A Technique for Photoelectric and Photodielectric Effect Measurements at Microwave Frequencies

This paper describes a novel technique, based on the use of a microwave bridge, for the determination of very small changes in the phase and attenuation constants of semiconductor materials. Using this technique, the photoelectric and photodielectric effects in a semiconductor sample under external illumination can be determined. The room-temperature photodielectric effect ¿¿¿r and the photoelectric effect ¿¿¿r of silicon and germanium single-crystal samples were measured in the X-band region in the presence of monochromatic illumination in the range from 0.8 to 2.0 , ¿m. It was found that the variations of ¿¿¿r and ¿¿¿r with respect to the wavelength of the illumination were similar, with a maximum response at about 1.05 ¿m for silicon and at 1.75 ¿m for germanium.