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:
Sep. 17, 2002
Filed:
Sep. 19, 1997
Mitsufumi Codama, Kanagawa, JP;
Kazushi Sugiura, Kanagawa, JP;
Yukio Yamauchi, Kanagawa, JP;
Naoya Sakamoto, Kanagawa, JP;
Michio Arai, Tokyo, JP;
Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd., Kanagawa-ken, JP;
Abstract
A semiconductor device comprising an active layer made from a crystalline silicon formed on a substrate having an insulating surface; a gate insulating film formed on said active layer; and a source region and a drain region provided in contact with said active layer; wherein, said active layer generates photo carriers upon irradiation of a light, a part of the thus generated photo carriers having the opposite polarity with respect to that of the carriers flowing in the vicinity of the interface with the gate insulating film is temporarily accumulated within said active layer to change the resistance of the region of said active layer, and the light irradiated to said active layer is detected from the change in current flow between the source and the drain which occurs in accordance with the change in resistance in the region of said active region. The semiconductor device according to the present invention is particularly an image sensor device which amplifies an optical signal and which outputs it as an electric signal.