Determination of band offsets using the photovoltaic effect: Application to the PbS/PbSe heterostructure

Abstract
The energy‐band offsets at a semiconductor heterointerface can be determined by measuring the temperature and wavelength dependence of the photovoltaic response. Results for the PbS/PbSe structure show a type I band alignment with a conduction‐band offset ΔEc of ∼48 meV. The method is sensitive to small band offsets and can be applied to the study of other semiconductor systems, especially narrow band‐gap materials.