When transistors become very sensitive to light

What do you get when you place a photodiode under the buried oxide of a FDSOI transistor? A transistor that is very sensitive to visible light! The transistor, developed and tested in laboratory conditions, was presented by Leti at the IEDM 2016 conference, where it garnered substantial interest. Because energy is transferred by capacitive coupling, the transistor can operate without an electrical connection between the diode and the transistor. At seven orders of magnitude, the transistor’s dynamics rival those of the best CMOS imagers. Plus, it enables very small pixels of less than a square micron.

The researchers pointed out that, for now, there is only one of the transistors. Much research remains to be completed to model the transistor’s effects, produce it at matrix-scale, and determine future applications. A Ph.D. candidate working on the topic will have her work cut out for her! The invention was inspired by a patent filed in 2011.

Contact: laurent.grenouillet@cea.fr

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