Carrier freezeout in reverse‐biased Hg0.8Cd0.2Te photodiodes has been investigated to determine the relevant acceptor level. At temperatures between 12 and 21 K hole freezeout in the p region governs the interband tunneling, which dominates the current across the reverse‐biased photodiode. The acceptor level was found to be ∼4 meV in the p‐type Hg0.8Cd0.2Te substrate with NAND∼1016 cm −3. In comparison with Hall measurements, this new method avoids the uncertainty due to contact caused by surface inversion on p‐Hg0.8Cd0.2Te.

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