Handout #21

EE362A
Fall 2015

EE362A Semiconductor Devices

Lecture 22 - Optoelectronic Diodes

Hyunjoo Jenny Lee

Assistant Professor
School of Electrical Engineering
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)

*Figures that are not annotated with reference are from the education package distributed by the distributor of Neamen textbook.
 Today’s Lecture

§  Objective:
–  Two groups of photodevices

§  At the end of the lecture:

–  Basic operation of photodetector, solar cell, and LEDs.

H. J. Lee | EE | KAIST EE362A | Fall 2015 2

 Photodevices (1)

§  Photodevices:
–  conversion between Photo energy ßà Electrical energy

§  3 types of photodevices

–  Photodetector:
•  Photo à Electrical conversion to detect photo-energy
–  Solar cell:
•  Photo à Electrical conversion to produce electrical power
–  Light emitting diode (LED) or laser diodes:
•  Electrical à photo conversion to produce light

H. J. Lee | EE | KAIST EE362A | Fall 2015 3

 Basic (1)

§  Photon energy: E ph = hv

c hc hc
λ= = =
v hv E ph

§  Example:
–  wavelength at which the photon energy is equal to the semiconductor
band gap energy

1.24
λG =
EG

H. J. Lee | EE | KAIST EE362A | Fall 2015 4

 Basic (2)

§  Visible spectrum:

“Luminous Efficacy”
Response of the eye as a
function of frequency

H. J. Lee | EE | KAIST EE362A | Fall 2015 5

 pn Junction Photodiodes (1)

§  pn junction photodiodes:

–  pn diode specially fabricated and encapsulated to permit light
penetration into vicinity of pn junction.

H. J. Lee | EE | KAIST EE362A | Fall 2015 6

 pn Junction Photodiodes (2)

§  Let’s look at it in more detail: 3. Within diffusion length

to junction, carriers are
swept through E-field

2. Far from junction,

disappear from
recombination

1. Absorption of light
creates electron-hole
pairs 4. Extra ‘reverse’ current

H. J. Lee | EE | KAIST EE362A | Fall 2015 7

 pn Junction Photodiodes (3)

§  Assume GL is uniform across the diode:

–  GL: photogeneration rate
–  (# of electron-hole pair generated per second)

I L = −qA(LN + W + L p )GL
p   SCR   n  
A

§  Total current: I = I dark + I L

H. J. Lee | EE | KAIST EE362A | Fall 2015 8

 pn Junction Photodiodes (4)

§  W is typically much smaller than Ln and Lp I L = −qA(LN + W + L p )GL

à IL is independent of the applied bias

§  I-V is expected to be similar to ‘dark’ I-V except for the reverse
currents

I L ∝ GL

H. J. Lee | EE | KAIST EE362A | Fall 2015 9

 pn Junction Photodiodes (5)

§  Spectral response:

–  How does IL varies with wavelength of the incident light
•  Upper limit:
light absorbed to generate e/h
pair if:
E ph > EG

“transparent” to light if
E ph < EG

•  Example:
Silicon with EG = 1.12 eV

Limited range of 1.24

wavelengths λG = = 1.1µ m
EG

H. J. Lee | EE | KAIST EE362A | Fall 2015 10

 pn Junction Photodiodes (6)

§  Spectral response:

–  How does IL varies with wavelength of the incident light
•  Shorter wavelength:

1)  Fewer photons to be absorbed:

Applied photo-power constant during

measurement
+
higher energy with lower wavelength

à fewer photons striking

2) Absorption coefficients:

At smaller wavelength, higher

Limited range of absorption coefficients (α) à less
wavelengths carriers reach diffusion/depletion
region
H. J. Lee | EE | KAIST EE362A | Fall 2015 11
 p-i-n Photodiodes (1)

§  p-i-n: intrinsic region (i) is sandwiched between p and n.

p+-layer: very thin to minimize

absorption in he region

i-layer: typically totally depleted

n+-layer: highly doped to push

depletion region to i-region

H. J. Lee | EE | KAIST EE362A | Fall 2015 12

 p-i-n Photodiodes (2)

§  Reverse-bias energy band

2. Linear à E-field is constant

because of low doping (like
insulator, no charge)

3. Diffusion lengths in highly doped

regions are small à most of
photocurrent are from i-region

1. Depletion region approximately

equals the width of i-layer
* Main advantage: tailorability of the i-region

H. J. Lee | EE | KAIST EE362A | Fall 2015 13

 p-i-n Photodiodes (3)

§  How to use i-region:

1)  Can optimize for a given wavelength
-  Make width of i-region equal to 1/α (inverse of absorption coefficients) at a
certain wavelength

2)  Better frequency response:

-  High E-field across i-region
-  Most current arises from i-region à faster compared to pn
WI
1 1
fmax ≅ ≅
carrier transit time across WI WI / vsat

-  Smaller WI better but junction cap

increases and limits

H. J. Lee | EE | KAIST EE362A | Fall 2015 14

 p-i-n Photodiodes (4)

§  Optical fiber communications:

–  1.55 µm is where fiber loss is at a minimum.
–  Due to cutoff of silicon response at 1.1 µm, a new material is required
as the ‘window’ materials

Wider
bandgap
with
λG = 0.95µ m

H. J. Lee | EE | KAIST EE362A | Fall 2015 15

 Avalanche Photodiodes

§  Specially constructed p-i-n, pn, or MS photodiodes operating near

avalanche breakdown point

Guard ring:

Junction curvature leads to early

breakdown about the junction
periphery à minimizes edge
breakdown problem

§  Advantage: better S/N from amplification of a signal

H. J. Lee | EE | KAIST EE362A | Fall 2015 16

 Solar Cells (1)

§  Photo à Electrical conversion to produce electrical power

§  Large-area pn junction photodiodes

§  Design to minimize energy losses

(* photodiodes: designed to achieve a specific spectral response or
rapid time response)

H. J. Lee | EE | KAIST EE362A | Fall 2015 17

 Solar Cells (2)

§  Which quadrant generates power upon illumination??

H. J. Lee | EE | KAIST EE362A | Fall 2015 18

 Solar Cells (3)

§  Simple circuits:

Positive voltage
Negative current!

H. J. Lee | EE | KAIST EE362A | Fall 2015 19

 Solar Cells (4)

§  Which quadrant generates power upon illumination??

Positive voltage
Negative current!

Show 4th quadrant

H. J. Lee | EE | KAIST EE362A | Fall 2015 20

 Solar Cells (5)

§  Which quadrant generates power upon illumination??

Short-circuit current:
Positive voltage max. current that can be
derived from cell!
Negative current!

Open-circuit voltage:
max. voltage that can be
supplied by the cell

H. J. Lee | EE | KAIST EE362A | Fall 2015 21

 Solar Cells (6)

§  Power:

Pmax = I m Vm < I scVoc

§  Fill factor:

Pmax I m Vm
FF = = <1
I scVoc I scVoc

§  Efficiency:

Pmax I m Vm FF ⋅ I sc ⋅Voc
η≡ = =
Pin Pin Pin

Pin: photo-energy incident per second

H. J. Lee | EE | KAIST EE362A | Fall 2015 22

 Solar Cells (7)

§  High conversion efficiency:

–  Lower the cost and collection area for desired electrical output

§  How does input source look like? (i.e. spectrum of sun)

•  Visible range with a

long tail into infrared

•  Any wavelength
“above” λG does not
get absorbed.

H. J. Lee | EE | KAIST EE362A | Fall 2015 23

 Solar Cells (8)

§  Decreasing band gap increases conversion efficiency?

§  Eph > EG is upon:

–  EG of the photo energy is used profitably in producing e/h pairs.
–  Additional energy is converted kinetic energy of the photogenerated
carriers and eventually dissipated as heat.
•  ~40% of absorbed photon energy is unavoidably wasted…

§  Trade-off exists between the two cited loss mechanisms

à optimal bandgap exists where energy conversion is max.
à luckily, Si and GaAs are one of those!

H. J. Lee | EE | KAIST EE362A | Fall 2015 24

 Si Solar Cells (1)

§  High-efficient Si Solar cell:

Narrow fingers: contacts to the top

Trade-off:

1)  more, less resistance, but block

input light
2)  Narrower more light, but larger
series resistance

~30% of light gets reflected:

Textured to minimize reflection

(strikes silicon two or more times before escaping)

H. J. Lee | EE | KAIST EE362A | Fall 2015 25

 Si Solar Cells (2)

§  High-efficient Si Solar cell:

Reflection back to the substrate to increase absorption

“light trapping” technique

H. J. Lee | EE | KAIST EE362A | Fall 2015 26

 LEDs (1)

§  Basic operation: pn in forward bias

–  Large concentrations of majority carriers flow
–  Indirect semiconductor (Si):
•  Recombine at the R-G centers and gives out heat.
–  Direct semiconductor (GsAs):
•  Eliminated through band-to-band recombination

H. J. Lee | EE | KAIST EE362A | Fall 2015 27

 LEDs (2)

§  Band-to-band recombination:

–  Peak photon energy typically close to EG
–  Roughly wavelength = 1.24/EG
–  For visible spectrum,
0.4µ m <λG < 0.7µ m → 1.77eV < EG < 3.10eV

H. J. Lee | EE | KAIST EE362A | Fall 2015 28

 LEDs (3)

§  Three requirements:

1)  Semiconductor needs to be direct
2)  EG between 1.77 eV and 3.10 eV
3)  Amenable to the formation of pn junction

§  Unfortunately, difficult to find the right semiconductor…

-  Indirect: Si, Ge, GaP, AlAs, SiC
-  GaAs direct but bandgap is too small.

§  Solution: special ‘light-enhancing’ centers are employed

H. J. Lee | EE | KAIST EE362A | Fall 2015 29

 LEDs (4)

§  Example of materials used:

H. J. Lee | EE | KAIST EE362A | Fall 2015 30

Any Questions?