Gallium arsenide metal–semiconductor–metal

photodiodes as optoelectronic mixers for

microwave single–sideband modulation

Gordon Wood Anderson, L. Eugene Chipman, Francis J. Kub, Doewon Park,

Michael Y. Frankel, Thomas F. Carruthers, John A. Modolo, Karl D. Hobart,
and D. Scott Katzer

Gallium arsenide ~GaAs! metal–semiconductor–metal ~MSM! photodetectors have unique properties

including high-bandwidth, linearity, and biphase response that make them suitable as mixers and
programmable weights for microwave and communications applications. An optical technique for mi-
crowave single-sideband modulation that uses GaAs MSM photodiodes as mixers is reported. It uses
MSM Schottky photodiodes formed in a GaAsyAl0.3Ga0.7As materials system to detect microwave in-
phase and quadrature signals on optical carriers. Modulation of the photodetector bias voltages results
in a single-sideband modulation of the microwave signal. Radio frequency and undesired-sideband
suppression of 36 and 27 dB, respectively, were achieved. The optical wavelength was 850 nm, and the
bandwidth of the photodetectors was $29 GHz.
OCIS codes: 040.5160, 230.5160, 230.5170, 250.0250, 350.4010.

1. Introduction odes fabricated in a GaAsyAl0.3Ga0.7As materials sys-

Gallium arsenide ~GaAs! based metal–semiconductor–
metal ~MSM! photodiodes have useful properties
such as linear response with bias voltage at low to
moderate bias values, biphase response, and high
bandwidths that make them promising for use as
optoelectronic mixers ~OEM’s! or analog programma-
ble weights in microwave and communications appli-
cations. Among these applications are double-
sideband modulation ~DSB!,1–3 single-sideband
modulation ~SSB!,1–5 transversal filtering including
adaptive filtering,1,2,6 –12 and phase shifting.1– 4,13–15
SSB modulation may be achieved by phase shifting,1
and previous research on optical SSB modulation3–5
and optical phase shifting3,4,13–15 as well as on
OEM’s4,6,7,10 –12,14 –22 is substantial. An optical SSB
modulation technique that uses MSM photodiodes to
perform both rf detection and mixing functions is
described in this paper. In this study the MSM’s act
as OEM’s, and their first use as OEM’s to achieve
SSB modulation is described. The MSM’s in this
study are planar, interdigitated-finger Schottky di-
The authors are with the Naval Research Laboratory, Washing-
ton, D.C. 20375-5347.
Received 7 May 1997; revised manuscript received 17 July 1997.
tem.
SSB and DSB modulators and transversal filters
are very useful for performing high-speed signal
processing functions, such as frequency offset and
phase coding for radar and communications
applications.1–14 These functions often are per-
formed electronically. Optical implementations of
the functions have significant advantages in appli-
cations for which small size, weight, and power and
low cost are important.3,4,6,7,10 –14,16,17,22
2. Single-Sideband Modulation
Figure 1 shows a conventional SSB modulator. The
rf signal ~or pulse! input to the 3-dB, 90° hybrid is
shown at the upper left. One component of this rf
signal, which may have several components with dif-
ferent frequencies, has an amplitude A and an angu-
lar frequency v. The 3-dB, 90° hybrid outputs two
signals in response to this component of the rf signal,
one to each of the two mixers as shown. One of these
two signals is the in-phase signal A sin vt of the rf
signal component and is output to the upper mixer.
The second is the quadrature signal A cos vt of the rf
signal component and is output to the lower mixer.
Here t is time. Essentially, the 3-dB, 90° hybrid
performs an approximation of a Hilbert transform on
the incoming component A sin vt of the rf signal and

28 APPLIED OPTICS y Vol. 37, No. 1 y 1 January 1998

 Fig. 1. RF SSB modulator.
outputs that in the lower path. The upper mixer is
biased by a signal I, and the second lower mixer is
biased by a signal Q, where Q is the quadrature of the
in-phase signal I. I and Q have an amplitude B and
an angular frequency V and differ in phase by py2
rad. Thus the in-phase rf signal A sin vt is mixed
with the in-phase bias signal B sin Vt by the upper
mixer giving a product signal AB sin vt sin Vt that is
input to the in-phase power combiner. Similarly,
the quadrature rf signal A cos vt is mixed with the
quadrature bias signal B cos Vt by the lower mixer
giving a product signal AB cos vt cos Vt that also is
input to the in-phase power combiner. The in-
phase combiner then gives the sum of these two
inputs as the rf output AB~sin vt sin Vt 1 cos vt cos
Vt!. This rf output of the in-phase power combiner
thus is AB cos@~v 2 V!t#. This output is centered at
the angular frequency v 2 V or at the desired side-
band, and information at the rf angular frequency v
and at the undesired-sideband angular frequency v
1 V is rejected in the ideal case. In practice the
rejection is not complete, and some output occurs at
these rejected frequencies as well as at other side-
bands. The success of the SSB modulator is in the
level of rejection of the rf and the undesired-sideband
frequencies. In practice the 3-dB, 90° hybrid can
simultaneously output other components of the rf sig-
nal that may have different values of angular fre-
quency v equally well, giving a set of signal
components in the lower path that all lead their cor-
responding components of the rf signal in the upper
path by py2 rad in phase. Thus the process is suc-
cessfully carried out on the complete rf signal, which
may consist of many components having different
angular frequencies.
An optical SSB modulator may have significant
advantages over many conventional SSB modulators
including much smaller size, weight, and power;
lower cost; and fewer parts. Using optical tech-
niques also may provide very high bandwidths and
high-speed signal processing.3,6,7,10 –13,16,17 A possi-
ble optical implementation of an SSB modulator is
shown in Fig. 2. The functional operation is the
same as that shown in Fig. 1. In this case, however,
the laser in the upper path or the path of the rf
in-phase component signals and a second laser in the
lower path or the path of the rf quadrature compo-
nent signals are modulated by these respective sig-
Fig. 2. Optical rf SSB modulator.
nals. The optical paths may be through optical
fibers that are pigtail connected, one to each laser.
The optical path lengths must be the same length if
the rf signals to be processed occur at or contain more
than one frequency. In the restrictive case in which
the rf signals to be processed occur at or contain only
one frequency, the optical path lengths either must
be equal or must differ by an integral multiple of
lrfyn, where lrf is the wavelength of the rf signal in
free space and n is the index of refraction of the core
of the optical fibers at v. The mixers are MSM pho-
todiodes. They detect the optical beams on which
the respective rf signals are modulated and mix them
with the I and Q electrical bias signals. The outputs
of the respective MSM photodiodes to the in-phase
power combiner are the same as the outputs of the
mixers as described in the above paragraph. Thus
the optical SSB modulator in Fig. 2 performs the
same function as the conventional SSB modulator
shown in Fig. 1. The optical SSB modulator used in
this study is a modification of that shown in Fig. 2.
Key MSM photodiode parameters of importance
are their linear response as a function of bias voltage
and their high bandwidths. MSM photodiodes also
have a reversed polarity output when the polarity of
the bias voltage is reversed. This is critical to the
operation of an SSB modulator as it is necessary that
I and Q have both positive and negative values to
implement the SSB modulation functions. The op-
tical SSB modulator reported here are promising for
communications and radar applications.
3. Photodiode Materials and Fabrication
The MSM Schottky photodiodes were formed in a
GaAsyAl0.3Ga0.7As materials system grown by molec-
ular beam epitaxy ~MBE!. The substrates were
semi-insulating GaAs grown by the liquid-
encapsulated Czochralski technique. The MBE lay-
ers beginning at the substrate were, first, a 1-mm,
undoped Al0.3Ga0.7As buffer layer; and, second, a 1-
mm, n2 GaAs:Si ~1 3 1015-cm23! active layer. For
some measurements noted below the second layer
was an undoped, 1-mm GaAs layer rather than an
n2-doped, 1-mm GaAs layer.
The interdigitated Schottky metal fingers were
formed by electron-beam lithography. The Schottky
metal was evaporated and consisted of, first, an '20 –
25-nm-thick Ti layer and, second, an '175-nm-thick
1 January 1998 y Vol. 37, No. 1 y APPLIED OPTICS 29

Fig. 3. Experimental optical rf SSB modulator test arrangement.
Au layer. The fingers were defined by lift-off.
MSM diodes with various finger patterns were made.
These finger patterns included 1.0-mm-wide fingers
with 2.0-mm-width finger spacings ~3.0-mm center-to-
center spacings!, 0.5-mm-wide fingers with 1.0-mm-
width finger spacings ~1.5-mm center-to-center
spacings!, and 0.5-mm-wide fingers with 0.5-mm-
width finger spacings ~1.0-mm center-to-center spac-
ings!. The finger regions were circular and had
diameters in the range from 10 to 100 mm.
4. Experimental Results and Discussion
Figure 3 shows the SSB modulator test arrangement
used in this study. The optical portion is a modifi-
cation of Fig. 2 with one instead of two lasers and
with the bias signals I and Q interchanged. The
modulation of the laser was provided by an optical
signal source of which the laser was a part. The
laser was continuously on, was modulated by a sinu-
soidal signal at the rf frequency vy2p, and was oper-
ated between a maximum and a minimum power
level. The optical fiber pigtail on the laser was cou-
pled to two fibers. Thus the rf signal modulated onto
the optical carrier propagated along both fiber paths.
The lower fiber was longer than the upper fiber by a
difference Dl in length such that the rf signal modu-
lated onto the optical carrier in the lower path was in
quadrature with that in the upper path when they
were incident on the MSM–photodiode mixers. The
selected value of Dl determined the experimental rf
angular frequency used by the relation v 5 pcy2nDl,
where c is the speed of light in free space. This gives
a time delay t 5 lrfy4c in the lower optical path in
Fig. 3. This time delay caused the rf signal modu-
lated on the optical carrier in the lower path to lead
that in the upper path by py2 rad in phase at the
MSM mixers in Fig. 3, as in the cases described in
Section 2 ~Figs. 1 and 2!. Thus the rf signals mod-
ulated onto the optical carriers in the upper and the
lower paths again may be described as A sin vt and A
cos vt, respectively, at the MSM mixers ~Fig. 3!. In
this experiment, however, the upper and the lower
MSM mixers were biased by Q or B cos Vt and I or B
30 APPLIED OPTICS y Vol. 37, No. 1 y 1 January 1998
sin Vt, respectively ~Fig. 3!. Here, the bias signals I
and Q again were identical in amplitude and differed
in phase by py2 rad. After the mixing and summing
operations, the rf output of the summer ~or the in-
phase power combiner! thus was AB sin@~v 1 V!t#
rather than AB cos@~v 2 V!t# as described in Section
2.
In the experiments I and Q were sinusoidal sig-
nals varying between 22.5 V and 12.5 V; V was
19.0 kHz; vy2p was either 51.752 MHz or 248.7
MHz and was set by Dl values of '1 m or '200 cm,
respectively; the optical fibers were single-mode fi-
bers suitable for the 850-nm optical wavelength of
the laser; the maximum and the minimum power
values of the modulated optical carrier were 2.0 mW
and 200 mW, respectively; and the MSM’s had 1-
mm-wide fingers, 2-mm-wide finger spacings, and
circular interdigitated-finger regions with 100-mm
diameters. The MSM’s were fabricated on one
GaAs chip that was mounted on a surface-mount
package for high-speed optical measurements.
The surface-mount package in turn was mounted on
a metallized, patterned substrate in a microwave
test fixture. The electrical connections to the mi-
crowave test fixture were standard, 3.5-mm micro-
wave connectors. The microwave test fixture was
placed on a micropositioner. The microwave out-
put of each MSM was taken from the second termi-
nal of the device. Each MSM output was then
passed from the microwave test fixture through a
low-frequency filter and a 26-dBm, 1.3-GHz dual
amplifier and was added by use of a 180° hybrid
junction that acted as the in-phase power combiner.
The resulting signal was measured with a 1.8-GHz
spectrum analyzer.
Each of the two optical fibers that carried the mod-
ulated optical beams was held in one of two, parallel
V-grooves formed by orientation-dependent etching
into the surface of a ~100! silicon substrate.23 Ther-
mally grown SiO2 was photolithographically pat-
terned and used as an etch mask. The mask
opening was oriented parallel to the ^110& direction to
yield the V-groove shape after etching in hot ~80 °C!
KOH for '2 h. The spacing of the two V-grooves in
the silicon substrate was the same as the spacing
between the two MSM’s on the GaAs chip. The op-
tical fibers aligned and held in the V-grooves were
placed on a second micropositioner, and the surface of
the GaAs MSM chip was positioned '200 mm from
the ends of the optical fibers for the SSB modulation
measurements.
Typical SSB modulation results with this experi-
mental arrangement are shown in Fig. 4. The cen-
ter frequency vy2p was 51.752 MHz. The frequency
of the primary signal passed was ~v 1 V!y2p, the rf
signal at v was suppressed by 36 dB, and the sup-
pression obtained for all other sidebands was at least
27 dB. These results were obtained with a Dl value
of '1 m as described above. Changing Dl to '20 cm
shifted vy2p to 248.7 MHz. Essentially equivalent
quantitative SSB modulation results were obtained
at the higher rf frequency.
Fig. 4. Optical SSB modulation results. MSM devices DAN2-
1091A-A4-1020-100 mm and DAN2-1091A-B4-1020-100 mm.
Horizontal and vertical scales 20 kHzydiv and 10 dBydiv, respec- Fig. 5. Shift of 180° in MSM response and linearity of MSM
tively. Center frequency, 51.752 MHz. response as MSM bias swept from 22 to 12 V ~left to right!.
Modulation frequency on laser, 50 MHz. Upper curve, MSM re-
sponse; lower curve, bias voltage: 50 nsydiv, 10 mVydiv ~upper
trace!; 2 Vydiv ~lower trace!. Device DAN2-1091A-A2-0505-50
To achieve the SSB modulation function, it is crit-
mm.
ical that the mixer output changes fairly linearly with
the applied bias signal, that the mixer output
changes in polarity when the applied bias signal ment further showed that the switching speed of this
changes in polarity, and that the phase of the mixer change of polarity of the MSM was ,10 ns. These
output changes by 180° when the applied bias signal measured characteristics of the MSM’s are key to
changes in polarity. Measurements were made to their successful use in the SSB modulation experi-
test the response of MSM’s for these conditions. The ments and were successfully repeated with several
850-nm-wavelength laser used in the SSB modula- MSM’s, some having different dimensions and differ-
tion measurement described above was also used for ent GaAs material structures.
this measurement. In this case the laser had a mul- To determine whether these MSM’s may be useful
timode optical fiber pigtail and was modulated by a for SSB modulation applications with higher rf fre-
50-MHz square-wave. The measured MSM devices quency values of vy2p or at higher bandwidths, their
were mounted on a microwave wafer probe station, impulse responses to 200-fs-duration optical pulses
contacted with microwave probes, and monitored were measured. The devices were mounted on a mi-
with a 50-V analog oscilloscope with a 1-GHz- crowave wafer probe station, contacted with 60-GHz
bandwidth plug-in. A fiber-optic probe designed to probes, and monitored with a sampling oscilloscope
fit the microwave probe station arm was used to po- having a 7-ps rise time ~tr!. Optical pulses at a
sition the optical fiber.24 The optical fiber was wavelength of 820 nm and with a 100-MHz repetition
mounted in a groove machined around the circumfer- rate were focused onto the active area of the device
ence of a 120°-chord segment cut from a 2.54-cm- during testing. The average incident power was 200
diameter, 1.57-mm-thick disk of Kel-F plastic.24 mW, and the peak power was 10 W. The pulse en-
The end of the optical fiber pigtail was perpendicular ergy was 2 pJ. These conditions correspond to a
to the surface of the MSM GaAs chip and was placed surface carrier injection density ~assuming 31% re-
'50 mm from the surface of the MSM GaAs chip for
the measurements.24 The MSM bias voltage was
swept from 22 V to 12 V.
Figure 5 shows the results of a measurement of
these effects. In this case the diameter of the MSM
finger region was 50 mm, and the MSM had 0.5-mm-
wide fingers and 0.5-mm-wide finger spacings. The
upper and the lower traces are the MSM response
and the bias voltage applied to the MSM, respec-
tively. The response of the MSM varies quite lin-
early with the bias voltage. Figure 5 also shows that
the response of the MSM changes in polarity as the
bias voltage changes from negative to positive polar-
ity as would be expected. In addition, Fig. 5 shows
that the phase of the modulation on the MSM re-
sponse changes by 180° as the bias voltage changes Fig. 6. MSM response to '200-fs pulses for bias voltages between
from negative to positive polarity. The measure- 0.0 and 5.0 V. Device DAN2-1090B-B2-0505-12 mm.

1 January 1998 y Vol. 37, No. 1 y APPLIED OPTICS 31


Fig. 7. Peak MSM response variation with bias voltage to '200-fs
pulses. Device DAN2-1090B-B2-0505-12 mm.
flection at the device surface! of 3 3 1011 electron–
hole pairsycm2. The bias on one contact of the
detectors was grounded, and the bias on the second
contact was varied from 0.0 V to 5.0 V.
Figure 6 shows the responses of a 12-mm-diameter
MSM having 0.5-mm fingers and 0.5-mm finger spac-
ings to 200-fs optical pulses for bias voltages of 0.0,
0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 1.1, 2.5, and 5.0 V. The
measurements are instrument limited in that the
response speeds were limited by the sampling oscil-
loscope. The measurements show, however, that
the device tr is ,12.5 ps, that the full-width at half-
maximum ~tw! is ,15 ps, and that the bandwidth
thus is $29 GHz. Here, the bandwidth is taken to
be 0.44ytw since the measured pulse was approxi-
mately Gaussian shaped. In this measurement the
MSM devices had undoped GaAs second-level mate-
rial. This material difference is not expected to have
had a significant effect on these results. These re-
sults were consistent for devices with diameters from
12 to 50 mm.
Figure 7 shows the peak output voltage from the
data of Fig. 6 as a function of the bias voltage. The
measurements also indicate that the peak response of
the MSM varies fairly linearly with bias voltage, a
required characteristic for their successful use as the
mixers in an SSB modulator as noted above, and that
this feature is achieved for very short ~'200-fs! pulses.
Thus optical SSB modulation has been successfully
achieved by use of GaAs MSM photodiodes as the mix-
ers. Moreover, these techniques can be expected to be
successful at modulation frequencies of at least 29 GHz
as the bandwidths of the MSM photodiodes typically
are at least 29 GHz and may be much higher.
5. Summary
GaAs MSM Schottky photodiodes may be very useful
as OEM’s in a variety of microwave and communica-
tions applications such as both SSB and DSB modu-
lation, transversal filtering, and phase shifting.
This usefulness occurs because of the MSM’s high
bandwidths, linear transfer characteristics, and bi-
phase response characteristics. A new optical tech-
nique for microwave SSB modulation has been
32 APPLIED OPTICS y Vol. 37, No. 1 y 1 January 1998
demonstrated. GaAs MSM Schottky photodiodes
detected microwave in-phase and quadrature signals
on optical carriers of which the optical wavelength
was 850 nm. Modulation of the photodetector bias
voltages resulted in successful SSB modulation of the
microwave signal. Radio-frequency and undesired-
sideband suppression of 36 and 27 dB, respectively,
were achieved. The bandwidth of the photodetec-
tors was $29 GHz, and the technique should be use-
ful to rf frequencies of $29 GHz or significantly
higher.
This research was supported in part by the Office of
Naval Research.
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