THE EFFECT OF AMBIENT BACKGROUND ON THE PERFORMANCE OF LEAD SULFIDE AND SILICON PHOTODETECTORS.

Abstract

This report presents a summary of several years of investigation into characteristics of chemically deposited, lead sulfide, near-infrared photoconductors and broad-area, diffused junction, silicon, near-infrared photodiodes exposed to actual and simulated ambient background conditions. Among the parameters tested were voltage-current characteristics, signal and noise characteristics, and frequency response. The silicon operational techniques tested were voltage amplification, current amplification, reverse biasing, transformer coupling, and inductance coupling. It was found that (1) the lead sulfide photoconductive cell still retains its position as an important photodetector for use in low frequency, near-infrared applications, and (2) maximum performance from the diffused junction silicon photodiode is realized when the detector is operated under DC short-circuit conditions. A theoretical discussion of the operation of the two detectors is also presented. (Author)

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jul 19, 1966
Accession Number
AD0636267

Entities

People

  • Gary N. Motin

Organizations

  • Navy Underwater Sound Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Amplification
  • Couplings
  • Detectors
  • Electromagnetic Wave Detectors
  • Frequency
  • Frequency Response
  • Infrared Photoconductors
  • Optical Detectors
  • Photoconductors
  • Photodetectors
  • Photodiodes
  • Short Circuits
  • Warning Systems

Fields of Study

  • Materials science

Readers

  • Electrical Engineering
  • Image Processing and Computer Vision.
  • Solar Photovoltaics and Thermoelectric Devices.

Technology Areas

  • Directed Energy