Photovoltaic properties of a heterojunction based on copper phthalocyanine films on the surface of polycrystalline cadmium sulfide

The photovoltaic effect has been detected and studied in thin-film structures based on thermally deposited 200-nm-thick copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) films on the surface of polycrystalline CdS. The structures under study demonstrate the linear current-voltage characteristics at external electric fields to 3.5 $\times$ 10$^4$ V/cm. Two components of the photovoltage of different signs have been revealed when the sample is illuminated in the wavelength range from 350 to 700 nm. The first component has the positive sign on the CuPc film side and is observed when using the radiation with a wavelength lesser than 500 nm, i.e., in conditions of predominant absorption of the radiation in the CdS layer. The second component has the negative sign on the CuPc film side and is observed when using the radiation with a wavelength in the range from 500 to 570 nm, corresponding to the spectral region of the absorption edge of the CuPc films. The dependences of the photovoltage on the radiation intensity studied in the range from 5 $\times$ 10$^{12}$ to 10$^{14}$ photons cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ are different in the cases of the two detected components. Mechanisms of generation of the photovoltage components associated with a change in the band bending during photogeneration of charge carriers in the region of space charge in CdS and a change in conditions of the charge transfer in the interfacial CuPc/CdS region during the radiation absorption in the CuPc film have been proposed.