JPS63198472A - Image forming method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily obtain a recording medium by charging with specific charges the nitride film of the recording medium formed by laminating an oxicide film and the nitride film on a semiconductor substrate on whose rear side is a conductive layer formed, and irradiating the semiconductor substrate with the optical image of an object. CONSTITUTION:An optical image incided through an optical system 9 is formed on a charge plate 8, and charges distributed in the form of thus formed pattern, and charging/discharging is generated between said patternized charges and those contained in the nitride film 6. Accordingly, a charge distribution 12 in the form of said formed pattern is formed in the nitride film 6. At the same time, a hollow layer 13 is caused by said charge distribution 12 to form in the semiconductor substrate 4. Therefore, the charge distribution 12 and the hollow layer 13 represent the formed pattern ; since the charges in the film 6 do not discharge even if the recording medium 1 is unloaded from a device after ending the picking up of an image, a long time storing is made possible.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an image forming method using electrophotographic technology,
In particular, the present invention relates to an image forming method in which an optical image is photographed in two-dimensional space and a latent image obtained thereby can be stored for a long period of time.

[Prior art]

Conventionally, the optical image is
Various electrophotographic techniques for taking images in dimensional space have been developed. For example, in so-called electronic still cameras and video cameras, a solid-state imaging device such as a CCD is placed at the rear of an optical system having a photographic lens, etc., and the photoelectric conversion action of the solid-state imaging device is used to 2. Description of the Related Art Image forming methods are known in which generated signals are processed and recorded on a magnetic recording medium.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, in such conventional image forming methods, although it is possible to capture optical images in two-dimensional space, there is a method to record latent images magnetically, so solid-state imaging probes and It requires a complex signal processing circuit to process the generated signal into a recordable signal, and for this reason, it is extremely difficult to miniaturize the device compared to cameras that process chemically using silver halide film. be.

[Means for solving problems]

The present invention has been made in view of these problems, and is a completely new product that exhibits excellent effects such as operability similar to that of a camera using silver halide film and miniaturization of the device. The purpose of the present invention is to provide an image forming method.

To achieve this object, the present invention forms an optical image from a subject on the surface of a recording medium, which is formed by laminating at least an oxide film and a nitride film on the front surface of a semiconductor substrate, and a conductive layer to which a predetermined voltage is applied to the back surface. As a result, charges excited in the semiconductor substrate by the optical image jt are accumulated between the nitride film and the oxide film, and at the same time a depletion layer corresponding to the accumulated charges is formed in the semiconductor substrate. It is characterized by making use of this phenomenon to form a latent image and retaining it for a long period of time.

That is, as a result of intensive research, the inventors of the present application have found that after charging the nitride film of the recording medium with the above structure with a predetermined charge, the nitride film is irradiated with an optical image of the subject, thereby detecting the irradiated portion. We have developed a method in which a charge is excited in a semiconductor substrate, and the charge is held in a nitride film without being discharged, and at the same time, a so-called latent image is formed by a depletion layer formed in the semiconductor substrate.

This makes it possible to directly record latent images two-dimensionally and in an analog manner using conventional optical photographing methods.It also allows for handling like conventional silver halide film, and is extremely compact. Other extremely excellent effects such as the ability to provide a photographic device can be obtained.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view f showing an example of a recording medium used in the present invention. On the surface of a disc-shaped recording medium 10, a recording area 2 made of laminated recording materials to be described later is formed, and recording/reproduction is performed. Sometimes the center part 3 is rotated nine times around the center.

FIG. 2 shows a cross-sectional structure (X-X line cross-section) of the main part of the recording area 2, in which a layer 5 of silicon oxide film (SiO□) and a layer 5 of nitride film ( A layer 6 of Si3N4) is laminated, and a conductive layer 7 formed by aluminum vapor deposition or the like is formed on the back surface.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a recording apparatus using such a recording medium 1. When the recording medium 1 is mounted on a support mechanism (not shown), a charging plate 8 comes into contact with almost the entire surface of the nitride film 6.
is provided. That is, the predetermined voltage VDD is applied to the charging plate 8.
is applied, and when the recording medium 1 is mounted, the charged plate 8 moves in the direction of the arrow T to apply the voltage VDD to the entire surface of the nitride film 6, and as described later, rotates together with the recording medium 1 during photographing. , an optical image from the object is transmitted through the charging plate 8 and irradiated onto the recording area 2. In addition, the charging plate 8 is In1-Xsn
) (A material 1 having translucency and conductivity such as oxide is formed.

9 is the optical system! Yes, the optical image from subject A is recorded on recording medium 1.
An image is formed on the recording area 2 of. Reference numeral 10 denotes a drive device 1 that rotates the mounted recording medium 1 in a predetermined direction Y around the center portion 3, and rotates the recording medium 1 at constant rotation angles θ under the control of a control circuit 11. Here, the rotational axis of the recording medium 1 and the optical axis of the optical system are designed to be shifted from each other by a predetermined distance, and when the recording medium 1 is rotated, the annular portion of the recording area 2 ( (within the range indicated by the dotted line)
The area is summed so that only this area can be recorded. A recording section 2 records a plurality of images that do not overlap each other by rotating by a rotation angle θ every time an image is captured.
a g 2 b y... is ensured. The control circuit 11 performs the above-mentioned control operation in synchronization with a signal Lb generated when, for example, a release button or the like of an electronic still camera designed based on this image forming method is turned on (shooting).

Further, when the recording medium 1 is mounted on the support mechanism, a contact terminal (not shown) contacts the conductive layer 7 and applies a predetermined voltage VEE. In this embodiment f, voltage VEE is set to ground potential (Ov).
The charges charged to the nitride film 6Vc are of negative polarity. Note that if the contact terminals are brought into direct contact with the conductive layer 7, they may wear out against each other during rotation.1. The surface of the conductive layer 6 is coated with a high-hardness conductor "I1%" in the portions that come into sliding contact with each other, and the conductor and the contact terminal are brought into sliding contact, or at the same time as the recording medium 1 is mounted on the support mechanism. The conductive layer 7 may be prevented from wear by contacting a rotating plate made of a conductor and applying a voltage VEE via another rotating mechanism.As such a wear prevention means, conventional well-known techniques may be used. It can be used as appropriate.

Next, the principle of the image forming method according to the present invention will be explained with reference to FIG. This figure shows a cross-sectional structure corresponding to FIG. 2, and when an optical image incident through the optical system 9 is formed through the charged plate 8, an electric charge corresponding to a turn is generated in the image formed. Discharge or charging occurs between the nitride film 6 and the charges stored in the nitride film 6, and eventually a charge distribution 12 corresponding to the imaged pattern shown in the figure is formed in the nitride film 6. At the same time, a depletion layer 13 is formed in the semiconductor substrate 4 due to the charge distribution 12. That is, the charge distribution 12 and the distribution of the depletion layer 13 show analog changes corresponding to the imaging pattern and correspond to a so-called latent image, and even if the recording medium 1 is removed from the apparatus after imaging, the nitrification will not occur. Since the charges are not discharged due to the charge accumulation effect of the film 6, long-term storage is possible.

Next, a method for reproducing images from the recorded recording medium 1 will be explained. FIG. 5 shows a schematic configuration of the reproducing apparatus, in which 15 is a light source device ff1'', which converges a laser beam of a certain amount of light to irradiate the recording area 2 of the recording medium 1 in a minute range, and records the irradiated area. The medium 1 is moved in the radial direction z-z. Reference numeral 16 denotes a drive device that supports the mounted recording medium 1 around the center portion 3 and rotates it at a constant speed in a predetermined direction. 17 There is a synchronization signal generation circuit!, which sends a synchronization control signal S1 to the drive unit to rotate the 16Vc recording medium 1 at a constant speed, and a synchronization control signal S1 for causing the drive unit to rotate the recording medium 1 at a constant speed.
-2 is generated. Therefore, the laser beam from the light source device 1lc15 scans the recording area 2 as the recording medium 1 rotates, and scans the area where the latent image is formed in a spiral or concentric pattern based on the synchronization control signal 82. do. For example, the number of tracks to be scanned is set to 525, which is equal to the standard television system. 18 is a stylus made of a highly hard conductive material;
A change in capacitance caused by the scanning is detected.

The principle of this detection will be described later. Reference numeral 19 denotes a synchronous reproduction circuit f, which inputs the detection signal Sv from the stylus 18 and forms a reproducible video signal 8VD. That is, the synchronous reproducing circuit 19 receives the synchronous control signal s1. A clock signal Sc synchronized with s2 is supplied from the synchronization signal generation circuit 17, and it is determined which part of the latent image is generated by scanning the detection signal Sv, and selectively selects the signal svD of the image to be reproduced. It is designed to occur in To be more specific, the detection signal SV is a so-called line sequential signal, and for example, when reproducing the video recorded in the shaded area 20 in the figure,
When the signals obtained by scanning other recording areas are removed from the detection signal sV and the signal svD is applied to a monitor television, processing is performed such that image reproduction by well-known horizontal scanning and vertical scanning can be performed.

Note that, as mentioned above, during playback, the stylus 18 is connected to the conductive layer 7.
[Fr is detected when the static 1 is in contact with the customer quantity book f, but when the recording medium 1 rotates, they come into contact with each other and wear out! In order to prevent this wear, the wear resistance of the surface of the conductive layer 7 may be improved, or a so-called rotary transformer may be used, and the primary winding side of the rotary transformer may be connected to the conductive layer 7, and the secondary winding side may be connected to the conductive layer 7. It is also possible to supply the detection signal Sv generated by magnetic coupling to the synchronous reproducing circuit 19 to achieve complete contactlessness.

Next, the principle by which a change in capacitance corresponding to a latent image is detected by the above scanning will be explained. In other words, a light source device! When a constant amount of laser beam is irradiated onto the recording area 2 through the laser beam 115, the capacitance due to the depletion layer 16 (see Fig. 4) formed under the irradiated minute portion ΔW is detected as a change in voltage. This voltage change corresponds to the detection signal Sv. Therefore, it is desirable for the portion irradiated with the laser beam to be sufficiently fine in order to improve reproduction resolution. Also, even if this regeneration is performed, the charges accumulated in the nitride film 6 will be retained without being discharged! , it is possible to play it even when visiting.

Next, the erasing method will be explained. As explained in conjunction with FIG. 3 above, a predetermined voltage VDD is applied to the nitride film 6 to discharge the charges accumulated in the nitride film 6. According to the arrangement shown in FIG. 3, this is automatically done by the charging plate 8 before photographing, but erasing can also be done by a separate erasing device. Further, charging may be performed by corona discharge or the like.

As explained above, according to this embodiment, since the mutual recording and reproducing effects of the nitride film 6, the oxide film 5, and the semiconductor substrate 4 are utilized, it is possible to provide a recording medium with an extremely simple structure. You can take pictures without touching the area! Therefore, damage to the recording medium can be greatly reduced.

Next, another embodiment will be described based on FIGS. 6 and 7. FIG. 6(a) is a longitudinal sectional view of a recording medium applied to another embodiment, and FIG. 6(b) is a sectional view taken along the line FF in FIG. 6(a). That is, as shown in FIG. 6(a), the structure of the recording medium, which is formed in a disk shape in the same manner as in FIG. 1, is shown in FIG.
A layer 21 of silicon oxide film (Si02), a semiconductor layer 22 made of single crystal n-type silicon, polysilicon, amorphous silicon, etc., a GaAs-based semiconductor, a G
A photoconductor layer 23 mainly composed of an nr-v group compound such as aAlAs or GaAsP or a group II semiconductor such as amorphous silicon is laminated, and a conductive layer 23 is further formed on the back surface of the nitride film 20 by aluminum vapor deposition as the case requires. 24 are stacked.

Further, as shown in FIG. 5(b), the semiconductor layer 22 includes a plurality of portions 22a made of the above-mentioned single crystal n-type silicon, etc., and an isolation layer 22 for separating each portion 22a from each other.
b (shaded area).

This isolation 22b is formed by doping with impurities at a high concentration or by forming silicon oxide I@f by Locos oxidation. Note that the shape and arrangement of the portion 22a may be determined as appropriate depending on the application, design specifications, etc. FIG. 7 shows the recording device shown in FIG. This is a schematic diagram when a medium is installed, and the principle of the image forming method will be explained based on the diagram.
When mounted, the transparent and conductive charging plate 8 comes into contact with the surface of the photoconductive layer 26, and an optical image from the subject A is incident through the photographing lens 9. Furthermore, the charging plate 8 has a voltage VD
D (earth potential), the conductive layer 24 has a voltage V)J (25V
A voltage of approximately VDD - VIE is applied between the photoconductor layer 26 and the nitride film 20. In this state, when an optical image is irradiated, a resistance change distribution corresponding to the illuminance of each part of the optical image occurs in the photoconductor layer 25, and a voltage corresponding to the resistance distribution is applied to each part 22a of the semiconductor layer 22. It takes. Due to this fiVc, a depletion layer is formed in each portion 22a with a depth corresponding to the voltage distribution (corresponding to the resistance distribution), and at the same time, the charges generated corresponding to each depletion layer are transferred to the oxide film 21 due to the tunnel effect.
The particles pass through the nitride film 20 and are accumulated therein. These depletion layers and the charge distribution in the nitride film 20 are maintained even after the device is removed and the application of voltages vEE and VDD is stopped, so long-term recording and storage is possible.

Note that since each portion 22a is separated by the isolation 22b, the distribution of charge and depletion layer is not completely continuous, but with this structure, it is easy to increase the density and integration of the portion 22a. Therefore, it is possible to obtain extremely high resolution.

Next, a method for reproducing signals using such a recording medium will be explained based on FIG. 5. The photoconductor layer 2 shown in FIG. 6(a)
3 is mounted on the reproducing apparatus shown in FIG. 5 so as to face the light source device 15, and a point light source generated by the light source device 15 performs line scanning. and the stylus 1 in contact with the conductive layer 24'.
By detecting the depletion layer capacitance in the semiconductor #22 using 8, regeneration can be performed.

As explained above, according to these embodiments, an optical image is directly recorded as a latent image, and a signal processing circuit is required compared to an electronic camera equipped with a conventional solid-state imaging probe and magnetic recording means. etc. can be greatly simplified, and it can be used simply like a camera using silver halide film. Furthermore, although disk-shaped recording media have been described in these embodiments, card-shaped recording media and other shaped recording media are also contemplated, and such media having different shapes are also included in the present invention. Although it is not possible to explain the effects of the stopper due to space limitations, all effects generated by the present invention are included in the present invention.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, at least an oxide film and a nitride film are laminated on the front surface of a semiconductor substrate, and the nitride film of the recording medium is formed with a backside HST layer, and the semiconductor substrate is charged with a predetermined charge. By irradiating the substrate with an optical image of an object, a depletion layer is formed in the semiconductor substrate according to the image of the optical image, and at the same time, charges are accumulated in the nitride film to record a latent image. Now, it is possible to provide a recording medium that can perform recording and playback with an extremely simple structure, and it is also extremely easy to handle.1 Furthermore, when configuring an electronic camera, etc. It is possible to obtain excellent effects such as making it extremely simple.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view showing an example of a recording medium used in the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a main part of the recording medium shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a recording apparatus constructed based on the present invention. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view for explaining the image forming principle of the present invention; FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an example of a reproduction device constructed based on the present invention; 6th
FIG. 6(a) is a vertical sectional view of a main part showing the structure of a recording medium applied to another embodiment, and FIG. 6(b) is a line FF in FIG. 6(a).
fj! A sectional view taken in the direction of arrows, FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing the principle of a recording method for a recording medium applied to another embodiment. Symbols in the figure: 1...Recording medium 2...-recording area 6...Center 4...Semiconductor substrate 5...Oxide film
6... Nitride film 7... Conductive layer 8.
...Charging plate 9...Optical system, 10...Drive device 11...Control circuit 12...Charge distribution 13.
- Depletion layer 15... Light source device 16... Drive device 17... Synchronization signal generation circuit 18...
Stylus 19... Synchronous playback circuit 20... Nitride film 21... Oxide film 22... Semiconductor layer
26...Photoconductor layer 24...Conductive layer Figure 1 Figure 5

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) The nitride film of a recording medium comprising at least an oxide film and a nitride film laminated on the front surface of a semiconductor substrate and a conductive layer formed on the back surface is charged with a predetermined charge, and an optical image of a subject is irradiated onto the semiconductor substrate. An image forming method characterized in that a latent image is recorded by accumulating charges in the nitride film according to the image of the optical image. (2) A charged plate having a predetermined potential that is transparent and conductive is brought into contact with the nitride film, and an optical image of the subject is irradiated through the charged plate. The image forming method described.