Highly efficient ultraviolet photodetector

A study is reported of the intrinsic photoconductivity of thin epitaxial n-InP films grown from the liquid phase on substrates of semiinsulating InP(Fe) with a resistivity of about 10 to the 7th ohm cm. The samples studied are found to have high sensitivity in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum. Thus, the absolute sensitivity at a wavelength of 300 nm is 40 A/W or better at an applied voltage of 50 V. It is also shown that when the photoconductivity is excited by triangular light pulses at a wavelength of 0.337 micron with a rise time of 10 ns, the shape of the laser pulse is reproduced without distortion at applied voltages of 0.2 to 100 V.