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:
Feb. 05, 2008
Filed:
Dec. 07, 2004
Yoshiki Kuhara, Suita, JP;
Mitsuaki Nishie, Yokohama, JP;
Shigeo Hayashi, Yokohama, JP;
Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd., Osaka, JP;
Abstract
An optical receiver is provided with an optical-signal-receiving section and a controlling section. The optical-signal-receiving section incorporates a photodetector. The photodetector has an APD. Through a passivation film, a photoconductor is placed on a portion of a surface of the APD which remains unoccupied by an optical-signal-receiving area of the APD. When this structure is employed, the signal for controlling the avalanche multiplication factor of the APD can be obtained from the photoconductor. Consequently, the signal can be obtained with a simple structure. Furthermore, the photoconductor has a good linearity of the output current even to a weak lightwave. As a result, the output current I for controlling the avalanche multiplication factor of the APD can be obtained with high accuracy.