ADBU

PHOTOCONDUCTIVE MATERIALS

ADBU

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION. WORKING OF PHOTOCONDUCTING MATERIALS.

APPLICATIONS OF PHOTOCONDUCTING MATERIALS.

2

ADBU

PHOTOCONDUCTING MATERIALS INTRODUCTION

Photoconductivity is an optical and electrical phenomenon in which a material becomes more electrically conductive due to the absorption of electromagnetic radiation such as visible light, ultraviolet light, infrared light, or gamma radiation.

ADBU

Sketch of a photoconductive device

ADBU

How does a photoconductive cell function?

Photoconductive cells function by receiving light energy, which in

turn free electrons from their valence bonds in semiconductor material. As the illumination on the device increases in intensity, the energy state of a large number of electrons in the structure will also increase, because of the increased availability of the photon packages of energy. The result is an increasing number of relatively free electrons in the structure and a decrease in the thermal resistance.

Construction of photoconductive device

ADBU

Geometry of the photoconductive cell

ADBU

The five materials normally employed in photoconductive devices are: 1) Cadmium Sulphide (CdS), 2) Cadmium Selenide (CdSe), 3) lead sulphide (PbS) and 4) Thallium Sulphide (Tl2S) 5) Polyvinyl carbazole

ADBU

A typical construction of photoconductive device:

thin film is deposited on an insulating substrate. The electrodes

are formed by evaporating metal such as gold through a mask to give comb -like pattern as shown[above fig]. The geometry results in a relatively large area of sensitive surface and a small inter electrode spacing. This helps the device to provide high sensitivity.

ADBU

When the device under forward bias is illuminated with light electronhole pairs are generated. The electron-hole pairs generated move in opposite directions. This results in a photocurrent. The photoconductive cell has very high resistance in dark called dark resistance. When illuminated the resistance falls. The spectral response of CdS cell is similar to that of the human eye. The illumination characteristics of the cell is shown in below fig.
9

ADBU

Photoconductor in circuit

Spectral response of CdS cell

10

ADBU

Desired characteristics of photoconductive materials

i) High spectral sensitivity in the wavelength region of interest ii) Higher quantum efficiency iii) Higher photoconductive gain iv) Higher speed of response and v) lesser noise

11

MATERIALS
(i) Cadmium sulfide (CdS) and Cadmium selenide (CdSe)

ADBU

These are highly sensitive in the visible region of radiation.They have high photoconductive gains (103 to 104) but poor response time (about 50 ms). The response gets reduced at higher illumination levels indicating the presence of traps. CdSe is being developed for use in opto-electronics devices,laser diodes,nanosensing and biomedical imaging. CdS are often termed as light dependent resistors(LDR).
12

ADBU

(ii) Lead sulfide (PbS) It has spectral responsitivity from 1 to 3.4 m and hence very much suitable for fabricating near-infrared detectors. It has maximum sensitivity in the region of 2 m with typical response time about 200 s. It find its application in the infrared detection such as the U.S. Sidewinder and Russian Atoll heat-seeking missiles.

13

ADBU

(iii) Indium antimonide (InSb)

These detectors have wavelength response extending out to 7 m and exhibit response times of around 50 ns. It is used in thermal imaging,infrared homing missile guiding system and in infrared astronomy. (IV) Polyvinylcarbazole is used extensively in photocopying (xerography)

14

ADBU

(v) Mercury cadmium telluride (HgxCd1-x Te)

This is an alloy composed of the semi-metal HgTe and the semi-conductor CdTe. Semi-metals have overlapping valence and conduction bands. Depending on the composition of alloy, a semiconductor can be formed with a bandgap varying between zero and 1.6eV. Correspondingly the detector sensitivities lie in the range 5 to 14 m. Photoconductive gains of up to 500 are possible. Its the material of choice for infrared sensing and imaging.
15

ADBU

APPLICATIONS OF PHOTOCONDUCTIVITY DEVICES

They are, Light meters Infrared detectors Detecting ships and air crafts Camera light meters Street lights Clock radios

16

ADBU

BIBLIOGRAPHY
I.
II. III. IV. V.

en.wikipedia.org www.scribd.com www.google.com http://www.springer.com/ http://www.ieee.org/

17

ADBU

THANK YOU
o Prepared byo SUBHRA SANKHA SARMA o Optoelectronics & optical

communication o MTech 1st Sem o DC2012MTC0020

18