Radiant energy – Photocells; circuits and apparatus – Photocell controlled circuit
Reexamination Certificate
2000-12-28
2003-07-08
Mai, Huy (Department: 2873)
Radiant energy
Photocells; circuits and apparatus
Photocell controlled circuit
C250S553000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06590199
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical information processing apparatus for use in optical computing, optical image processing, and the like.
2. Description of Prior Art
For example, the invention disclosed in the specification of Japanese Patent Application No. H10-113148 is an example of an integrated optical information processing apparatus in which light emitting devices are bonded onto a semiconductor arithmetic circuit chip to form a light emitting device array. The structure of the conventional optical information processing apparatus is illustrated in FIG.
1
. In
FIG. 1
, reference numeral
63
denotes a semiconductor light emitting diode, reference numeral
14
a diffraction type collimator lens, reference numeral
15
a diffraction type focusing lens, reference numeral
16
a glass substrate provided with diffraction type optical devices, reference numeral
17
a semiconductor arithmetic circuit chip, reference numeral
18
a light emitting device driving electrode, reference numeral
19
a light receiving device, reference numeral
64
a gold bump, reference numeral
23
an input signal light beam, reference numeral
24
an output signal light beam, reference numeral
61
a cylindrical glass, and reference numeral
62
a light blocking resin.
The operation of the conventional optical information processing apparatus having such a structure as described above will now be described by illustrating the operation of one pixel among a plurality of arrays. First, the input signal light beam
23
is focused by the diffraction type focusing lens
15
provided on the glass substrate
16
provided with diffraction type optical devices onto the light receiving device
19
provided on the semiconductor arithmetic circuit chip
17
through the cylindrical glass
61
. Thus, the input signal light beam
23
is incident upon the light receiving device
19
. The light receiving device
19
converts the incident input signal light beam
23
into an electric signal. The semiconductor arithmetic circuit chip
17
receives as its input signal the converted electric signal from the light receiving device
19
, and performs an arithmetic operation. The result of the arithmetic operation is output to the light emitting device driving electrode
18
as an electric signal. The electric output signal which is output to the light emitting device driving electrode
18
is then applied to the semiconductor light emitting diode
63
via the gold bump
64
, and a current flows through the semiconductor light emitting diode
63
according to the electric output signal. The semiconductor light emitting diode
63
converts the electric output signal into the output signal light beam
24
according to the result of the arithmetic operation. The output signal light beam
24
from the semiconductor light emitting diode
63
is output through the diffraction type collimator lens
14
provided on the glass substrate
16
provided with diffraction type optical devices while suppressing the spatial divergence thereof. The light blocking resin
62
blocks light from a side surface of the semiconductor light emitting diode
63
so that light from the side surface of the semiconductor light emitting diode
63
is not incident upon adjacent light receiving devices
19
.
However, such a conventional structure as described above has the following problems. When forming the light emitting device array by bonding the semiconductor light emitting diodes
63
onto the respective light emitting device driving electrodes
18
, the bonding is performed while positionally aligning the individual semiconductor light emitting diodes
63
with respect to the respective light emitting device driving electrodes
18
. As a result, as the number of pixels provided in an array increases, the number of misaligned semiconductor light emitting diodes
63
increases. Therefore, it is difficult to produce a light emitting device array including the semiconductor light emitting diodes
63
with a good precision.
Moreover, the cylindrical glasses
61
are bonded onto the respective light receiving devices
19
while positionally aligning the cylindrical glasses
61
with respect to the respective light receiving devices
19
. As a result, as the number of pixels provided in an array increases, the number of misaligned cylindrical glasses
61
increases. Therefore, it is difficult to provide the array of cylindrical glasses
61
respectively defining optical paths on the light receiving devices
19
with a good precision.
Furthermore, with the light blocking technique using the light blocking resin
62
, the light blocking effect is reduced as the interval between each semiconductor light emitting diode
63
and an adjacent light receiving device
19
is reduced. Therefore, it is difficult to reduce the pixel-to-pixel interval of the conventional optical information processing apparatus having such a structure as described above, and thus to increase the integration density of, and thereby reducing the size of, the optical information processing apparatus.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In order to solve these problems in the prior art, the present invention provides an optical information processing apparatus comprising a light emitting device array provided on a semiconductor arithmetic circuit chip, the light emitting device array comprising light emitting devices which are embedded in through holes in a silicon substrate. In addition to such a structure, the optical information processing apparatus of the present invention may additionally comprise a substrate provided with diffraction type optical devices, and further through holes provided in the silicon substrate for defining optical paths for light receiving devices.
Thus, an array of light emitting devices and optical paths for light receiving devices can be easily formed on the semiconductor arithmetic circuit chip with a good precision, thereby providing a small-sized integrated optical information processing apparatus having a large number of pixels.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an optical information processing apparatus, comprising: a semiconductor arithmetic circuit chip; and a light emitting device array integrated onto the semiconductor arithmetic circuit chip, the light emitting device array comprising a substrate (e.g., a silicon substrate) having a through hole and a light emitting device embedded in the through hole. This apparatus functions as follows. The semiconductor arithmetic circuit chip performs an arithmetic operation. The result of the arithmetic operation is applied as an electric output signal to the light emitting device which is embedded in the through hole in the substrate which forms a part of the light emitting device array. The light emitting device is operable to convert the electric output signal into an output signal light beam and output the obtained light beam.
Thus, according to the present invention, it is possible to realize a small-sized integrated optical information processing apparatus having a high pixel density and a large number of pixels by employing the light emitting device array in which the light emitting devices are embedded in the through holes in the silicon substrate.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an optical information processing apparatus, comprising: a semiconductor arithmetic circuit chip; a light emitting device array integrated onto the semiconductor arithmetic circuit chip; and a diffraction type optical device integrated onto the light emitting device array, the light emitting device array comprising a substrate having a through hole and a light emitting device embedded in the through hole. The diffraction type optical device functions to focus an input signal light beam and to suppress spatial divergence of the output signal light beam from the light emitting device.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, a light receiving device is provided on the semiconductor
Higashi Kazushi
Kawai Hideo
Browdy and Neimark , P.L.L.C.
Mai Huy
Matsushita Electric - Industrial Co., Ltd.
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