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:
Dec. 17, 2002
Filed:
Dec. 11, 2000
William R. Clark, Tyngsboro, MA (US);
Serguei An, Nepean, CA;
Nortel Networks Limited, St. Laurent, CA;
Abstract
A photodiode, and method of manufacturing thereof, is provided which combines advantages of planar structure photodiodes and mesa structure photodiodes. Semiconductor layers are epitaxially grown as is done for traditional planar structures. However the upper doped layer is also epitaxially grown, unlike traditional planar structures in which the upper layer is formed by diffusion depth targeting into one of the intrinsically doped layers. The edges of the upper layer are then removed by etching to leave an island-like structure. Termination junctions are formed by deep diffusion of an impurity of the same type as the dopant in the lower doped layer, thereby avoiding exposure of the edges of the photodiode to the ambient environment. The photodiode therefore combines the reliability of a planar structure device with the precision of a mesa structure device. The invention is particularly suited to avalanche photodiodes, in which suppression of edge breakdown is most beneficial.