NOTREDAME SCHOOL

PHYSICS INVESTIGATORY PROJECT

TOPIC : PHOTODIODE

SUBMITTED BY: GUNJAN

XII

GUIDED BY: RAMAKAR JHA

GUNJAN KUMARI XII

CONTENT
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
 THEORY
 APPLICATIONS
 COMPARISON WITH PHOTOMULTIPLIERS
 POLARITY
 PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION
 PHOTOVOLATIC MODE
 PHOTOCONDUCTIVE MODE
 OTHER MODE OF OPERATION
 FEATURES
 DRAWBACK OF LEDS AS LIGHT SENSOR
 LIGHT SENSOR
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I am extremely grateful to Mr. RAMAKAR JHA, Teacher of
Department of Physics for his able guidance and useful suggestions,
which helped me in completing the project work, in time.
I would also like to thank all the teaching and non-teaching staff of
Chemistry department who helped me directly or indirectly in the
completion of this project.
Finally, yet importantly, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to
my beloved parents for their blessings, my friends/classmates for their
help and wishes for the successful completion of this project.

THEORY
A photodiode is a semiconductor device that converts light
into current. The current is generated when photons are absorbed
in the photodiode. A small amount of current is also produced
when no light is present. Photodiodes may contain optical filters,
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built-in lenses, and may have large or small surface areas.

Photodiodes usually have a slower response time as its surface
area increases. The common, traditional solar cell used to
generate electric solar power is a large area photodiode.
Photodiodes are similar to regular semiconductor diodes except
that they may be either exposed (to detect vacuum UV or X-
rays) or packaged with a window or optical fiber connection to
allow light to reach the sensitive part of the device. Many diodes
designed for use specifically as a photodiode use a PIN junction
rather than a p–n junction, to increase the speed of response. A
photodiode is designed to operate in reverse bias.
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Applications
P-N photodiodes are used in similar applications to other photodetectors,
such as photoconductors, charge coupled devices, and photomultiplier
tubes.
Photodiodes are used in consumer electronics devices such as compact
disc players, smoke detectors, and the receivers for remote controls in
VCRs and televisions.
In other consumer items such as camera light meters, clock radios (the
ones that dim the display when it's dark) and street lights,
photoconductors are often used rather than photodiodes, although in
principle either could be used.
Photodiodes are often used for accurate measurement of light intensity
in science and industry.
They generally have a better, more linear response than photo
conductors. They are also widely used in various medical applications,
such as detectors for computed tomography (coupled with scintillators)
or instruments to analyze samples (immunoassay). They are also used in
blood gas monitors.
PIN diodes are much faster and more sensitive than ordinary p-n
junction diodes, and hence are often used for optical communications
and in lighting regulation.
P-N photodiodes are not used to measure extremely low light
intensities. Instead, if high sensitivity is needed, avalanche photodiodes,
intensified charge coupled devices or photomultiplier tubes are used for
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applications such as astronomy, spectroscopy, night vision equipment

and laser range finding.

Comparison with photomultipliers

Advantages
1 Excellent linearity of output current as a function of incident light.
2 Spectral response from 190 nm to 1100 nm (silicon), longer
wavelengths with other semiconductor materials.
3 Low noise.
4 Ruggedized to mechanical stress.
5 Low cost.
6 Compact and light weight.
7 Long lifetime.
8 High quantum efficiency, typically 80%.
9 No high voltage required
Disadvantages compared to photomultipliers:.
1 Small area.
2 No internal gain (except avalanche photodiodes, but their gain is
typically 10²–10³ compared to up to 108 for the
photomultiplier).
3 Much lower overall sensitivity.
4 Photon counting only possible with specially designed, usually
cooled photodiodes, with special electronic circuits
5 5 Response time for many designs is slower
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P-N vs. P-I-N Photodiodes.

1 Due to the intrinsic layer, a P-I-N photodiode must be reverse biased
(Vr). The Vr increases the depletion region allowing a larger volume for
electron-hole pair production, and reduces the capacitance thereby
increasing the bandwidth.
2 The Vr also introduces noise current, which reduces the S/N ratio.
Therefore, a reverse bias is recommended for higher bandwidth
applications and/or applications where a wide dynamic range is required.
3 A P-N photodiode is more suitable for lower light applications because
it allows for unbiased operation
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POLARITY
Some photodiodes will look similar to a light emitting diode. They will
have two leads, or wires, coming from the bottom. The shorter end of
the two is the cathode, while the longer end is the anode. See below for a
schematic drawing of the anode and cathode side. Under forward bias,
conventional current will pass from the anode to the cathode, following
the arrow in the symbol. Photocurrent flows in the opposite direction.

PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION

A photodiode is a PN junction or PIN structure. When a photon of

sufficient energy strikes the diode, it excites an electron, thereby
creating a mobile electron and a positively charged electron hole. If the
absorption occurs in the junction's depletion region, or one diffusion
length away from it, these carriers are swept from the junction by the
built-in field of the depletion region. Thus holes move toward the anode,
and electrons toward the cathode, and a photocurrent is produced.

PHOTOVOLATIC MODE
When used in zero bias or photovoltaic mode, the flow of photocurrent
out of the device is restricted and a voltage builds up. The diode
becomes forward biased and "dark current" begins to flow across the
junction in the direction opposite to the photocurrent. This mode is
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responsible for the photovoltaic effect, which is the basis for solar
cells—in fact, a solar cell is just an array of large area photodiodes.

PHOTOCONDUCTIVE MODE
In this mode the diode is often (but not always) reverse biased. This
increases the width of the depletion layer, which decreases the junction's
capacitance resulting in faster response times. The reverse bias induces
only a small amount of current (known as saturation or back current)
along its direction while the photocurrent remains virtually the same.
The photocurrent is linearly proportional to the luminance. Although this
mode is faster, the photovoltaic mode tends to exhibit less electronic
noise.

Other modes of operation

Avalanche photodiodes have a similar structure to regular photodiodes,
but they are operated with much higher reverse bias. This allows each
photo generated carrier to be multiplied by avalanche breakdown,
resulting in internal gain within the photodiode, which increases the
effective responsively of the device.

Phototransistors also consist of a photodiode with internal gain. A

phototransistor is in essence nothing more than a bipolar transistor that is
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encased in a transparent case so that light can reach the base collector
junction. The electrons that are generated by photons in the base
collector junction are injected into the base, and this photodiode current
is amplified by the transistor's current gain β. While phototransistors
have a higher responsively for light they are not able to detect low levels
of light any better than photodiodes. Phototransistors also have slower
response times.
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Features
Critical performance parameters of a photodiode include:
Responsivity
The ratio of generated photocurrent to incident light power, typically
expressed in A/W when used in photoconductive mode. The
responsivity may also be expressed as quantum efficiency, or the ratio of
the number of photo generated carriers to incident photons and thus a
unit less quantity.
Dark current
The current through the photodiode in the absence of light, when it is
operated in photoconductive mode. The dark current includes
photocurrent generated by background radiation and the saturation
current of the semiconductor junction. Dark current must be accounted
for by calibration if a photodiode is used to make an accurate optical
power measurement, and it is also a source of noise when a photodiode
is used in an optical communication system.
Noise equivalent power (NEP)
The minimum input optical power to generate photocurrent, equal to the
rms noise current in a 1 hertz band width. The related characteristic
detectivity (D) is the inverse of NEP, 1/NEP; and the specific detectivity
is the detectivity normalized to the area (A) of the photo detector. The
NEP is roughly the minimum detectable input power of a photodiode.
When a photodiode is used in an optical communication system, these
parameters contribute to the sensitivity of the optical receiver, which is
the minimum input power required for the receiver to achieve a specified
bit error ratio.
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Drawbacks of LEDs As Light Sensors:

No sensor is perfect.
 LEDs are not as sensitive to light as most silicon photodiodes.
 LEDs are sensitive to temperature. This can pose a problem for
outdoor sensors. One solution is to mount a temperature sensor
close to the LED so a correction signal can be applied in real
time or when the data are processed.
 Some LEDs I’ve tested do gradually lose their sensitivity.
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Light sensor
Step 1: Materials Required
 Random assortment of LEDs
 Current limiting resistors for LEDs
 Multimeter
 Breadboard
 Bright flashlight
 Microcontroller

Step 2: Working
LED as light sensor:

"A LED is simply a diode that has been doped

specifically for efficient light emission and has been
packaged in a transparent case. Therefore, if inserted into
a circuit in the same way as a photodiode, which is
essentially the same thing, the LED will perform the same
function."

Photodiode:
"A photodiode is a type of photo-detector capable of
converting light into either current or voltage, depending
upon the mode of operation."
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Step 3: Sensing
Attach the multimeter to read the voltage coming off the
LED, Try pointing the LED at different light sources and
see how the reading changes.
OBSERVATIONS
· When light falls on the LDR then the LED will start to
glow.
· When light doesn’t fall on the LDR , the LED will NOT
glow.
RESULT
· The the circuit gives a high voltage when the LDR is in
high light & a low voltage when the LDR is in the shade.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. WEBSITES :
1. www.wikipedia.org

2. www.google.com

3. www.ask.com

4. www.home.cogeco.ca

5. www.answers.yahoo.com

2.BOOKS :
1. Comprehensive Practical Manual for class XII
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2. Pradeep’s New Course Physics

3. NCERT Class XII