Photoelectric computing unit, photoelectric computing array, and photoelectric computing method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12181908-B2
Application number	US-201917278567-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 16, 2019
Priority date	Nov 22, 2018
Publication date	Dec 31, 2024
Grant date	Dec 31, 2024

Abstract

A photoelectric computing unit, a photoelectric computing array and a photoelectric computing method. The photoelectric computing unit includes a semiconductor multifunctional region structure, which includes at least one carrier control region, at least one coupling region, and at least one photon-generated carrier collection region and readout region.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A photoelectric computing unit, into which operation quantities are input in two manners, i.e., optical inputting and electrical inputting, the photoelectric computing unit comprising one semiconductor multifunctional area structure, wherein the semiconductor multifunctional area comprises at least one carrier control region, at least one coupled region and at least one photo-generated carrier collection and readout region, wherein:
an operation quantity to be input optically, i.e., an optical input quantity, is input by converting incident photons into photo-generated carriers, and an operation quantity to be input electrically, i.e., an electrical input quantity, is input by directly injecting carriers;
the carrier control region is configured to control and modulate carriers in the photoelectric computing unit and used as an electrical input terminal of the photoelectric computing unit to be input with one operation quantity as an electrical input quantity; or, the carrier control region is configured to just control and modulate carriers in the photoelectric computing unit, with an electrical input quantity being input from other regions;
the coupled region is configured to connect a collection region with a readout region in the photo-generated carrier collection and readout region, so that photo-generated carriers generated by incidence of photons affect carriers in the photoelectric computing unit to form an operation relationship; and
in the photo-generated carrier collection and readout region, the collection region is configured to absorb incident photons and collect the generated photo-generated carriers and is used as an optical input terminal of the photoelectric computing unit to be input with one operation quantity as an optical input quantity; the readout region is configured as an electrical input terminal of the photoelectric computing unit to be input with one operation quantity as an electrical input quantity and is also configured as an output terminal of the photoelectric computing unit to output carriers affected by the optical input quantity and the electrical input quantity as a unit output quantity; or, the electrical input quantity is input from other regions, and the readout region is used only as an output terminal of the photoelectric computing unit to output carriers affected by the optical input quantity and the electrical input quantity as a unit output quantity.

2. The photoelectric computing unit according to claim 1 , comprising a control gate as the carrier control region, a charge coupled layer as the coupled region and a P-type substrate as the photo-generated carrier collection and readout region, wherein:
the P-type semiconductor substrate as the photo-generated carrier collection and readout region comprises a collection region on the left and a readout region on the right, wherein the collection region on the left is configured to form a depletion layer used for collecting photoelectrons, and the quantity of charges of the collected photoelectrons is read by the readout region on the right as an input quantity from the optical input terminal; and, the readout region on the right comprises a shallow trench isolation, an N-type drain terminal and an N-type source terminal and is used for reading, and can also be used as an electrical input terminal to be input with one operation quantity;
the charge coupled layer as the coupled region is configured to connect the collection region with the readout region in the photo-generated carrier collection and readout region, so that after a depletion region in the substrate in the collection region begins the collection of photoelectrons, the surface potential of the substrate in the collection region is affected by the number of the collected photoelectrons; and, through the connection by the charge coupled layer, the surface potential of the semiconductor substrate in the readout region is influenced by the surface potential of the semiconductor substrate in the collection region and further the magnitude of source-drain current in the readout region is influenced, and thus the number of photoelectrons collected in the collection region is read by determining the source-drain current in the readout region;
the control gate as the carrier control region is configured to form, in the readout region of the P-type semiconductor substrate, a depletion region used for exciting photoelectrons by applying one pulse voltage to the control gate, and can also be used as an electrical input terminal to be input with one operation quantity; and
a bottom dielectric layer used for isolation is arranged between the P-type semiconductor substrate and the charge coupled layer, and a top dielectric layer used for isolation is arranged between the charge coupled layer and the control gate.

3. The photoelectric computing unit according to claim 1 , comprising a control gate as the carrier control region, a charge coupled layer as the coupled region and a P-type substrate as the photo-generated carrier collection and readout region, wherein:
the P-type substrate as the photo-generated carrier collection and readout region comprises one N-type drain terminal and one N-type source terminal, is used for both light sensing and reading-out, and can also be used as an electrical input terminal to be input with one operation quantity;
the charge coupled layer as the coupled region is configured to store photoelectrons entering the charge coupled layer and change a unit threshold during reading to affect the source-drain current in the readout region, so that the number of photoelectrons generated during light sensing and entering the charge coupled layer is read by determining the source-drain current in the readout region;
the control gate as the carrier control region is configured to form, in the readout region of the P-type semiconductor substrate, a depletion region used for exciting photoelectrons by applying one pulse voltage to the control gate, and can also be used as an electrical input terminal to be input with one operation quantity; and
a bottom dielectric layer used for isolation is arranged between the P-type semiconductor substrate and the charge coupled layer, and a top dielectric layer used for isolation is arranged between the charge coupled layer and the control gate.

4. The photoelectric computing unit according to claim 1 , further comprising one light emitting unit optically corresponding to the photoelectric computing unit, the light emitting unit being configured to emit light to generate photo-generated carriers in the photoelectric computing unit, the photo-generated carriers being used as an optical input quantity for the photoelectric computing unit and interacting with an electrical input quantity that is input into the photoelectric computing unit from the electrical input terminal to obtain a result of photoelectric operation,
wherein the light emitting unit is driven by one signal conversion driver, and the signal conversion driver is configured to convert a digital signal into the pulse width of a driving current pulse of the light emitting unit and drive a light emitting array formed by a plurality of light emitting units; or, a particular related light emitting unit is driven by addressing so that the related light emitting unit generates an optical signal of a corresponding duration, and the optical signal is set as an optical input quantity for the corresponding photoelectric computation unit, and
the photoelectric computation unit is arranged in a two-dimensional or three-dimensional array to form a photoelectric computation module so as to realize various particular operations.

5. The photoelectric computing units according to claim 4 , further comprising an optical structure of one layer or more layers b

Assignees

• Nanjing University

Inventors

• Yan Feng
• Pan Hongbing
• Ma Haowen
• Shi Donghai
• Li Zhangnan
• Wang Yuxuan
• Wang Chenxi
• Chen Xuan
• Yue Tao
• Zhu Di
• Luo Yuanyong
• Wang Zihao
• Lou Sheng

Classifications

• G06N3/09

  Supervised learning · CPC title

• G06N3/0464

  Convolutional networks [CNN, ConvNet] · CPC title

• H10D62/124

  Shapes, relative sizes or dispositions of the regions of semiconductor bodies or of junctions between the regions · CPC title

• G06F15/7896

  Modular architectures, e.g. assembled from a number of identical packages · CPC title

• H10D84/891

  characterised by the integration of only components covered by H10D44/00, e.g. integration of charge-coupled devices [CCD] or charge injection devices [CID · CPC title