12/31/2013

Content
• Physical Principles of Photodiodes
• pin, APD
• Photodetectors characteristics (Quantum efficiency,
Responsivity)
Chapter 4 • Photodiode Response Time

Photodetectors

Introduction Absorption Coefficient

• Light detection is a process that converts incident light • One common characteristics of every light detection device is its
into an electrical photocurrent. light absorption ability.
• A light detection device is used at the front end of every • Light absorption is mainly determined by the absorption coefficient
optical receiver to generate a photocurrent proportional of the detection device and the wave length of the light.
to the incident light intensity.
• Two main types (both semiconductors):
– Photoconductors – their conductivity increases when
the intensity of the incident light increases.
– Photodiodes – absorb photons and generate
photocurrent and are the primary type used in
communication systems for their high response
speeds. Two types – PIN diodes and APDs.

Cont’d Cont’d
• For an absorption layer of thickness d and
absorption coefficient , the fraction of
light power absorbed is (1 − e − α d )
• When the energy of the incident photons is
smaller than the energy gap of the
material, i.e, hf < Eg or
> c=(hc/Eg[ev])[ m], photons can not be
absorbed to excite EHPs. drops sharply
when the wavelength exceeds c.

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Responsivity Cont’d
• To quantify the photon absorption ability, a • Once the quantum efficiency of a light detection
parameter called the quantum efficiency ( ) is device is known, the corresponding responsivity
used. of the device is defined as
• It is the ratio of the no of excited EHPs to the ηq ηλ
ℜ = = A /W
total number of incident photons. It is given by hf 1 . 24

η = (1 − R )(1 − e −αd ) • The responsivity of a light detection device is the

• Where R = r2 is the reflectivity at the front
material. The equation assumes that a larger
fraction of the incident power is absorbed. can
be increased by having a smaller R, a larger
thickness or a larger
ratio of the output photocurrent to the incident
light power when the current gain is unity. It
increases with but it has a sudden drop due to
the wavelength cutoff condition.

Photoconductors Photodiodes
• Two main types of Photoconductions • Two types – PIN and APDs.
• Intrinsic – is an intrinsic semiconductor. • The structure of a typical PIN diode is shown below.
• Extrinsic – a semiconductor with either N-type or P-type
doping. Its conductivity increases when electrons (or
holes) are excited from the N-type (or P-type) impurity
level.
• Because intrinsic photoconductors require photons of
much higher energies, they exhibit a strong long-
wavelength cutoff effect.
• Extrinsic semiconductors have free carriers, so they
have low resistance. This is undesirable from the thermal
noise consideration.

Cont’d Cont’d
• A photon with sufficient energy (hf) can excite an • Because one absorbed photon generates
electron-hole pair. If the pair is in the presence one EHP in PINs, the photocurrent is a
of a large electric field, the electron and hole will linear function of the input power Pin.
be separated and move quickly in opposite
q λ
direction, resulting in a photocurrent. I ph = η Pin = η Pin = ℜ Pin
hf 1 . 24
• If the pair is in the presence of a small or zero • At zero input power, the reverse bias
electric field, they move slowly and may even current is called the dark current. The total
recombine and generate heat. current is thus
• Therefore, a strong electric field in the depletion I tot = I d + I ph
region is essential.

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Cont’d pin Photodetector

• Unlike LEDs and LDs, photodiodes are generally

operated at reverse bias for detection in optical
communications. Some reasons:
w
– Photodiodes have large resistance at reverse bias.
Low resistance is undesirable from thermal noise
consideration.
– The electric field in the absorption layer is large at
reverse bias – carriers move quickly to the external
ckt – fast response – larger BW.
– The width of the depletion region is large at reverse
bias – results in small junction capacitance – small The high electric field present in the depletion region causes photo-generated carriers to
Separate and be collected across the reverse –biased junction. This give rise to a current
RC time constant – fast response. Flow in an external circuit, known as photocurrent.

Photocurrent
Energy-Band diagram for a pin photodiode
• Optical power absorbed, P(x)in the depletion region can be written in terms
of incident optical power, P0 :

P( x) = P0 (1 − e −α s (λ ) x )
• Absorption coefficient αs (λ) strongly depends on wavelength. The upper
wavelength cutoff for any semiconductor can be determined by its energy
gap as follows:
1 . 24
λc (µm ) =
E g (eV)
• Taking entrance face reflectivity into consideration, the absorbed power in
the width of depletion region, w, becomes:

(1− Rf )P(w) = P0 (1− e−αs (λ) w )(1− Rf )

Responsivity Responsivity vs. wavelength

• The primary photocurrent resulting from absorption is:

q
Ip = P0 (1 − e−αs (λ)w )(1 − Rf )
hν

• Quantum Efficiency:

# of electron - hole photogener ated pairs

η=
# of incident photons
I /q
η= P
P0 / h ν
• Responsivity:
IP ηq
ℜ = = [A/W]
P0 hν

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Avalanche Photodiode (APD)

Responsivity of APD
APDs internally multiply the
primary photocurrent before it • The multiplication factor (current gain) M for all carriers generated in the
enters to following circuitry. photodiode is defined as:
IM
In order to carrier multiplication
take place, the photogenerated
M =
Ip
carriers must traverse along a
• Where I M is the average value of the total multiplied output current & I P
high field region. In this region,
is the primary photocurrent.
photogenerated electrons and
holes gain enough energy to
ionize bound electrons in VB • The responsivity of APD can be calculated by considering the current gain
upon colliding with them. This as:
multiplication is known as Optical radiation
impact ionization. The newly
ηq
created carriers in the presence of Reach-Through APD structure (RAPD) ℜ APD = M = ℜ 0M
high electric field result in more showing the electric fields in depletion hν
ionization called avalanche region and multiplication region.
effect.

Photodetector Response Time Photodiode response to optical pulse

• The response time of a photodetector with its output circuit depends mainly
on the following three factors:
1- The transit time of the photocarriers in the depletion region. The transit
time t ddepends on the carrier drift velocity v d and the depletion layer
width w, and is given by:
w
td =
vd
2- Diffusion time of photocarriers outside depletion region.
3- RC time constant of the circuit. The circuit after the photodetector acts
like RC low pass filter with a passband given by:

1 Typical response time of the

B= photodiode that is not fully depleted
2πRT C T

QUESTIONS ??

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