(US5777355-A)      The imager (10) has photodiode islands. A common electrode (28) overlies at least a portion of each of the photodiode islands. Photodiode passivation layer (22) is located between adjacent photodiodes and extends over at least a portion of the adjacent photodiodes. Polymer bride members (24) are disposed over photodiode passivation layer (18) and so as to underlie portions of the common electrode extending between adjacent photodiodes. Preferably each polymer bridge member comprises a preimidised polyimide material. Preferably common electrode (28) consists of a conductive material of indium tin oxide, zinc oxide, tin oxide, indium oxide or metal. Preferably photodiode passivation layer consists of a dielectric material selected from silicon oxide, silicon nitride or combinations of these.    USE -   Radiation imager is used for converting incident radiant energy into an electrical signal, for e.g. X-ray imagers and facsimile device arrays.    ADVANTAGE -   Any leakage defects in a polymer bridge such as that resulting in moisture or impurities, only affect the pair of photodiodes. Also the polymer bridge members are typically isolated from one another so that adverse leakage in a given bridge island does not affect other photodiode pairs. Disposing the common electrode (28) over the polymer bridge member provides good dielectric insulation while also reducing the number of shorts between the common electrode and the underlying address line due to the polyimide layer underlying the common electrode between adjacent photodiodes. The imager has diode dielectric layers that reduce diode leakage, reduce the number of shorts between the common electrode and underlying conducting layers, and provide protection against moisture propagation within the layers.    (JP10214954-A)      The apparatus (10) has a photodiode passivation layer (22) on which several photodiodes (12,112,212,312,412) are arranged adjacently. Several polymer bridge members (24) are positioned on the bottom of a common electrode (28) which is extended from the photodiode and is used to adjoin two photodiodes.    ADVANTAGE -   Reduces leakage of photodiode. Reduces number of short circuit parts. Protects moisture propagation in layer.