1. A method of forming a submicron contact on a semiconductor structure, said method comprising:
applying a mask layer to a surface of the semiconductor structure, the mask layer having a submicron width opening exposing a portion of the surface, substantially planar sidewalls that are substantially perpendicular to the surface and a high aspect ratio;
establishing a conductive contact to the surface that conforms to the opening; and
removing the mask.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the contact is established by depositing at least one layer of conductive material in the opening.
3. The method of claim 2 wherein the conductive material is deposited by plating a single material to the exposed portion of the surface.
4. The method of claim 3 wherein the single material comprises at least one of gold, a gold-based material, a platinum group metal, a platinum group based material, silver, a silver-based material, nickel, a nickel-based material, copper and a copper-based material.
5. The method of claim 2 wherein the conductive material is deposited by:
plating a first material to the exposed portion of the top surface to form a layer of first material; and
plating a second material to the layer of first material to form a layer of second material.
6. The method of claim 5 wherein the first material is a platinum group metal or platinum group metal-based.
7. The method of claim 5 wherein the second material is gold or gold-based.
8. The method of claim 5 further comprising plating a third material to the layer of the second material to form a layer of third material.
9. The method of claim 8 wherein the third material is nickel or nickel-based.
10. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
depositing a layer of dielectric material on the surface of semiconductor material prior to applying the mask layer; and
removing the portions of the dielectric material exposed by the opening prior to establishing the conductive contact.
11. The method of claim 1 wherein the surface of the semiconductor structure comprises a layer of semiconductor material.
12. The method of claim 1 wherein the semiconductor structure comprises a layer of semiconductor material and further comprising:
depositing a seed layer of conductive material on the layer of semiconductor material, wherein the surface of the semiconductor structure comprises the seed layer; and
removing the exposed portions of the seed layer not covered by the conductive contact after removing the mask.
13. The method of claim 12 wherein the seed layer is deposited by:
depositing a first layer of a first material on the surface; and
depositing a second layer of a second material on the first layer.
14. The method of claim 13 wherein the first material comprises at least one of titanium (Ti), tungsten (W) and titanium tungsten (TiW).
15. The method of claim 13 wherein the second material comprises gold or a gold-based material.
16. The method of claim 13 wherein the first layer of material comprises two layers of materials.
17. The method of claim 16 wherein each of the two layers of materials comprises at least one of titanium (Ti), tungsten (W) and titanium tungsten (TiW).
18. A method of forming a contact on semiconductor structure, said method comprising:
applying a mask layer to a surface of the semiconductor structure, the mask layer having an opening exposing a portion of the surface, substantially planar sidewalls that are substantially perpendicular to the surface and a high aspect ratio;
plating a conductive material to the exposed portion of the surface; and
removing the mask.
19. The method of claim 18 wherein the surface of the semiconductor structure comprises a layer of semiconductor material.
20. The method of claim 18 wherein the semiconductor structure comprises a layer of semiconductor material and further comprising:
depositing a seed layer of conductive material on the layer of semiconductor material, wherein the surface of the semiconductor structure comprises the seed layer; and
removing the exposed portions of the seed layer not covered by the conductive contact after removing the mask.
21. The method of claim 18 wherein the contact formed is an emitter contact.
22. A semiconductor device comprising:
a layer of semiconductor material having a substantially planar surface; and
a conductive contact on the surface, the contact having a submicron dimension width, substantially planar sidewall surfaces that are substantially perpendicular to the surface, and a high aspect ratio.
23. The device of claim 22 wherein the semiconductor material is capable of having the contact plated to it.
24. The device of claim 23 wherein the semiconductor material is one of Indium Phoshide (InP) based, Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) based, Gallium Nitride (GaN) based, SiC (Silicon Carbide) based and Indium Arsenide (InAs) based.
25. The device of claim 22 further comprising a seed layer of conductive material between the surface and the contact, the seed layer capable of having the contact electroplated to it.
26. The device of claim 25 wherein the seed layer comprises:
a first layer of a first material on the surface; and
a second layer of a second material on the first layer.
27. The device of claim 26 wherein the first material comprises at least one of titanium (Ti), tungsten (W) and titanium tungsten (TiW).
28. The method of claim 26 wherein the first layer of material comprises two layers of materials.
29. The method of claim 28 wherein each of the two layers of materials comprises at least one of titanium (Ti), tungsten (W) and titanium tungsten (TiW).
30. The device of claim 26 wherein the second material is capable of having the contact plated to it.
31. The device of claim 27 wherein the second material comprises gold or a gold-based material.
32. The device of claim 22 wherein the contact comprises a single material.
33. The device of claim 32 wherein the single material comprises at least one of gold, a gold-based material, a platinum group metal, or a platinum group based material, silver, a silver-based material, nickel, a nickel-based material, copper and a copper-based material.
34. The device of claim 22 wherein the contact comprises:
a first layer of a first material on the surface; and
a second layer of a second material on the first layer.
35. The device of claim 34 wherein the first material is a platinum group metal or platinum group metal-based.
36. The device of claim 34 wherein the second material comprises gold or a gold-based material.
37. The device of claim 34 wherein the contact further comprises a top layer of material on the second layer.
38. The device of claim 37 wherein the top layer of material is nickel or nickel-based.
39. A method of forming a second contact relative to a first contact on a first layer of a semiconductor structure that includes a second layer of semiconductor material, the first contact and first layer having sidewalls, said method comprising:
forming an insulating layer on at least a portion of the sidewalls of the first layer of semiconductor material;
applying a mask layer on a surface of the second layer of semiconductor material;
forming an opening in the mask layer exposing a portion of the surface that is adjacent the insulating layer; and
establishing the second contact by plating a conductive material to the exposed portion of the surface.
40. The method of claim 39 wherein the conductive material is plated only to the exposed portion of the surface.
41. The method of claim 39 wherein the semiconductor structure includes a third layer of semiconductor material adjacent the second layer and the conductive material is plated to the second contact by applying current to the third layer of semiconductor material.
42. The method of claim 41 wherein the second layer has a higher resistance than the third layer.
43. The method of claim 39 wherein the conductive material comprises a single material type.
44. The method of claim 43 wherein the single material comprises at least one of gold, a gold-based material, a platinum group metal, a platinum group based material, silver, a silver-based material, nickel, a nickel-based material, copper and a copper-based material.
45. The method of claim 39 wherein plating comprises:
plating a first material to the exposed portion of the surface to form a layer of first material; and
plating a second material to the layer of first material to form a layer of second material.
46. The method of claim 45 wherein the first material is a platinum group metal or platinum group metal-based.
47. The method of claim 45 wherein the second material comprises gold or a gold-based material.
48. The method of claim 39 further comprising:
depositing a layer of insulating material on the surface prior to applying the mask layer; and
removing the portions of the insulating material exposed by the opening prior to plating.
49. The method of claim 39 wherein forming an insulating layer comprises applying a mask layer on the sidewalls of the first layer and on the first contact.
50. The method of claim 49 wherein the mask layer applied on the sidewalls of the first layer and on the first contact is the same mask applied on the surface.
51. The method of claim 39 wherein the sidewalls of the first layer and the sidewalls of the first contact extend substantially perpendicular with respect to the surface of the second layer and forming an insulating layer comprises:
isotropically applying a dielectric coating on the sidewalls of the first layer, on the first contact and on the surface; and
anisotropically removing the dielectric coating from the surface.
52. The method of claim 39 further comprising applying a seed layer on the second layer prior to applying the mask layer, the seed layer functioning as the surface of the second layer.
53. The method of claim 39 wherein the insulating layer is formed on all of the sidewalls of the first layer of semiconductor material and at least a portion of the sidewalls of the first contact.
54. A semiconductor device comprising:
a first layer of semiconductor material having a top surface, sidewalls and a bottom surface;
a first contact on the top surface, the contact having a width with a submicron dimension, substantially planar sidewalls that are substantially perpendicular to the top surface, and a high aspect ratio;
a second layer of semiconductor material adjacent the bottom surface of the first layer;
an insulating material covering at least a portion of the sidewalls of the first layer of semiconductor material; and
a second contact on the surface of the second layer and positioned adjacent the first layer, wherein the surface of the second layer comprises a first material capable of having the second contact plated to it.
55. The device of claim 54 wherein the first material is one of Indium Phoshide (InP) based, Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) based, Gallium Nitride (GaN) based, SiC (Silicon Carbide) based and Indium Arsenide (InAs) based.
56. The device of claim 54 wherein the second contact comprises a single material.
57. The device of claim 56 wherein the single material comprises at least one of gold, a gold-based material, a platinum group metal, or a platinum group based material, silver, a silver-based material, nickel, a nickel-based material, copper and a copper-based material.
58. The device of claim 54 wherein the second contact comprises:
a first layer of a first material on the top surface; and
a second layer of a second material on the first layer.
59. The device of claim 58 wherein the first material is capable of having the second material plated to it.
60. The device of claim 58 wherein the first material is a platinum group metal or platinum group metal-based.
61. The device of claim 58 wherein the second material comprises gold or a gold-based material.
62. The device of claim 54 further comprising a seed layer on the second layer, the seed layer functioning as the surface of the second layer.
63. The device of claim 54 wherein the insulating layer covers all of the sidewalls of the first layer of semiconductor material and at least a portion of the sidewalls of the first contact.
64. A method of forming a contact on a first layer of a semiconductor structure that includes a second layer adjacent the first layer, said method comprising:
applying a mask layer on the surface of the first layer, the mask layer having an opening exposing a portion of a surface of the first layer; and
applying current to the second layer to electroplate a conductive material to the exposed portion of the surface of the first layer.
65. The method of claim 64 wherein the first layer has a higher resistance than the second layer.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. An image processing apparatus comprising:
scene change detection means including correlation value calculation means for calculating a correlation coefficient between mutually adjacent frames in said received images; and determination means for determining whether scene change has occurred based on said correlation coefficient for detecting scene change of one or more received images;
movement detection means for detecting a movement in each of said received images; and
display image generation means for determining a period of each continuous scene based on the scene change detected by said scene change detection means and superimposing said received images of the period of said continuous scene based on the movement in each of said images detected by said movement detection means in the period of said continuous scene, and generating a display image which has a wider field angle than said received images and in which a position of each of said received images is slid in response to said movement in each, of said images,
wherein the display image generation means generates the display image by sequentially superimposing each of the received images of the period in a reverse order of time and supplies signals of the display image to a plurality of projectors, each projecting a portion of the display image.
2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said correlation value calculation means comprises:
difference average value calculation means for calculating an average value of difference values between mutually adjacent frames as a difference average value;
pixel average value calculation means for calculating an average value of pixel values of one frame as a pixel average value; and
normalization means for normalizing said difference average value using said pixel average value to output said difference average value thus normalized as said correlation value.
3. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said display image generation means comprises:
display position determination means for determining a display position of each of said received images based on the movement in each of the images detected by said movement detection means in said period of said continuous scene;
wide field angle image generation means for superimposing the received images in said period of said continuous scene, display positions of said images having been determined by said display position determination means, and for generating a wide field angle image having a wider field angle than said received images;
received image slide means for sliding said received images to the display position determined by said display position determination means; and
image superimposition means for superimposing the received images whose display position has been slid by said received image slide means on said wide field angle image, to generate said display image.
4. The image processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said wide field angle image generation means sequentially superimposes the received images in reverse order of time in said period of said continuous scene, display positions of said received images having been determined by said display position determination means, to generate said wide field angle image.
5. The image processing apparatus according to claim 3,
wherein said wide field angle image generation means slides a display position of said wide field angle image used on the movement in each of the images detected by said movement detection means in said period of said continuous scene, to prevent a portion of said received images in said display image from going out of an image display region in which said display image is displayed; and
wherein said received image slide means corrects the display position determined by said display position determination means with said wide field angle image sliding in said wide field angle image generation means.
6. The image processing apparatus according to claim 3,
wherein said wide field angle image generation means slides said display position thereof based on the movement in each of the images detected by said movement detection means in said period of said continuous scene, in accordance with sizes of said wide field angle image and said image display region; and
wherein said received image slide means corrects the display position determined by said display position determination means with said wide field angle image sliding in said wide field angle image generation means.
7. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising image division means for dividing said display image,
wherein, when an image display region for displaying said display image is comprised of multiple display regions, said image division means divides said display image corresponding to said multiple display regions.
8. An image processing apparatus for changing a display position of an image in response to a movement in a received image, said apparatus comprising:
movement detection means for detecting said movement in the received image;
display position determination means for determining a display position of said received image based on information of multiple frames on the movement in the image detected by said movement detection means;
received image slide means for sliding said received image to said display position determined by said display position determination means; and
superimposing means for sequentially superimposing each of the slide images in a reverse order of time, the slide images being consecutive images and supplying signals of the display image to a plurality of projectors, each projecting a portion of the display image.
9. An image processing method executed by an image processing apparatus for processing image signals, comprising the steps of:
detecting scene change of received images and a movement in each of said received images by calculating a correlation coefficient between mutually adjacent frames in said received images and determining whether scene change has occurred based on said correlation coefficient;
determining a period of each continuous scene based on the scene change thus detected and superimposing said received images in said period of said continuous scene based on the movement in each of the images detected in said period of said continuous scene; and
generating a display image which has a wider field angle than said received images and in which a position of each of said received images is slid in response to said movement in each of said images,
wherein the generating step generates the display image by sequentially superimposing each of the received images of the period in a reverse order of time and supplies signals of the display image to a plurality of projectors, each projecting a portion of the display image.
10. The image processing method according to claim 9, further comprising the steps of:
calculating an average value of difference values between mutually adjacent frames, as a difference average value;
calculating an average value of pixel values of one frame as a pixel average value; and
normalizing said difference average value using said pixel average value, to use said normalized difference average value as said correlation value.
11. The image processing method according to claim 9, further comprising the steps of:
determining a display position of each of said received images based on the movement in each of the images detected in said period of said continuous scene;
superimposing the received images in said period of said continuous scene, display positions of said images having been determined, and generating a wide field angle image having a larger wide field angle than said received images;
sliding said received images to said display position; and
superimposing said received images whose display position has been slid on said wide field angle image to thereby generate said display image.
12. The image processing, method according to claim 11, wherein received images in said period of said continuous scene whose display positions have been determined are superimposed in reverse order of time to generate said wide field angle image.
13. The image processing method according to claim 11, further comprising the steps of:
sliding a display position of said wide field angle image based on the movement in each of the images detected in said period of said continuous scene, to prevent a portion of said received images in said display image from going out of an image display region in which said display image is displayed; and
correcting a display position with respect to said received image in said period of said continuous scene with said wide field angle image sliding.
14. The image processing method according to claim 9, further comprising the steps of:
when an image display region for displaying said display image is comprised of multiple display regions, dividing said display image corresponding to said multiple display regions.
15. An image processing method executed by an image processing apparatus for changing a display position of an image in response to a movement in a received image, said method comprising the steps of:
detecting said movement in said received image;
determining a display position of said received image based on information of multiple frames on said movement in the image thus detected;
sliding said received image to said determined display position; and
sequentially superimposing each of the slide images in a reverse order of time, the slide images being consecutive images and supplying signals of the display image to a plurality of projectors, each projecting a portion of the display image.
16. A non-transitory computer-readable storing medium encoded with an executable program that, when executed, causes a computer to execute:
a procedure for detecting scene change of received images by calculating a correlation coefficient between mutually adjacent frames in said received images and determining whether scene change has occurred based on said correlation coefficient;
a procedure for detecting a movement in each of said received images;
a procedure for determining a period of each continuous scene based on the scene change thus detected and superimposing said received images in said period of said continuous scene based on the movement in each of the images detected in said period of said continuous scene; and
a procedure of generating a display image which has a wider field angle than said received images and in which a position of each of said received images is slid in response to said movement in each of said images;
wherein the generating procedure generates the display image by sequentially superimposing each of the received images of the period in a reverse order of time and supplies signals of the display image to a plurality of projectors, each projecting a portion of the display image.