PHOTOELECTRIC PHENOMENA IN STRUCTURES BASED ON HIGH-RESISTIVITY SEMICONDUCTOR CRYSTALS WITH A THIN INSULATOR LAYER AT THE SEMICONDUCTOR-METAL BOUNDARY

A previously unknown effect - giant spatial redistribution of the elec tric field strength in a crystal under illumination of the structure - was discovered and investigated in real photoresistors on high-resist ivity (semi-insulating) semiconductor CdTe crystals (in metal-thin ins ulator-semiconductor-thin insulator-metal structures). A new concept i s proposed for photoelectric phenomena in high-resistivity semiconduct or crystals. The concept is based on the idea that the redistribution of the held under such conditions that the carrier lifetime remains un changed under illumination plays a determining role in these phenomena . The nature of the effect is described, the dependence of the charact eristics of the structures on the parameters of the crystal and the in sulator layers is explained by the manifestation of this effect, and w ays to produce structures with prescribed photoelectric characteristic s for new devices and scientific methods are examined. (C) 1995 Americ an Institute of Physics.