Class 10

1st Oct
Photo Detectors
• Optical receivers convert optical signal (light) to electrical signal
(current/voltage)
• Hence referred ‘O/E Converter’

• Photodetector is the fundamental element of optical receiver, followed

by amplifiers and signal conditioning circuitry

• There are several photodetector types:

• Photodiodes, Phototransistors, Photon multipliers, Photo-resistors etc.
Requirements
• Compatible physical dimensions (small size)

• Low sensitivity (high responsivity) at the desired wavelength and low

responsivity elsewhere → wavelength selectivity

• Low noise and high gain

• Fast response time → high bandwidth

• Insensitive to temperature variations

• Long operating life and low cost

Photodiodes
• Photodiodes meet most the requirements, hence widely used as photo
detectors.
• Positive-Intrinsic-Negative (pin) photodiode
• No internal gain, robust detector

• Avalanche Photo Diode (APD)

• Advanced version with internal gain M due to self multiplication process

• Photodiodes are sufficiently reverse biased during normal operation

• → no current flow without illumination, the intrinsic region is fully depleted of
carriers
Physical Principles of Photodiodes
• As a photon flux Φ penetrates into a semiconductor, it will be absorbed as it
progresses through the material.
• If αs(λ) is the photon absorption coefficient at a wavelength λ, the power level at a
distance x into the material is

Absorbed photons trigger

photocurrent Ip in the external
circuitry
pin energy-band diagram

Cut off wavelength:

Cut off wavelength depends on the
hc 1.24
c = = μm band gap energy
E g E g (eV )
Quantum Efficiency
• The quantum efficiency η is the number of the electron–hole carrier pairs
generated per incident–absorbed photon of energy hν and is given by

Ip is the photocurrent generated by a steady-state optical power Pin incident

on the photodetector.
Avalanche Photodiode (APD)
• APD has an internal gain M, which is obtained by having a high electric
field that energizes photo-generated electrons.

• These electrons ionize bound electrons in the valence band upon

colliding with them which is known as impact ionization

• The newly generated electrons and holes are also accelerated by the
high electric field and gain energy to cause further impact ionization
This phenomenon is the avalanche effect
APD Vs PIN
Responsivity ()
Quantum Efficiency () = number of e-h pairs
generated / number of incident photons

Ip / q q
Ip
= = = mA/mW
P0 / h P0 h
APD’s have an internal gain M, hence
where, M = IM/Ip
IM : Mean multiplied current  APD =  PIN M

M = 1 for PIN diodes

 Responsivity

hc
When λ<< λc absorption is low c =
When λ > λc; no absorption Eg
Light Absorption Coefficient
• The upper cutoff
wavelength is determined
by the bandgap energy Eg
of the material.

• At lower-wavelength end,
the photo response
diminishes due to low
absorption (very large
values of αs).
Photodetector Noise
• In fiber optic communication systems, the photodiode is generally required to
detect very weak optical signals.
• Detection of weak optical signals requires that the photodetector and its
amplification circuitry be optimized to maintain a given signal-to-noise ratio.
• The power signal-to-noise ratio S/N (also designated by SNR) at the output of an
optical receiver is defined by

SNR Can NOT be improved by amplification

Notation: Detector Current
• The direct current value is denoted by, IP (capitol main entry and capital
suffix).
• The time varying (either randomly or periodically) current with a zero
mean is denoted by, ip (small main entry and small suffix).
• Therefore, the total current Ip is the sum of the DC component IP and
the AC component ip .

I P = I p + ip
T /2
1
= LimT → 
2 2
i p i p (t ) dt
T −T / 2
Quantum (Shot Noise)
Quantum noise arises due optical power fluctuation
because light is made up of discrete number of photons

i2
Q = 2qI p BM F ( M )
2

F(M): APD Noise Figure F(M) ~= Mx (0 ≤ x ≤ 1)

Ip: Mean Detected Current
B = Bandwidth
q: Charge of an electron
 Dark/Leakage Current Noise
There will be some (dark and leakage ) current without any
incident light. This current generates two types of noise

Bulk Dark Current Noise i 2

DB = 2qI D BM F ( M )
2

ID: Dark Current

Surface Leakage
2
iDS = 2qI L B
Current Noise
(not multiplied by M) IL: Leakage Current
Thermal Noise
The photodetector load resistor RL contributes to
thermal (Johnson) noise current

iT2 = 4 K BTB / RL

KB: Boltzmann’s constant = 1.38054 X 10(-23) J/K

T is the absolute Temperature
• Quantum and Thermal are the significant noise
mechanisms in all optical receivers
• RIN (Relative Intensity Noise) will also appear in
analog links
Signal to Noise Ratio
Detected current = AC (ip) + DC (Ip)
Signal Power = <ip2>M2

i p2 M 2
SNR =
2q ( I p + I D ) M 2 F ( M ) B + 2qI L B + 4k BTB / RL

Typically not all the noise terms will have equal weight.
Often thermal and quantum noise are the most significant.
Limiting Cases for SNR
• When the optical signal power is relatively high, then the
shot noise power is much greater than the thermal noise
power.
• In this case the SNR is called shot-noise or
quantum noise limited.
• When the optical signal power is low, then thermal noise
usually dominates over the shot noise. In this case the
SNR is referred to as being thermal-noise limited.
Limiting Cases of SNR
In the shot current limited case the SNR is:
i p2
SNR =
2q ( I p ) F ( M ) B

For analog links, there will be RIN (Relative Intensity

Noise) as well

i p2 M 2
SNR =
 2q( I p + I D ) M 2 F ( M ) + 4k BT / RL + ( RIN ) I p2  B
Typical SNR vs. Received Power
• Note, APD has
an advantage
only at low
received power
levels
Noise-Equivalent Power
• The sensitivity of a photodetector is describable in terms of the minimum
detectable optical power to have SNR = 1.
• This optical power is the noise equivalent power or NEP

Example: Consider the thermal-noise limited case for a pin photodiode. Then

To find the NEP, set the SNR = 1 and solve for P:

Response Time in pin photodiode

Transit time, td and carrier drift velocity vd are related by

t d = w / vd For a high speed Si PD, td = 0.1 ns
Rise and fall times

Photodiode has uneven rise and fall times depending on:

1. Absorption coefficient s() and
2. Junction Capacitance Cj Cj =
 o  r A
w
Junction Capacitance

Cj =
 o  r A
w
εo = 8.8542 x 10(-12) F/m; free space permittivity
εr = the semiconductor dielectric constant
A = the diffusion layer (photo sensitive) area
w = width of the depletion layer

Large area photo detectors have large junction

capacitance hence small bandwidth (low speed)
→ A concern in free space optical receivers
 Various pulse responses

Pulse response is a complex function of absorption coefficient

and junction capacitance
Comparisons of pin Photodiodes

NOTE: The values were derived from various vendor data

sheets and from performance numbers reported in the
literature. They are guidelines for comparison purposes.
 Comparisons of APDs

NOTE: The values were derived from various vendor data sheets
and from performance numbers reported in the literature. They
are guidelines for comparison purposes only.