MAXIMUM OPTICAL DOSE DETECTION WITH A 16X16 MONOLITHIC THYRISTOR ARRAY

We report on the fabrication of a 2-D array (16 x 16) of optical thyri stors connected into a winner-takes-all network with capability of spa tially resolved maximum optical dose detection. In every pixel of the network, optical energy is integrated in time (during up to 1 ms) by m eans of precharging of the optoelectronic thyristors. At the moment of verdict, a voltage step is applied to the whole 256 element array. On ly the element with the highest stored charge then switches on and hol ds off all other thyristors. A differential resolution of 80 pJ optica l energy has been measured, while the time to take the appropriate dec ision is less than 150 ns.