This invention relates to a semiconductor photo-electron-emitting device for emitting photoelectrons excited from the valence band to the conduction band by incident photons on a semiconductor layer. The device includes a Schottky electrode formed on the emitting surface on a surface of the semiconductor layer, and a conductor layer formed on a surface opposite to the emitting surface. A set bias voltage is applied between the Schottky electrode and the conductor layer to accelerate photoelectrons generated by the excitation of incident photons to the emitting surface and to transfer the accelerated photoelectrons from an energy band of a smaller effective mass to an energy band of a larger effective mass.