Abstract

Early in their development, silicon solar cells were recognized to have characteristics desirable for photometric detectors. It is therefore surprising that their use in this way has not become more widespread. Results of an investigation to establish more completely the photometric capabilities of these cells are presented in this paper. An equivalent circuit model is used to predict performance from basic cell parameters and the dependence on illumination level and load impedance is established. When load impedance is low, silicon cells have a small temperature coefficient and the cell current is accurately proportional to illumination. With high impedance loads and high illumination levels, the cell voltage is logarithmically related to illumination and the temperature sensitivity is approximately an order of magnitude greater. Variation of spectral response between unselected cells from the same manufacturer was found to be considerably less than that typically measured for unselected phototubes.

© 1970 Optical Society of America

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