Opto-electronic application of AgInSe₂

The paper reports a possible application of AgInSe_2 for opto-electronic switching. Material has been studied over a wide range of frequencies (5Hz to 1MHz), through measurements of conductance and capacitance, at different temperatures and illumination levels. The results indicate that there is an increase in capacitance (C) as well as conductance (G), when sample is exposed to light radiations at a given temperature. The switching/recovery time has been analyzed in terms of time constant (\tau = C/G) and found to be of the order of micro seconds for this material. It has been further observed that \tau decreases with increasing illumination levels and temperature. It is understandable, because higher the rate of recombination of optically/thermally generated carriers, lesser should be the value of \tau.