General Electric Company

Roger S Ehle

David Michael Hoffman

Robert F Kwasnick

Richard J Saia

Jack D Kingsley

Walter Garwacki

A method of fabricating a radiation imager with strong structural integrity and adhesion between the scintillator and photosensor array includes the steps of forming a photosensor array on a substrate; depositing a barrier layer over the photosensor array, the barrier layer having an upper surface of silicon nitride; treating the silicon nitride upper surface of the barrier layer to prepare the surface for the deposition of material thereover; and depositing a scintillator material over the treated upper surface of the barrier layer. The silicon nitride upper surface of the barrier layer is typically treated by etching the surface, such as in a reactive ion etch, for a selected amount of time, with less than about 500 .ANG. of material being removed from the surface.

Method for fabrication solid state radiation imager having improved

A solid state detector in which each scintillator is optimally configured and coupled with its associated sensing diode in a way which exploits light piping effects to enhance efficiency. Preferably, the detector is modular in nature. Each scintillator is a crystal having an index of refraction which differs as a function of direction through the crystal lattice, with the lowest index of refraction being parallel to the cleavage plane. The sides of each scintillator bar conform with the cleavage plane and are highly polished to light pipe photons created in the scintillator to the rear face for collection by an associated photodiode. The rear face is roughened to de-trap light, allowing transfer from the scintillator to the diode. Optical coupling means join the scintillators to their associated diodes to further enhance light transfer.

Solid state detector

A method for independent control of a plurality of volatile dopants in liquid phase epitaxial fabrication of doped layers of semiconductors upon a semiconductor substrate, utilizes spatially separated sources of each dopant, each source being independently temperature controlled. One dopant source is located in a melt of a carrier metal and of the elements required to form the desired semiconductor material and has the saturation concentration thereof determined by the temperature of the melt, while the remaining dopant is vaporized to create a partial pressure thereof over the melt, with control of the source temperature controlling partial pressure and therefore concentration, which is less than or equal to the solubility of the remaining dopant at the melt temperature, in the melt.

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Scotia, NY, United States of America

Roger S Ehle