-beam milling to produce a n-type region that interfaces with the second p-type region and the n-type barrier region.