CHAPTER-1

T18B OPTOELECTRONIC DEVICES

Opto-electronics is that branch of science, which deals with the interaction of electronic process with light and optical process. Opto-electronic devices are those devices in which the interaction of electronic process with light can take place suitably, usually accompanied by an energy conversion process from electrical to optical and vice versa. The opto-electronic devices are used in communication, local area networks, as sensing devices and as switching and logic devices. In all these applications, light emission, detection, modulation and demodulation, switching and signal processing are important functions. Depending on these applications, light is transmitted through various media. Here our interest of application is the optical fiber as the transmission medium. Hence we restrict ourselves to optic fiber medium only. The two important optical devices, which are commonly employed in optical fiber communication, are a) Optical Sources. b) Optical detectors. Optical source is a device, which emits light due to the interaction of electrons with the material. It is a device that converts electrical energy into optical energy in the form of light. Optical detector is a device, which absorbs the light and produces free electrons in the material for electric conduction. It is a device, which converts optical energy into electrical energy. Materials. The most common materials used for opto-electronic devices are: 1) Gallium-Aluminium-Arsenide. 2) Indium-Gallium-Arsenide-Phosphide Gallium-Aluminium-Arsenide material can emit light in the range of wavelengths between 800 nm and 900 nm. Indium-Gallium-Arsenide-Phosphide material can emit light in the range of wavelengths between 1000 nm and 1600 nm.These materials are called compound semiconductors. Compound semiconductors are made from elements of different columns of Gr.III and Gr. V or Gr. IV and Gr. V of the periodic table. Elemental semiconductors Germanium and Silicon are very useful in the electronics. But they are not useful for opto-electronic devices employed in optic fiber communication due to the following reasons. a) They emit light very poorly. b) Their absorption coefficients are low. c) They possess a small energy gap. d) Their conversion efficiency is very low. The important characteristics of compound semiconductors are :

a) High electronic mobility. b) High radiative efficiency. The emission process can occur in two ways. a) Spontaneous emission b) Stimulated emission. Spontaneous emission: The process in which the electrons in the excited atoms are released on their own from their higher energy state to the ground sat is called spontaneous emission. Stimulated emission: The process where a photon having an energy equal to the energy difference between the two states interacts with the atom in the upper energy state causing it to return to the lower state with the creation of a second photon is called stimulated emission. The energy content of photon released in a semiconductor is related to the energy band gap of the semiconductor. The energy band gap is the amount of energy needed to excite a valance electron sufficiently to free it from the valance band so it becomes available to conduct electricity. Sources: The important optical sources that are employed in optic fiber communication are: a) Light Emitting Diode. b) LASER Diode. Requirements of optical sources: a) Output wavelength. The emission wavelength must lie in the low loss region of the fiber. The light produced must be as nearly monochromatic as possible. b) Output power. The optically emitted power must be as high as possible and must be achievable with the highest conversion efficiency or minimum drive current to prevent junction heating and performance degradation. c) Output directivity. Optical output must be highly directional to focus the light output into the fiber, to achieve a high source-fiber coupling efficiency. d) Spectral width. The optical output must be as monochromatic as possible to reduce dispersion as a result of different wavelengths propagating in the fiber at different velocities. e) Linearity. Easy and direct modulation must be possible giving linear input-output characteristics. f) Reliability. It should have long life and good stability of operation. g) Physical size. Small and compact. Must be compatible with fiber diameters.

h) Cost. The source cost must be low to reduce total cost. EFFICIENCY OF OPTICAL SOURCES: i) INTERNAL QUANTUM EFFICIENCY ii) EXTERNAL QUANTUM EFFICIENCY No. of Photons generated I.Q.E= ----------------------------------------------No. of Carriers crossing the junction I.Q.E= depends on i) ii) iii) iv) Structure of junction: Type of impurity; Level of impurity; Type of Semi-conductor. No. of Photons finally emitted ------------------------------------------------No. of Carriers crossing the junction.

E.Q.E =

E.Q.E < I.Q.E. becausei) Light emitted in the direction of semi-conductor air surface only is useful. ii) Only light with incidence angle less than critical angle comes out to be coupled to the optical fiber. iii) Light gets reflected at the semi-conductor air surface. iv) There is absorption between the point of generation and emitting surface. v) Internal reflection at the surface (Interface) of semi-conductor crystal and the encapsulation material leading to re-absorption. OPTICAL SOURCES TYPES: 1. LIGHT EMITTING DIODE: Radiation from a LED is caused by the recombination of holes and electrons that are injected into the junction by a forward bias voltage. When a potential is applied to a p-n junction in the forward direction, the holes from the p-side and the electrons from the n side cross the junction and constitute a current in the diode. It is also possible that some of the electrons and holes recombine in the transition region. When such recombination takes place light of a particular wavelength is emitted. The wavelength of the light is given byhc = -----Wg Where h is planks constant i.e. 6.026 x 10 34 joules sec.

c Velocity of light 3 x 108 Meters/Sec.

Wg is the energy gap between the valance band and the conduction band of the semiconductor material expressed in electron volts. This is also called as work function and represents the energy required to put an electron in the valance band of the semiconductor. 2. LASER DIODE: The construction of a semi-conductor laser diode is similar to a LED . Laser diodes are edge emitting type and do not output unless the operating current reaches a certain minimum value. This minimum value of current is called the THRESHOLD CURRENT. It is approximately 30 mA and operating current is 20-40mA above the threshold current. Threshold current should be minimum to keep the junction temperature minimum. Lower threshold currents are achieved in hetro-junction laser diodes, where the active region is embedded in materials whose refractive index is lower than that of the active region and whose band gap is higher than that of active region. As a result wave-guide action takes place and also threshold current decreases as compared to a homo junction laser diode. Temperature stability of laser diodes. Laser diodes are more temperature sensitive than LEDs. At high temperatures threshold currents have to be increased by 1.5% per degree Celsius to get constant power output from the laser, hence cooling is essential (Air cooling). TYPICAL CHARCTERISTICS OF DIODE LIGHT SOURCES: PROPERTY 1. Spectral Width 2. Modulation Bandwidth 3. Coupling Efficiency 4. Compatible Fiber 5. Temperature Sensitivity 6. Circuit Complexity (System integration) 7. Life time (hours) 8. Cost 9. Path length 10. Date rate 11. Power requirement 12. Reliability LED Wide (20 100 nm) Small (200-300 MHz) Very low MM (SI & GI) Low Simple 106 Low Moderate Moderate Low High LASER Low (1-5nm) Large (5GHz) Moderately high MMGI, SM High Complex Cooling/Temp Stabilization 104 - 105 Expensive compared to LED Long High High Less compared to LED

ADVANTAGES OF LED: Easier fabrication. Lower cost. Simple transmitter circuit design. Lower temperature dependence. ADVANTAGES OF LASER: Higher modulation rate (data rates). Narrow spectral width. Less dispersion-induced signal distortion. Higher fiber-coupling efficiency. Greater transmission distance. PHOTODETECTORS:

In order for a semiconductor deice to be useful as a detector some property of the device should be affected by radiation. The most commonly used property is the conversion of light into electron-hole pairs, which can be detected, in a properly chosen electric circuit. A photo detector is an opto-electronic device that absorbs optical energy and converts it to electrical energy, which usually manifests as a photo current. In the photo detection process, generally three steps are involved. a) Absorption of optical energy and generation of carriers. b) Transportation of the photo generated carriers across the transit region. c) Carrier collection and generation of photocurrent which flows through the external circuit. To collect the electron-hole pairs generated by light, one needs an electric field. This can be done by reverse biasing the device. Performance requirements of a detector. The performance requirements of a detector are: a) High sensitivity b) Low noise c) Wide band width d) High reliability e) Low cost f) High stability g) Low bias voltage It is desired while designing the device the absorption region shall be long enough to absorb nearly all the light. Types of detectors: The main detectors, which are generally employed, are: a) P-N Photo diode b) PIN Photo diode c) Avalanche Photo diode A P-N photo diode can detect the light in the wavelength region up to 900 nm. For Silicon device this is in the visible spectrum 400 nm to 700 nm and for Germanium the detection range is 700 nm to 900 nm. Therefore a P-N photo diode is not suitable as a detector for optical fiber communication employed for long distance communication. Hence it is rarely used. PIN and APD are the two important detectors, which find their applications in optical fiber communication systems. OPTICAL DETECTORS: Important properties. i) Responsivity; ii) Spectral response; iii) Rise time 1. P.N. Junction Diode: When a P.N. Junction is reverse biased, the region on either side of the metallurgical junction is depleted of charge carriers. The width of this region depends upon the strength of the applied electric field. When light, which is made of millions of photons, falls on this depletion region, for

each photon that strikes this region, a pair of charge carriers-an electron and a hole are created. These charge carriers are free to move in the crystal under the influence of the external field. When these carriers reach the supply terminals, an electric current in proportional to the number of photons striking the device flows. The current in the device is proportional to the intensity of incident light. A simple device of P.N. Diode cannot serve as a practical detector for two reasonsi) Delay in rise time of current; ii) Small photo current. 1. PIN Diode: In this device, the I-Layer (Intrinsic layer) is wide and devoid of charge carriers (electrons and holes). The reverse bias voltages applied across the device almost entirely appear at the two faces of layer. Hence, the electric forces are high (a higher voltage can be applied to this device, in comparison to a P.N. Junction diode). Since the proportion of the photons striking the I layer is more, the current in the device is larger than the P.N. Junction diode and also the rise time. Hence, the data rates can be high. 2. Avalanche Photo Diode: A.P.D. is a semi-conductor junction detector that has internal gain, which increases its Responsivity over PN or PIN devices. A photon is absorbed in the depletion region, creating a free electron and a free hole. The large electrical forces in the depletion region cause these charges to accelerate, gaining kinetic energy. When fast charges collide with neutral atoms, they create additional electron-hole pairs by using part of their kinetic energy to raise electrons across the energy band gap. One accelerating charge can generate several new secondary charges. The secondary charges, themselves, can accelerate charges. The secondary charges, themselves, can accelerate and create even more electron-hole pairs. This is the process of avalanche multiplication. The accelerating forces must be strong to impart high kinetic energies. This is achieved with large biases, several hundred volts in some instances. The gain increases with reverse bias. Avalanche photo diodes are usually variations of PIN diodes. The materials used, and thus the spectral ranges, are the same. One form of APD, a reach-through diode is where p+ and n+ layers are highly doped, low-resistance regions having a very small voltage drop. The pie region is lightly doped, nearly intrinsic. Most of the photons are absorbed in this layer creating electron-hole pairs. Photoelectrons move to the p region, which has been depleted of free charge by the large reverse voltage. In essence, the depletion region at the p-n+ junction has reached through to the pie layer. The voltage drop is mostly across the p-n+ junction, where the resulting large electrical forces cause avalanche multiplication.

Important properties of detectors: RESPONSIVITY: It is the ratio of the output current of the detector to the optic input power, given by1 P(Responsivity)= ------------ A/W (Amp/Watt) (can also be given as volts/watt if output is measured in volts)

SPECTRAL RESPONSE: It is the relationship between detectors Responsivity to the wavelength of the incidental optical power. The Responsivity of a detector varies with wavelength; hence, we must use the detector where Responsivity is large at the desired wavelength. RISE TIME: Rise time tr is the time for the detector output current to change from 10% to 90% of its final value when the optic input power variation is a step. The f3db corresponds to the upper cut off frequency, as there is no lower cut off frequency. An optical detector can give output even at zero modulating signals. DARK CURRENT: Even when there is no optic power present, a small reverse current flows through a reverse biased diode. This is called the dark current. It is caused by the thermal generation of free charge carriers in the diode. It will increase rapidly with temperature. Dark currents range from a fraction of nano-ampere to few hundred nano-amperes. Silicon detectors have the lowest dark currents. In Ga As diodes have slightly larger dark currents & germanium diodes have largest dark currents. Therefore, Si diodes are preferred over germanium diodes. RESPONSE SPEED is a measure of an increase in optical energy resulting in comparable increase in electric current. Speed of response is limited due to 1. Electron hole pair produced outside the depletion layer would diffuse through the depletion region and contribute photocurrents after certain delay. 2. The transit time of the carriers crossing the depletion layer. 3. The inherent capacitance of the semi-conductor. PIN Diodes are normally used for short-haul systems, as the current output is limited.