| 摘要 |
PCT No. PCT/EP96/01357 Sec. 371 Date Dec. 5, 1997 Sec. 102(e) Date Dec. 5, 1997 PCT Filed Mar. 28, 1996 PCT Pub. No. WO96/30952 PCT Pub. Date Oct. 3, 1996An optoelectronic device (10) formed in a chip of an indirect bandgap semiconductor material such as silicon is disclosed and claimed. The device comprises a visibly exposed highly doped n+ region (16) embedded at the surface of an oppositely doped epitaxial layer (14), to form a first junction region (15) closed to the surface of the epitaxial layer. When the junction region is reverse biased to beyond avalanche breakdown, the device acts as a light emitting device to the external environment. When it is reversed biased to just below avalanche breakdown it acts as a light detector. The device may further include a further junction region for generating or providing additional carriers in the first junction region, thereby to improve the performance of the device. This further junction can be multiplied to facilitate multi-input signal processing functions where the light emission from the first junction is a function of the electrical signals applied to the further junctions.
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