INFRARED-RAY DETECTING ELEMENT AND INFRARED-RAY DETECTOR USING SAME ELEMENT

摘要

PURPOSE:To make it possible to obtain an infrared-ray detecting element and an infrared-ray detecting device wherein high sensitivity and high-density mounting are achieved by forming the same compound semiconductor layers so as to hold an insulating layer, connecting the ends of layers on one side with a metal pattern, providing electrodes on both ends on the other sides and the metal pattern, and forming a three-terminal structure. CONSTITUTION:A compound semiconductor layer 2 is formed on a substrate 1 which is a resistor having a high resistance. The same second compound semiconductor layer 21 is formed on the compound semiconductor layer 2 so as to hold a transparent insulating layer 3. The ends of the layers 2 and 21 on one side are connected with a metal pattern 6 in series. Electrodes are provided on both ends on the other side and the pattern 6. Thus a three- terminal structure is provided for this detecting element. A constant-current source is connected to one of said pair of the electrodes. The other electrode is grounded. The output signals are taken out of both the electrode to which the constant current source is connected and the third electrode. Therefore, incident infrared-rays are divided into the upper layer or the lower layer depending on the wavelength components and absorbed. Since the layers 2 and 21 are connected in series and the bias current is made to flow, the spectrum distribution of the incident infrared-rays, i.e. the magnitude of the temperature of a light source, can be found based on the ratio between the output signals outputted from the electrodes.