Geometrical enhancement of HgCdTe photoconductive detectors

Abstract Ohmic contacts pose a severe lifetime degradation problem for photoconductive detectors whose length is comparable to a minority carrier diffusion length. A photoconductive device is described which greatly reduces the effect of ohmic contacts on effective photoconductive lifetime. The theory of operation is presented together with experimental data indicating significant enhancement in photoconductive responsivity, effective minority carrier lifetime, and l/f noise performance in n -type HgCdTe photoconductors.