Amplification of the Photocurrent in Semiconducting Photoresistors with Neutral Contacts

Abstract

Calculations are reported of the steady-state distribution of photocarriers and of the photocurrent gain for various intensities of an electric field applied to a homogeneous, uniformly illuminated, semiconducting crystal which has neutral contacts, an ambipolar photoconductivity, and a linear law of trap filling. Calculations are also reported of the dependence of the gain on the ratio of the sample size to the diffusion length of the minority carriers. The maximum value of the voltage sensitivity is estimated for photoresistors made of p-type indium antimonide single crystals. The results are given of a calculation of the coordinate dependence of the photocurrent gain in the case of local illumination of the sensitive surface.