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. 29, 2001
Filed:
Mar. 10, 1999
Timothy A. Vang, San Dimas, CA (US);
David C. Scott, Lakewood, CA (US);
TRW Inc., Redondo Beach, CA (US);
Abstract
A metal-semiconductor-metal photodetector (,) is provided including an optical waveguide (,) disposed on a substrate (,) and an array of metal-semiconductor-metal photodiodes (,) coupled to the optical waveguide (,). An absorber (,) is disposed between the photodiodes (,) and the optical waveguide (,) and a transmission line (,) is coupled to the photodiodes (,). Each of the photodiodes (,) includes an electrode (,) having a plurality of interdigitated electrode fingers (,) wherein a width of each finger (,) and a gap between adjacent fingers (,) tapers from one end of the electrode (,) to the other. Preferably the rate of tapering corresponds to an exponential rate of optical power decay through the photodiode (,). In this way, both the photocurrent density in the fingers (,) and the uniformity of the electric field underneath the electrodes (,) are optimized.