Samsung patents photodetector design to reduce background noise
Samsung has been granted a patent for a photodetector that uses a specific layer structure to improve light sensing. The design includes a tunneling barrier layer made of metal oxide semiconductor material that blocks unwanted electrical current, known as dark current, from flowing between the semiconductor and conductive layers.
In the filing’s own words
A photodetector, including: a semiconductor layer, a conductive layer forming a Schottky junction with the semiconductor layer, and a tunneling barrier layer between the semiconductor layer and the conductive layer, wherein the tunneling barrier layer may be configured to block a dark current between the semiconductor layer and the conductive layer.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A photodetector comprising: a semiconductor layer; a conductive layer comprising a first conductive layer forming a Schottky junction with the semiconductor layer, and second conductive layer on the first conductive layer; and a tunneling barrier layer between the semiconductor layer and the conductive layer, wherein the tunneling barrier layer is configured to block a dark current between the semiconductor layer and the conductive layer, and wherein the tunneling barrier layer comprises a metal oxide semiconductor material, wherein a work function of the first conductive layer is set such that a barrier height of a Schottky barrier corresponding to the Schottky junction is lower than a barrier height of a Schottky barrier corresponding to a Schottky junction that would be formed by the second conductive layer and the semiconductor layer without the first conductive layer.
Facts
- Company
- Samsung (SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.)
- Official title
- Schottky barrier photodetector
- Patent number
- US12740161B2
- Application number
- 18211873
- Filed
- Jun 20, 2023
- Granted
- Sep 15, 2026
- Inventors
- 1
- Claims
- 16
Classified under
H10F 30/227 Electricity & electronicsH10F 77/12 Electricity & electronicsH10F 39/182 Electricity & electronicsMore from Samsung in Chips & hardware
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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.