Hot carrier photoeffects in inhomogeneous semiconductors and their applications to light detectors

The heating of free carriers by the infrared (IR) radiation or electric field increases the average energy of the carriers. This constitutes the physical basis for the observed photovoltage in semiconductor contact structures. In the present review the experiments carried out in recent years with semiconductor diodes and transistors are described. This allows the main properties of internal photoemission, photocapacity effect, and secondary carrier injection to be determined.© (1991) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.