Improved metal-semiconductor position detector with oscillating lateral photovoltaic effect.

The most outstanding feature of a lateral photovoltaic effect (LPE) is its linear response to the light position. We report an oscillating LPE in a modified metal-semiconductor (MS) structure, in which the lateral photovoltage (LPV) will oscillate with light position. Compared with the linear LPV in that conventional MS structure, this effect shows a controllable oscillation with sharp change with light position, opening a new method of detecting very small displacement with much higher precision and sensitivity.