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A Comprehensive Presentation on
" Photo detectors"
Semiconductor Devices (ECE 6317)
Lecturer Dr.Fadzlin Hasbullah
Outline
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Semiconductors
Classification of optoelectronics
semiconductor devices
History
John N. Shive was an American physicist and inventor who made remarkable
contributions in solid state physics and electronic engineering during the early
days of development of transistors at the Bell Telephone Laboratories.
Graduation in physics and chemistry in the year 1934 and PhD in the year 1939.
In 1948 the Shive implicated light beam instead of emitter terminal as wire for
transistor, generating holes that flow via collector; latterly this device was
appellated as phototransistor [3].
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What is Photo-detector ?
Semiconductor devices which can be implicated
to detects the photons presence. Such devices
are known as photo detectors [5].
They transform optical signals into electrical
signals.
When excess electrons and holes are generated
in a semi-conductor.
Response is proportional to the power in the
beam.
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Principles of Photodetection
Photodetection principle is based on two types of photoelectric effects which are
as follows [4].
External photoelectric effect : Electrons become free from the metal
surface by energy absorption obtained by streams of incident photons.
Photomultiplier tube and vacuum photodiode are the implications of
external photoelectric effect.
Internal photoelectric effect : Free charge carriers are generated by
absorption of incident photons in semiconductor junctions detectors.PIN
photodiode, pn junction photodiode and avalanche photodiode.
Important detector properties are responsivity, spectral response, and rise
time.
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Figure.4(a) .(photo
detector)
Power is delivered to
the device by the external circuit [7].
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Modes of Operation
Photoconductive vs. Photovoltaic
A photodiode can be operated in one of two modes:
Photoconductive (reverse bias)
The photo detectors are operated in photo conductive mode.
Photovoltaic (zero-bias).
Solar cells are operated in Photo voltaic mode.
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Photoconductive mode
In photoconductive mode the diode is operated in
reverse biased, which interns dramatically reduce
the response time at the expense of increased noise.
Consequently faster response times can be
achieved by increasing the depletion layer and
decreasing the junction's capacitance [11].
The photocurrent is linearly proportional to the
luminance for the given spectral distribution.
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Photovoltaic Mode
This mode exploits the photovoltaic effect, which
is the fundamental for solar cells. When used in
zero bias or photovoltaic mode, the flow of
photocurrent out of the device is restricted and a
voltage builds up [11].
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E
CB
EC
CB
Photon
EV
VB
k
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VB
k
Eg
EC
Photon
EV
Phonons
k
k
Figure.13(b).indirect
band gap
The
Noise Characteristics
The level of noise produced in the device is critical to it operation at low levels of input light.
Response Time
This is a measure of how quickly the detector can respond to variation in the input light intensity
Rise time
The rise time is the time for the detector output current to change to change from 10 to 90% of its final
value when the optic input power variation is a step.
Gain
The APDs have more gain than PIN diode due to the effect of impact ionization as it is operated at high
electric field
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Photodiode
P-I-N Photodiode
Figure.1
5
Avalanche Photodiode
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. Photod
iodes [
19] .
Photo diode
Photo means light and diode means a device pertaining of two
electrodes [20].
A photo diode is a light sensitive electronic device capable of
converting light into a voltage or current signal.
It works on the principle of photo generation.
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Photodiode Working
Working of photodiode is based on Internal photoelectric effect : Free charge
carriers are generated by absorption of incident photons in semiconductor
junctions detectors [4].
The diode is connected reverse biased under incident photons.
Free charge carriers are created by photon absorption.
The pair of electron and hole is generated by every single incident photon.
These moving charges cause current flow through the external circuit [23].
Photodiode Working...
The reverse biased photo diode is under luminance (incident photons) is
represents the energy bandgap diagram in figure. 18(b) and 18(c).
which absorbed in the junction via window.
The absorbed energy raises a bound electron across the band gap from the
valence to the conduction band.
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P-I-N photodiode
A PIN diode is a diode with a wide, lightly
doped 'near' intrinsic semiconductor
region between a p-type semiconductor
and an n-type semiconductor region.
The p-type and n-type regions are
typically heavily doped because they are
used for ohmic contacts [11].
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P-I-N photodiode.....
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Avalanche Photodiode
Avalanche Photodiodes ( APDs ) are high sensitivity, high
speed semi-conductor "light" sensors.
Avalanche Photodiode
Describing Avalanche photo-detecter construction and current voltage
characterstic curve with higlighted circle, depicts avalauche region in
figure.21(a) and 21(b) accordingly.
Operated with much higher reverse bias.
This allows each photo-generated carrier to be multiplied by avalanche
breakdown.
The effect is known as impact ionization/avalaunche effect.
Resulting in internal gain within the photodiode, which increases the effective
responsivity of the device.
Significance of Photodiodes
Photodiodes are unique among light detectors in that when illuminated, they generate
an output which is proportional to light level. Their characteristics and features can be
summarized as follows [8]:
Low cost visible and near-IR photo detector
Excellent linearity in output photocurrent according to light intensity
Fast response times.
Available in a wide range of packages
Low noise
Mechanically rugged yet compact and light weight
Available as duals, quads or as linear arrays
Usable with almost any visible or near infrared light source such as LEDs; neon,
fluorescent, incandescent bulbs; lasers; flame
sources; sunlight; etc.
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Surface characterization.
Photography.
Analytical instrumentation.
Optical communications.
Beam alignment.
References
[1]. www.powershow.com/view4/5accff-Mjk4Z/Single_Photon_Detectors_powerpoint_ppt_presentation
[2].
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
Opto Electronic Device March, 2003 20th Edition Issued by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
(C) Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd
www.circuitstoday.com/invention-history-of-phototransistor-and-photodiode,Acessed 27 mar.
www.powershow.com/view1/1b295a-ZDc1Z/Chapter_7_Light_Detectors_powerpoint_ppt_presentation 28 mar
Semiconductor Physics and Devices Basic Principles Fourth Edition Donald A. Neamen University of New Mexi
http://www.roithner-laser.com/pd/pd_ingaas.html
Photo Devices by Jia-Ming ch#14 and Fundamental of Photonics 2nd Edition by Saleh & Teich ch#18.
National seminar on Electric Energy : Safety & Conservations Department of Physics, University of Delhi India
[11]
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/electronic/photdet.html#c2
[12]
[13] BOOK; Semiconductor Physics and Devices Basic Principles Fourth Edition Donald A. Neamen University of
New Mexico ,Ch # 14 ,Pg # 622.
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References....
[14]. BOOK; Device Physics and Design by UMESH K. MISHRA and JASPRIT SINGH , USA
http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/Analytical_Chemistry/Analytical_Chemistry_2.0/10_Spectroscopic_Methods
/10A%3A_Overview_of_Spectroscopy Accessed on 27 Mar 2015.
[16] http://www.powershow.com/view/3d4ae1-MWFhN/Chap_5_Photodetectors_powerpoint_ppt_presentation
[15]
[17]
[18]
[19]
[20]
[21]
http://www.powershow.com/view1/1b295a-ZDc1Z/Chapter_7_Light_Detectors_powerpoint_ppt_
presentation 28 mar
http://educypedia.karadimov.info/library/Photodetectors-leture-12-03-09.pdf Accessed on 29 Mar
03/31/15 2015.
[24]
References...
[25]
[26]
https://www.thorlabs.com/images/TabImages/Single_Photon_Counting_Technique-300.png
Accessed on 29 Mar 2015.
http://www.pacer.co.uk/Assets/Pacer/User/Photodiode%20Typical%20Applications.pdf 27 Mar 2015.
[27]
[28]
http://www.osioptoelectronics.com/application-notes/AN-Photodiode-Parameters-Characteristics.pdf
[29]
http://download.springer.com/static/pdf/788/chp%253A10.1007%252F978-1-4419-0304-4_6.pdf
?auth66=1427799079_3ead44b750ec7155543d1f0d8122825d&ext=.pdf Accessed on 31 Mar 15
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