Persistent photoconductivity of polycrystalline Pb1−xSnxTe:In films on an amorphous substrate in the telecom wavelength range

Abstract

PbTe-based compounds are excellent candidates for the different types of optical detector applications from near to far IR ranges. In the present work, a technology has been developed for the fabrication of Pb1−xSnxTe compositions, doped with In, on a thin amorphous substrate (polyimide). The film preparation was performed by the electron gun evaporation method. The systematic study of structure and transport properties (Hall coefficient and electric conductivity) in the entire temperature range of 10–300 K for Pb1−xSnxTe:In films (x=0, 0.1, 0.2) was investigated. It was studied that the photoconductivity of the films in the telecom wavelength range, including kinetics, sensitivity, and noise equivalent power, has been conducted and it discovered persistent photoconductivity for all compositions at the temperature T<21 K. The results of the work have promising potential to use poly(nano) crystalline Pb1−xSnxTe:In films on an amorphous substrate both for photodetection in the telecom wavelength range and for the creation of all-optical neuromorphic systems, cooled memory, and logic elements operating at the low energy of laser pulses.