adrian_h:
I noticed that this device looks like it takes about 400-500usec to respond to turning on a IR LED. Can it be made faster using a amp then?
Yes. If you connect it direct to an analog input, you need to use a high value pullup or pulldown resistor. The high resistance, coupled with the diode and pin capacitance, slows down the response. You need to use an amplifier that presents a much lower resistance to the photodiode.