| 摘要 |
<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a photodiode array of which the interval can be narrowed between light receiving regions constituting photodiodes. <P>SOLUTION: When a reverse bias is applied; depletion layers DP4, DP3A, DP3B, and DP3C extending from a guard ring 4 and a light receiving region 3 overlap each other (pinch off state), and a separation region 2B interposed between the guard ring 4 and the light receiving region 3 is isolated from a semiconductor substrate 1 to which a bias potential is applied. Since the separation region 2B is electrically floated from the semiconductor substrate 1, the avalanche breakdown is suppressed between the guard ring 4 and the separation region 2B, and between the light receiving region 3 and the separation region 2B. In short, even if the interval is narrowed among the light receiving regions 3A, 3B, and 3C, the avalanche breakdown is hard to occur with the separation region 2B, resulting in raising breakdown strength among them. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT |
