Photovoltaic effect in gold-indium selenide Schottky barriers

Abstract

Photovoltaic effect has been extensively investigated in gold-indium selenide Schottky barriers, realized by vacuum evaporation of gold on freshly cleaved surfaces of indium selenide single crystals. Continuous and pulsed excitation has been used to determine the fundamental parameters governing the photovoltaic effect. A barrier height of 0.65 eV has been found from current-voltage (I-V) and capacitance-voltage (C-V) characteristics, and by means of the spectral dependence of the photoemission current. A diffusion length of about 10 μm and a lifetime of about 15 μsec of the minority carriers have been determined by measuring both the spectral response of the short-circuit current and the transient photocurrent decay. Finally, a photovoltaic efficiency for solar energy conversion of about 2% has been evaluated.