Semiconductor light emitting device
A semiconductor light-emitting device has an emitter matrix with an arrangement of emitter cells interspersed with non-emitter cells. The emitter cell has a semiconductor emitter, and a non-emitter cell does not have a semiconductor emitter. A number of bond pads for connection to a power supply and a plurality of wirebonds are present. Each wirebond extends from a bond pad to the semiconductor emitter of an emitter cell. An imaging arrangement includes a light source for illuminating a scene. The light source has a pair of such semiconductor light-emitting devices. A method of manufacturing such a semiconductor light-emitting device is also described.
1. A semiconductor light-emitting device configured to illuminate a scene, and comprising:
an emitter matrix comprising an arrangement of emitter cells interspersed with non-emitter cells in a regular matrix array formation in which an emitter cell and a non-emitter cell each have essentially a same area, each emitter cell comprising a semiconductor emitter, and each non-emitter cell being a cell that does not contain any semiconductor emitter, each semiconductor emitter comprising circuitry that, when driven, is configured to emit light, at least one non-emitter cell comprising a switching element;
bond pads for connection to a driver configured to drive at least one of the semiconductor emitters; and
wirebonds each extending from one of the bond pads to provide current of the driver to the semiconductor emitter of one of the emitter cells.
2. The semiconductor light-emitting device of claim 1 , wherein the emitter matrix comprises an alternating arrangement of emitter cells and non-emitter cells.
3. The semiconductor light-emitting device of claim 1 , wherein the emitter cells and non-emitter cells are arranged in a checkerboard pattern.
4. The semiconductor light-emitting device of claim 1 , wherein the emitter cells and non-emitter cells are arranged in stripe pattern.
5. The semiconductor light-emitting device of claim 1 , wherein the emitter matrix comprises an array of at least nine emitter cells.
6. The semiconductor light-emitting device of claim 1 , wherein the emitters of the emitter matrix are infrared light-emitting diodes.
7. The semiconductor light-emitting device of claim 1 , wherein the emitters of the emitter matrix are vertical cavity surface-emitting lasers.
8. The semiconductor light-emitting device of claim 1 , wherein no wirebond extends from any of the bonding pads to any of the non-emitter cells.
9. The semiconductor light-emitting device of claim 1 , wherein:
a number of wirebonds is fewer than a number of cells in the emitter matrix, and
a center cell of the emitter matrix is one of the non-emitter cells.
10. The semiconductor light-emitting device of claim 1 , wherein:
each wirebond extends to a different switching element, and
each switching element is coupled with the semiconductor emitter of an adjacent emitter cell.
11. An imaging arrangement comprising:
a light source for illuminating a scene, the light source comprising a pair of semiconductor light-emitting devices, each semiconductor light-emitting device comprising:
an emitter matrix comprising an arrangement of emitter cells interspersed with non-emitter cells in a regular matrix array formation in which an emitter cell and a non-emitter cell each having essentially a same area, each emitter cell comprising a semiconductor emitter, and each non-emitter cell being a cell that does not contain any semiconductor emitter, each semiconductor emitter comprising circuitry that, when driven, is configured to emit light;
bond pads for connection to a driver configured to drive at least one of the semiconductor emitters; and
wirebonds each extending from one of the bond pads to provide current of the driver to the semiconductor emitter of one of the emitter cells,
the emitter matrix of a first of the semiconductor light-emitting devices arranged to illuminate essentially one half of the scene and the emitter matrix of a second of the semiconductor light-emitting devices arranged to illuminate essentially another half of the scene; and
an image sensor arrangement for capturing an image of the scene illuminated by the light source.
12. The imaging arrangement of claim 11 , further comprising beam-forming optics for shaping light emitted by the emitter matrices of the semiconductor light-emitting devices.
13. The imaging arrangement of claim 11 , wherein the emitter matrix of one of the semiconductor light-emitting devices generates a first illumination pattern, and the emitter matrix of another of the semiconductor light-emitting devices generates a second illumination pattern, the second illumination pattern being an inverse of the first illumination pattern.
14. The imaging arrangement of claim 11 , wherein the imaging arrangement is disposed in a compact mobile device.
15. The imaging arrangement of claim 11 , wherein the emitter matrix of at least one of the first or second of the semiconductor light-emitting devices comprises an alternating arrangement of the emitter cells and non-emitter cells.
16. The imaging arrangement of claim 11 , wherein the emitter cells and non-emitter cells of at least one of the first or second of the semiconductor light-emitting devices are arranged in a checkerboard pattern.
17. The imaging arrangement of claim 11 , wherein the emitter cells and non-emitter cells of at least one of the first or second of the semiconductor light-emitting devices are arranged in stripe pattern.
18. The imaging arrangement of claim 11 , wherein at least one non-emitter cell of at least one of the first or second of the semiconductor light-emitting devices comprises a switching element.
19. The imaging arrangement of claim 11 , wherein the emitter matrix of at least one of the first or second of the semiconductor light-emitting devices comprises an array of at least nine emitter cells.