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:
Aug. 18, 2015
Filed:
Jun. 18, 2013
Washington University, St. Louis, MO (US);
Stuart A. Solin, St. Louis, MO (US);
Samuel A. Wickline, St. Louis, MO (US);
AKM Shah Newaz, Nashville, TN (US);
Kirk D. Wallace, St. Louis, MO (US);
Washington University, St. Louis, MO (US);
Abstract
The inventors disclose a new high performance optical sensor, preferably of nanoscale dimensions, that functions at room temperature based on an extraordinary optoconductance (EOC) phenomenon, and preferably an inverse EOC (I-EOC) phenomenon, in a metal-semiconductor hybrid (MSH) structure having a semiconductor/metal interface. Such a design shows efficient photon sensing not exhibited by bare semiconductors. In experimentation with an exemplary embodiment, ultrahigh spatial resolution 4-point optoconductance measurements using Helium-Neon laser radiation reveal a strikingly large optoconductance property, an observed maximum measurement of 9460% EOC, for a 250 nm device. Such an exemplary EOC device also demonstrates specific detectivity higher than 5.06×10cm√Hz/W for 632 nm illumination and a high dynamic response of 40 dB making such sensors technologically competitive for a wide range of practical applications.