The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 06, 1997
Filed:
Oct. 27, 1995
James F Harvey, Research Triangle Park, NC (US);
Robert A Lux, Toms River, NJ (US);
Raphael Tsu, Charlotte, NC (US);
The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army, Washington, DC (US);
Abstract
The invention provides light sources which are easily compatible with standard silicon VLSI processing and can be located directly in the material of the silicon VLSI chip. P-type silicon substrate is processed to produce proturbances, the proturbances preferably having tip dimensions on the order of 5-10 mm. A native oxide film (SiO.sub.2) is caused to develop on the surface of the silicon substrate. A thin, transparent, conductive film is then deposited on top of the SiO.sub.2. Electrical contacts are made to the top of the conductive film and to the bottom of the silicon substrate. The carriers for electroluminescence are supplied by the P-doped silicon substrate (holes) and the conductive film (electrons). When a voltage is applied across the layers via the electrical contacts, the holes are concentrated in the region of the tip of the proturbances because the electric field lines concentrate near a pointed object, and electron current across the SiO.sub.2 barrier in response to the voltage drop will be largest in the vicinity of the tip because the SiO.sub.2 barrier is thinnest there, resulting in strong visible luminescence.