LIGHT SENSORS:-

(1) Photodiode:-
Photodiode is a two terminal electronic device which, when exposed to light,
the current starts flowing in the diode.
It is operated in reverse biased mode only.
It converts light energy into electrical energy.

Symbol for photodiode.

Principle
A photodiode is a reverse biased p-n junction structure. When a photons of
sufficient energy strikes the depletion region, it creates electron-hole pairs.
These electron-hole pairs are swept apart because of the built-in electric field of
the depletion region. Thus holes move toward the anode, and electrons toward
the cathode, and a photocurrent is produced.

Construction of photo diode:

Photodiodes are formed from single crystal silicon wafers. It consists of two
layers. P type layer is formed above the N type layer. Depletion layer is formed
at the junction of P region and N region. It has a small transparent window which
allows the light to strike the PN Junction.

The non active surface is coated with silicon di-oxide (SiO2) .The active region
where the device is exposed to radiation is coated with anti-reflection material so
that maximum light energy is converted into current.

Working of photo diode:

When the device is exposed to radiation the photons are absorbed by the diode.
which creates electron-hole pairs into the depletion region.
These electron-hole pairs are swept apart (before they cancel one-another) by the
in-built electric field of depletion region.

Modes of Operation of Photodiode

It operates in two modes that are Photo-conductive and Photo-voltaic.

1. Photo-Conductive Mode: When the Photo diode operates in reverse

biased mode it is called Photoconductive mode. In this, the current flowing
in diode varies linearly with the intensity of light incident on it.
2. Photo-Voltaic Mode: When the diode is operated without reverse biased
(like solar cell) it is said to be operated in photovoltaic mode.
 I-V Characteristics of Photodiode

Applications
Photodiodes are used in consumer electronics devices such as
➢ Compact disc players,
➢ Smoke detectors
➢ The receivers for infrared remote control devices used to control
equipment from televisions to air conditioners.
➢ Used in counters and switching circuits.
➢ Used widely in optical communication system.
➢ Used in detection of both visible and invisible light rays.
➢ Used in safety electronics like fire and smoke detector.
➢ Used as photo sensors in camera.
➢ Used in medical applications like pulsed oximeters, in instruments which
analyze sample.
 (2) Solar cell:-
Principle: - Solar cell (Photovoltaic cell) converts light energy into electrical
energy by using photovoltaic effect.

Construction of Solar cell:

It consists of N type and P type semiconductor material. N type is highly doped
and P type is lightly doped. Top and bottom surface is of conducting electrode to
collect the current. The bottom is fully covered with the conductive layer and top
layer is not fully covered because the sun rays should not be fully blocked. Since
semiconductors are reflective in nature, antireflective coating is used. The whole
arrangement is kept inside a thin glass to avoid mechanical shock.

Working of Solar cell:

The working of solar cell is based on photovoltaic effect in which current or

voltage is generated when exposed to light. Through this effect solar cells convert
sunlight into electrical energy.

A depletion layer is formed at the junction of the N type and P type semiconductor
material. When light energy of the sun rays falls on the solar panel, the photons
whose energy is higher than the energy gap produces electron-hole pairs in the
depletion region. The electrons move towards N type and holes move towards P
type and they act as a battery. So this movement of electrons and holes forms the
electric current.
Applications
➢ Used to power space satellites and smaller items like calculators and
watches.
➢ Today, thousands of people power their homes and businesses with
individual solar PV (Photo-voltaic) systems.
➢ Utility companies are also using PV technology for large power stations.
➢ For large electric utility or industrial applications, hundreds of solar
arrays are interconnected to form a large utility-scale PV system
➢ It is used in calculators and in wrist watches
➢ Used in storage batteries
➢ Street lights
➢ Portable power supplies
➢ Satellites
 (3) LDR:-

A Light Dependent Resistor (LDR) or a photo resistor is a device whose

resistivity is a function of the incident electromagnetic radiation. Hence, they are
light sensitive devices. They are also called as photo conductors, photo
conductive cells or simply photocells. They are made up of semiconductor
materials having high resistance.

Working Principle:-
A light dependent resistor works on the principle of photo conductivity.
Photoconductivity is an optical phenomenon in which the materials conductivity
is increased when light is absorbed by the material. When light falls i.e. when the
photons fall on the device, the electrons in the valence band of the semiconductor
material are excited to the conduction band. These photons in the incident light
should have energy greater than the band gap of the semiconductor material to
make the electrons jump from the valence band to the conduction band. Hence
when light having enough energy strikes on the device, more and more electrons
are excited to the conduction band which results in large number of charge
carriers. The result of this process is more and more current starts flowing through
the device when the circuit is closed and hence it is said that the resistance of the
device has been decreased. This is the most common working principle of LDR.
CONSTRUCTION:-

(i) It consists of a light sensitive material (like cadmium sulphide,

cadmium selenide, indium antimonide and cadmium sulphonide) which
is deposited on an insulating substrate such as ceramic.
(ii) The material is deposited in zigzag pattern in order to obtain the desired
resistance and power rating. This zigzag area separates the insulating
areas into two regions.
(iii) The ohmic contacts are made on the either sides of the area. The
resistances of these contacts should be as less as possible to make sure
that the resistance mainly changes due to the effect of light only.

Characteristics of LDR
LDR’s are light dependent devices whose resistance is decreased when light falls
on them and that is increased in the dark. When a light dependent resistor is kept
in dark, its resistance is very high. This resistance is called as dark resistance. It
can be as high as 1012 Ω and if the device is allowed to absorb light its resistance
will be decreased drastically. If a constant voltage is applied to it and intensity of
light is increased the current starts increasing. Figure below shows resistance vs.
illumination curve for a particular LDR.

Photocells or LDR’s are non linear devices. There sensitivity varies with the
wavelength of light incident on them. Some photocells might not at all response
to a certain range of wavelengths. Based on the material used different cells
have different spectral response curves.
When light is incident on a photocell it usually takes about 8 to 12 ms for the
change in resistance to take place, while it takes one or more seconds for the
resistance to rise back again to its initial value after removal of light. This
phenomenon is called as resistance recovery rate. This property is used in audio
compressors.
Also, LDR’s are less sensitive than photo diodes and phototransistor. (A photo
diode and a photocell (LDR) are not the same, a photo-diode is a pn junction
semiconductor device that converts light to electricity, whereas a photocell is a
passive device, there is no pn junction in this nor it “converts” light to
electricity).

Types of Light Dependent Resistors

Based on the materials used they are classified as:
1. Intrinsic photo resistors (Un doped semiconductor): These are made of pure
semiconductor materials such as silicon or germanium. Electrons get excited from
valance band to conduction band when photons of enough energy fall on it and
number charge carriers is increased.

2. Extrinsic photo resistors: These are semiconductor materials doped with

impurities which are called as dopants. Theses dopants create new energy bands
above the valence band which are filled with electrons. Hence this reduces the
band gap and less energy is required in exciting them. Extrinsic photo resistors
are generally used for long wavelengths.

Applications of LDR
1. Light sensors,
2. Camera light meter,
3. Street lamps, Alarm clock,
4. Burglar alarm circuits,
5. Light intensity meters,
6. Counting the packages moving on a conveyor belt.
 (4) PHOTO TRANSISTOR:-
Phototransistors are either tri-terminal (emitter, base and collector)
semiconductor devices which have a light-sensitive base region. They have much
larger collector and base regions in comparison with the ordinary transistors. The
principle of operation of a phototransistor is similar to a photodiode in
combination with an amplifying transistor. The light incident on the base of a
phototransistor will induce a small current.

Principle: - This current is then amplified by normal transistor action, which

results in a significantly large. Usually, when comparing to a similar photodiode,
a phototransistor can provide a current that is 50 to 100 times that of a photodiode.

SYMBOL

Construction:-
A phototransistor is nothing but an ordinary bi-polar transistor in which the base
region is exposed to illumination. It is available in both the P-N-P and N-P-N
types having different configurations like common emitter, common collector,
and common base but generally, common emitter configuration is used.
Working:-
(i) In the phototransistor circuits, the collector terminal will be connected
to the supply voltage and the output is obtained at the emitter terminal
while the base terminal, will be left unconnected.
(ii) Under this condition, if light is made to fall on the base region of the
phototransistor, then it results in the generation of electron-hole pairs
which give rise to base current, nothing but the photo-current.
(iii) This further results in the flow of emitter current through the device,
resulting in the process of amplification. This is because, here, the
magnitude of the photo-current developed will be proportional to the
luminance and will be amplified by the gain of the transistor leading to
a larger collector current.

Applications of Phototransistor
1. Object detection
2. Encoder sensing
3. Automatic electric control systems such as in light detectors
4. Security systems
5. Punch-card readers
6. Relays
7. Computer logic circuitry
8. Counting systems
9. Smoke detectors
10. Laser-ranging finding devices
11. Optical remote controls
12. CD players
13. Astronomy
14. Night vision systems
15. Infrared receivers
16. Printers and copiers
17. Cameras as shutter controllers
18. Level comparators
HALL SENSORS:-
Hall Effect Principle:- If a current carrying conductor or semiconductor is
placed in transverse magnetic field, a potential difference is developed across the
specimen in a direction perpendicular to both the current and the magnetic field.
This phenomenon is called “Hall effect”.

Applications:-

➢ These are used in ultra-high-reliability applications such as keyboards.

➢ Hall Effect sensors are used to time the speed of wheels and shafts.
➢ These are used to detect the position of permanent magnet in brushless
electric DC motors.
➢ Hall Effect sensors are embedded in digital electronic devices along with
linear transducers.
➢ Sensing the presence of the magnetic field in industrial applications.
➢ Used in smartphone to check whether the flip cover accessory is closed.
➢ For contactless measurement of DC current in current transformers, Hall
Effect sensor is used.
➢ This is used as a sensor to detect the fuel levels in automobiles.
IR SENSORS:-
IR sensor is an electronic device that emits the light in order to sense some object
of the surroundings. An IR sensor can measure the heat of an object as well as
detects the motion. Usually, in the infrared spectrum, all the objects radiate some
form of thermal radiation. These types of radiations are invisible to our eyes, but
infrared sensor can detect these radiations.

The emitter is simply an IR LED (Light Emitting Diode) and the detector is
simply an IR photodiode. Photodiode is sensitive to IR light of the same
wavelength which is emitted by the IR LED. When IR light falls on the
photodiode, the resistances and the output voltages will change in proportion to
the magnitude of the IR light received.
There are five basic elements used in a typical infrared detection system: an
infrared source, a transmission medium, optical component, infrared detectors or
receivers and signal processing. Infrared lasers and Infrared LED’s of specific
wavelength used as infrared sources.

IR Sensor Working Principle

An IR sensor consists of an IR LED and an IR Photodiode, together they are
called as PhotoCoupler or OptoCoupler.
IR Transmitter or IR LED
Infrared Transmitter is a light emitting diode (LED) which emits infrared
radiations called as IR LED’s. Even though an IR LED looks like a normal LED,
the radiation emitted by it is invisible to the human eye.
The picture of an Infrared LED is shown below.

IR Receiver or Photodiode
Infrared receivers or infrared sensors detect the radiation from an IR transmitter.
IR receivers come in the form of photodiodes and phototransistors. Infrared
Photodiodes are different from normal photo diodes as they detect only infrared
radiation. Below image shows the picture of an IR receiver or a photodiode.
Applications:-