CdS/PbSe heterojunction for high temperature mid-infrared photovoltaic detector applications

n-CdS/p-PbSe heterojunction is investigated. A thin CdS film is deposited by chemical bath deposition on top of epitaxial PbSe film by molecular beam epitaxy on Silicon. Current-voltage measurements demonstrate very good junction characteristics with rectifying ratio of ∼178 and ideality factor of 1.79 at 300 K. Detectors made with such structure exhibit mid-infrared spectral photoresponse at room temperature. The peak responsivity Rλ and specific detectivity D* are 0.055 A/W and 5.482 × 108 cm·Hz1/2/W at λ = 4.7 μm under zero-bias photovoltaic mode. Temperature-dependent photoresponse measurements show abnormal intensity variation below ∼200 K. Possible reasons for this phenomenon are also discussed.