PHOTODETECTOR OPERATION TYPES

 WHAT IS PHOTO DETECTOR?

At the output end of an optical transmission line, there must be a receiving

device which interprets the information contained in the optical signal the first
element of this receiver is a PHOTO DETECTOR.
It senses the luminescent power falling upon it and converts the variation of
this optical power into a corresponding varying electric current.
The optical signal is generally wakened and distorted when it come up from
the end of the fiber. Hence, the photo detector must meet very high performance
requirements.
THE REQUIREMENTS ARE
 High Response ( sensitivity)
 Minimum Addition Of Noise System
 Fast Response Speed ( Sufficient Bend Width To Handle Data )

 TYPES OF PHOTODETECTOR:

 PHOTO MULTIPLIERS
 PYROELECTRIC DETECTOR
 SEMICONDUCTOR BASED PHOTOCONDUCTOR
 PHOTO TRANSISTER
 PHOTO DIODES

 PHOTO MULTIPLIERS:
It consisting of a photo cathode and an electron multiplier
packaged in a vacuum tube are capable of very high gain and very
low noise.
Their large size and high voltage requirements make them
unsuitable for optical fiber system.
 PYROELECTRIC PHOTO DETECTOR:
 It involves the conversion of the photons to heat photon
absorption results in a temperature change of the detector material. This
gives rise to a variation in the dielectric constant which is usually
measured as a capacitance change. The response of this detector is quit
flat over a broad spectral band but its speed is limited by the detector
cooling rate after it has been excited. Its principal use is for detecting
high speed laser pulses and it is not well suited for optical fiber system.

 SEMICONDUCTOR BASED PHOTO DETECTOR:

The photo diode is used almost exclusively for fiber optic system
because of its small size, suitable material, high sensitivity and fast
response time.

 TWO TYPES OF PHOTODIODES

 PIN PHOTO DETECTOR
 AVALANCHE PHOTO DIODE (APD)

 PIN PHOTO DETECTOR:

It is a most common semiconductor photo detector.

Fig (a): pin photodiode circuit

 It consists of p and n region separated by a very lightly n-doped
intrinsic region
In normal operation a sufficiently large reverse bias voltage is
applied across the device so that the intrinsic region is fully depleted
of carrier
When an incident photo has energy greater than or equal to the
band gap energy of the semiconductor material, the photon can give
up its energy and excite an electron from the valance band to the
conduction band. This process generates free electron hole pairs
which are known as photo carriers. They are photon generated
charge carrier as shown in fig below.

Fig (b): pin energy-band diagram

The photo detector is normally designed so that these carriers

are generated mainly in depletion region where most of the incident
light is absorbed.
 The high electric field present in the depletion region causes the
carriers to separate and be collected across the reverse biased
junction. This gives rise to a current flow in an external circuit, with
one electron flowing for carrier pair generated. This current flow is
known as the photocurrent.

Diffusion Length : As the charge carriers flow through the material,

some electron-hole pairs will recombine and hence disappear on the
average the charge carriers move a distance Ln or Lp for electrons
and holes, respectively. This distance is known as the diffusion
length.

LIFE TIME : The time charge carriers takes for an electron or hole
to recombine is known as the carrier lifetime and is represented by τn
and τp.
Relation between diffusion length & life time is
Ln=(Dn τn)1/2 and Lp=(Dp τp)1/2
Dn & Dp = Electron & Hole diffusion
coefficients cm2/sec
Optical radiation is absorbed in the semiconductor material
according to the exponential law

-α (λ)x
P(x) = P0 (1-e s )
αs(λ) is the absorption coefficient at a wavelength λ
P0 = incident optical power level
P(x) = optical power absorbed in a distance x

The dependence of the optical absorption coefficient on wavelength

is shown in fig(c) for several photo diode materials. As the curves
clearly show, αs depends strongly on the wavelength. Thus a
particular semiconductor material can be used only over a limited
wavelength range.
The upper wavelength cutoff λc is determine by the band-gap energy
Eg of the material. If Eg is expressed in units of electron volts(ev),λc
is given in units of micrometers.
λc = hc/Eg=1.24/Eg(ev)
The cutoff wavelength is about 1.06μm for Si and 1.6μm for Ge. For
longer wavelengths, the photon energy is not sufficient to excite an
electron from the valence to the conduction band.

Fig(c) : Optical absorption coefficient as a function of wavelength

for silicon, germanium and galiumarsenide.

Example:
 A photo diode is constructed of GaAs, which has a band-gap energy
of 1.43 ev at 300 k
The wavelength cutoff is
λc = hc =(6.625×10-34 J.s)(3×108m/s) =869 nm
Eg (1.43 eV)(1.6×10-19J/eV)

This GaAs photodiode will not operate for photons of wavelength

greater then 869 nm.

At the lower wavelength end, the photoresponse cuts off as a result

of the very large values of αs at the shorter wavelength. In this case,
the photons are absorbed very close to the photodetector surface,
where the recombination time of the generated electron-hole pairs is
very short. The generated carriers thus recombine before they can be
collected by the photodetector circuitry.

If the depletion region has a width w, then, the total power absorbed
in the distance w is
P(w)=P0(1-e-α w)
s

 AVALANCHE PHOTODIODES (APDs):

 It internally multiply the primary signal photocurrent before it
enters the input circuitry of the following amplifier. This increases
receiver sensitivity because the photocurrent is multiplied before
encountering the thermal noise associated with the receiver circuit.

Impact Ionization: For carrier multiplication to take place, the

photogenerated carriers must traverse a region where a very high electric
field is present. In this high-field region, a photogenerator electron or
hole can gain enough energy so that it ionizes bound electron in the
valance bond upon colliding with them. This carrier multiplication is
known as impact ionization.

The Avalanche Effect: The newly created carriers are also

accelerated by the high electric field, thus gaining enough energy to
cause further impact ionization. This phenomenon is the avalanche
effect.

Below the diode breakdown voltage a finite total number of

carriers are created, where as above breakdown the number can be
infinite.
 REACH THROUGH AVALACHE PHOTODIODE (RAPD):

It is used for achieving carrier multiplication with very little excess

noise
It is composed of a high resistivity p-type material deposited as an
epitaxial layer on a p+ substrate. A p-type diffusion or ion implant is then
made in the high-resistivity material, followed by the construction of an
n+ layer.
For silicon, the dopants used to form these layers are normally
boron and phosphorus respectively. This configuration is referred to as
p+пpn+ reach through structure. The п layer is basically an intrinsic
material that inadvertently has some p doping because of imperfect
purification.

Fig(d) : Reach through avalanche photodiode structure and the electric

fields in the depletion and multiplication region.
 In normal usage, the RAPD is operated in the fully depleted
mode. Light enters the device through the p+ region and is absorbed in
the п material, which acts as the collector for the photogenerated
carriers.
Upon being absorbed, the photon gives up its energy, thereby
creating electron-hole pairs, which are then separated by the electric
field in the п region. The photogenerated electrons drift through the п
region in the pn+ junction, where a high electric field exists. It is in this
high-field region that carrier multiplication takes place.
Ionization Rate :The average number of electron-hole pairs
created by a carrier per unit distance traveled is called the ionization
rate.
Most materials exhibit different electron rates α and hole
ionization rates β.
The ratio k=β/α of the two ionization rates is a measure of the
photodetector performance.
The multiplication M for all carriers generated in the photodiode
is defined by M=IM/Ip.
Where IM is the average value of the total multiplied output
current and IP is the primary unmultiplied photocurrent.

Example:
A given silicon avalanche photodiode has a quantum efficiency of 65
percent at a wavelength of 900 nm. Suppose 0.5μW of optical power
produces a multiplied photocurrent of 10μA. Let us find the
multiplication M.
Ip=RP0=(ηq/hv)P0=(ηqλ/hv)P0
= (0.65)(1.6×10-19C)(9×10-7m) 5×10-7w
(6.625×10-34J.s)(3×108 m/s)

= 0.235μA

M=IM/IP=(10μA/0.235μA)=43
Thus, the primary photocurrent is multiplied by a factor of 43.
Fig(e):Typical room-temperature current gains of a silicon reach-through
avalanche photodiode for different wavelength as a function of bias
voltage.

Typical current gains for different wavelengths as a function of bias

voltage for a silicon reach through avalanche photodiodeare shown in
fig(e). The dependence of the gain on the excitation wavelength is
attributable to mixed initiation of the avalanche process by electrons and
holes when most of the light is absorbed in the n+p region close to the
detector surface. This is especially noticeable at short wavelengths,
where a larger wavelength. In silicon, since the ionization coefficient for
holes is smaller then that for electrons, the total current gain is reduced
at the short wavelengths.
Analogous to the pin photodiode, the performance of an APD is
characterized by its responsivity RAPD, which is given by

RAPD=(ηq/hv)M= R0M
R0=The unity gain
responsivity
 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PIN DIODE AND APD:

PIN APD
 Simpler  Complex

 More stable  Less stable

 Less expensive  More expensive

 Bias range is
 Bias voltage = 40v to several
5v hundred volts

 More sensitive
 Less sensitive
 FIGURE OF MARITS :

In this we will consider three characteristics of a photodetector,

these characteristics are QUANTUM EFFICIENCY, RESPONSE
SPEED, S/N RATIO.

Quantum efficiency and response speed are depend on the

material band-gap, the operating wavelength, and the doping and
thickness of the p, i, and n regions of the device. The quantum efficiency
η is the number of the electron-hole carrier pairs generated per incident
photon of energy hv and is given by

η= number of electron-hole pairs generated

number of incident photons

= (Ip/q)/(P0/hv)
Ip= The average photocurrent generated by a
steady-state average optical power P0 incident
on the photodetector.

Example:
In a 100-ns pulse, 6×106 photons at a wavelength of 1300 nm fall on an
InGaAs photodetector. On the average, 5.4×106 electron-hole (e-h) pairs
are generated. The quantum efficiency is found from
η= number of electron-hole pairs generated
number of incident photons

=5.4×106
6×106
= 0.90

Thus, the quantum efficiency at 1300 nm is 90 percent.

 In a practical photodiode, 100 photons will create between 30
to 95 electron-hole pairs, thus giving a detector quantum efficiency
ranging from 30 to 95 percent.
To achieve high quantum efficiency, the depletion layer must
be thick enough to permit a large fraction of the incident light to be
absorbed.
However, the thicker the depletion layer, the longer it takes
for the photogenerated carriers to drift across the reverse-biased
junction. Since the carrier drift time determines the response speed of
the photodiode, a compromise has to be made between response speed
and quantum efficiency.
The performance of a photodiode is often characterized by
the responsivity R. this is related to the quantum efficiency by

R =Ip/P0=ηq/hv

Fig(f):Comparison of the responsivity and quantum efficiency as a

function of wavelength for pin photodiodes constructed of different
materials.
Example:
Photons of energy 1.53×10-19J are incident on a photodiode which
has a responsivity of 0.65 A/W. if the optical power level is 10αw,
then the photocurrent generated is
Ip= R P0
= (0.65 A/W)(10μW)
= 6.5 μA

In most photodiodes the quantum efficiency is

independent of the power level falling on the detector at a given
photon energy. Thus, the responsivity is a linear function of the
optical power. That is, the photocurrent Ip is directly proportional to
the optical power P0 incident upon the photodetector, so that the
responsivity R is constant at a given wavelength.

However, that the quantum efficiency is not a constant at

all wavelengths, since it varies according to the photon energy.
Consequently, the responsivity is a function of the wavelength and
of the photodiode material.

For a given material, as the wavelength of the incident

photon becomes longer, the photon energy becomes less than that
required to excite an electron from the valence band to the
conduction band. The responsivity thus falls off rapidly beyond the
cutoff wavelength.
S/N Ratio:
In fiber optic communication systems, the photodiode is
generally required to detect very weak optical signals. Detection of
the weakest possible optical signals requires that the photodetector
and its following amplification circuitry be optimized so that a given
signal to noise ratio is maintained.
The power signal-to-noise ratio S/N at the output of an
optical receiver is defined by
S Signal power from photocurrent

N photocurrent noise power  amplifier noise power

The noise sources in the receiver arise from the

photodetector noise resulting from the statistical nature of the
photon-to-electron conversion process and the thermal noise
associated with the amplifier circuitry.

To achieve a high signal-to-noise ratio, the following

condition should be met:
1. The photodetector must have a high quantum efficiency to
generate a large signal power.
2. The photodetector and amplifier noise should be kept as low as
possible.