CMYK

C OOMMP PO NOENN ET SN T S

OPTOELECTRONIC DEVICES &

THEIR APPLICATIONS
Optoelectronics is an interesting branch of electronics that terial. Similarly,
some of the holes
combines both electronics and optics. Optoelectronic devices present in the p-
find varied applications in telecommunications, military type material move
services, medical field, and automatic control systems. Lets Fig. 3: Forward across the junction
biased p-n junction to the n region and
check out how they work combine with the
electrons present in
the n region.
D. MOHAN KUMAR The process
Electromagnetic spectrum
continues and cre-
Band Wavelength in nm

L
ight is emitted from a material when Fig. 4: Reverse ates a region on ei-
it is stimulated by the incident en- Ultraviolet 100-400 biased p-n junction ther side of the
ergy. If the energy is in the form of Visible 400-700
photons, photoluminescence is produced. Infrared 700-1500
Optoelectronic devices produce electrical
energy when exposed to incident light en- produces semiconductors. The process of
ergy. They utilise energy in the visible introducing impurities into a pure semi-
and infrared regions of the electromag- conductor material is known as doping.
netic spectrum. Phosphorous, arsenic, boron, and alu-
Solidstate devices like sensors, IR emit- minium are some of the materials used as Fig. 5: Anode and cathode in p-n junction
ters, and laser emitters are used for opto- impurities for doping. By means of so- and the direction of current flow
electronic applications. Optoelectronic de- phisticated processes, it is possible to pro-
vices can be classified into photoconduc- duce p- and n-type junctions within the junction with no free charges. This region
tive and photovoltaic devices. same slice of silicon or germanium. The is known as depletion layer (refer Fig.
Photoconductive devices such as photo 2). The continuous movement of electrons
resistors are widely used in counting sys- and holes results in an equilibrium, with
tems, twilight switches, house security sys- the p region acquiring a small negative
tems, etc. These detect variations in the charge and the n region acquiring a small
light intensities and activate or deactivate positive charge. This creates a small po-
electronic circuits. Photodiodes and tential across the p-n junction equivalent
phototransistors also fall in this category. to a small voltage.
These utilise the reverse biased junctions Fig. 1: Diffusion of electrons and holes When an external voltage having a po-
for generating current when illuminated. across the n-p junction larity opposite to that of the p-n junction
Photovoltaic devices produce a volt- is applied to the p-n junction, it effec-
age when these are exposed to light. The resulting junction is called p-n junction. tively negates the internal potential differ-
light energy produces a potential differ- Within the p-n junction there is move- ence and reduces the width of the deple-
ence across the p-n junction depending ment of electrons and holes (refer Fig. 1). tion layer. As the external voltage is in-
on the intensity of the incident light. So- From the n creased, the depletion layer becomes zero,
lar cells and photovoltaic cells are widely region elec- and this causes easy diffusion of charge
used in various applications to generate trons diffuse carriers across the junction. Electrons move
electricity. across the from n region to p region and the junc-
junction into tion is forward biased (refer Fig. 3). A
the p region large current flows from the p region (an-
The p-n junction as a voltage
and combine ode) to the n region (cathode). If the ex-
source
Fig. 2: Depletion layer with with the ternal potential has the same polarity as
The controlled diffusion of impurities into no charges on either side holes present that of the junction, no current flows, as
such materials as germanium and silicon of the junction in p-type ma- the depletion layer widens and inhibits

ELECTRONICS FOR YOU OCTOBER 2003

CMYK

COMPONENTS

the flow of charge carriers. closed in a transparent case. The glass

window permits entry of light into the
semiconductor.
Photovoltaic cells
Primary advantages of CdS are their
Photoelectric transducers generate electric high dissipation capacity, excellent sensi-
current when exposed to light. A photo- tivity in the visible spectrum, low resis-
voltaic cell consists of many p-n junctions tance in light, etc. It can handle many
connected in series. One of the junctions watts, so a relay can be directly operated
is very thin, so light can easily pass using an LDR. LDRs are used as switch-
through it. When light passes, charge car- ing devices in the presence or absence of
riers such as holes and electrons are pro- light. Counters, twilight switches, camera
duced proportional to control systems, etc utilise this property
the incident light. Pho- of LDR.
tovoltaic cells are used
in various applications
Photodiodes
to generate electricity
where mains power is Photodiodes (Fig. 8) are high-impedance
not available. Examples devices that are usually reverse biased for
Fig. 6: Solar cell include solar cells (re- improved performance. These are high-
fer Fig. 6) and solar bat- speed sensors which generate a tiny cur-
teries, which are used in satellites. rent (in A) proportional to the amount
The solar energy incident on the p-n of incident light.
junction of the solar cell collides with the The photodiode
valence electrons. This causes the forma- consists of a relatively
tion of electron-hole pairs, which cross large silicon p-n junc-
the p-n junction in an opposing manner tion, which is illumi-
and create a voltage across the p-n junc- nated by the incident
tion. The voltage generated per cell is ap- light. Light photons im-
proximately 0.6V. Large arrays of solar Fig. 8: Photo- pinging on the junction
cells are used in series and parallel com- diode have sufficient energy
binations to produce a large voltage. to rupture a number of
covalent bonds in the junction, thereby
producing electron-hole pairs. This causes
Photoconductive cells
the flow of current in the diodes. As the
Photoconductive cells use a semiconduc- illumination increases, additional electron-
tor material whose electrical conductivity hole pairs are released and the diode cur-
varies with the intensity of the incident rent increases.
light. Light-dependent resistors (LDRs) (re-
fer Fig. 7) are typical photoconductive
Phototransistors
cells. When light falls on the semiconduc-
tor material, its conductivity increases. Phototransistors employ the principle of
Normally, cadmium sulphide (CdS) is used photodiodes, but the amplifying action of
in LDRs and their resis- the transistor makes these devices more
tance depends on the in- sensitive. Phototransistors are duo diodes
tensity of light. CdS cells having two junctions in the same device
have a sensitive area that separated by a wide base region, thus form-
contains small amounts ing an n-p-n junction (Fig. 9). The n-p
of silver, antimony, or in- junction is slightly forward biased and the
Fig. 7: Light- dium impurities. The p-n junction is reversed biased. Light en-
dependent electron-hole pairs pro- ergy striking the n-p junction liberates elec-
resistor duced by the incident tron-hole pairs. The released electrons dif-
light increase its conduc- fuse out of the p
tivity and cause increase in current flow. region towards
Besides CdS, lead sulphide or cadmium the junction. The
selenide are also used in photoconductive holes, however,
cells. are trapped in the
In absolute darkness the resistance of p region and
an LDR is a few mega-ohms, while it re- form a positive
duces to as low as a few ohms when fully Fig. 9: The working
surface charge.
illuminated. The LDR is made up of a principle of photo- This causes an
thin film of semiconductor material en- transistor increase in for-

OCTOBER 2003 ELECTRONICS FOR YOU

CMYK

COMPONENTS

ward bias of n-p junction, increasing the the emitted

current flow. photons reflect
Phototransistor is usually connected in back and forth
common-emitter configuration with an to cause more
open base. Photons are focused to the recombination
junction through a lens system. Only two of electrons
leads (collector and emitter) of the and holes in
phototransistor are usually used in circuit the p-n junc-
connections. The base current is created tion and new
by the photons falling on the base-collec- Fig. 11: IR sensors photons are
tor junction. The current in the emitted with
phototransistor depends on the intensity for amplifying the signal. Some of these the same phase. The photons come out
of incident light and is less affected by produce digital outputs. IR sensors are sen- from the p-n junction in the form of a long-
the voltage in the circuit. Darlington n-p- sitive to infrared rays only and strong sun- range narrow beam. All the photons in the
n phototransistors are widely used in light- light or fluorescent lamps may affect their laser beam are coherent and in phase.
detection devices, light-operated systems, functioning. Most IR sensors require a pul- Lasers are of prime importance in op-
counters, and house security systems. sating IR beam for maximum performance. tical memories, fibre-optic communica-
tions, military applications, surgical pro-
cedures, and also in CD players. Be-
Infrared diodes
sides gallium arsenide lasers, helium-
Infrared (IR) diodes are photodiodes that neon lasers, argon-ion lasers, and car-
emit a beam of infrared light when their p- bon-dioxide lasers are also used in vari-
n junction is forward biased. The p-n junc- ous applications.
tion in IR diodes (Fig. 10) is made up of
gallium arsenide. The p-n junction consists
Lasers and CD players
of a recombination region between p- and
n-type materials. When a potential differ- CD players use laser technology to read
ence is applied between the anode and the the optically recorded data in the form
cathode of the IR diode, the p-n junction is of bits and pits on a CD. A CD is made
energised and Solar panels up of a polycarbonate plastic known as
electrons move polymethyle metacrylite. The surface of
from the n re- The pulsating IR ray allows the sensor to the CD is coated with a thin film of alu-
gion and com- keep the sensing ability and reduce the minium and protected by a coating of lac-
bine with the response to visible light. IR sensor mod- quer. About 20,000 tracks are found in a
holes present in ules are used in TV/VCR remote systems disks recording surface. The digital infor-
the p region. The and remote switching controls. mation is defined as the length of pits and
Fig. 10: IR Diode recombination distance between them. The pits and re-
of electrons and flective surface represent logic 0s and 1s.
Laser diodes and their
holes takes place in the recombination re- When a laser beam is focused onto
applications
gion. The recombination restores the equi- the disk, because of a difference between
librium of the p-n junction, leading to the Laser is a long narrow beam of photons the depth of the pits and wavelength of
emission of photons in the form of infrared emitted from specially made diodes called the laser beam, a phase difference devel-
rays. These rays have a wavelength of 900 laser diodes. Like infrared diodes or LEDs, ops between the light reflected from the
nm. IR diodes are used in TV remotes, laser diodes (Fig. 12) convert electrical en- pits and the reflecting surface. The re-
remote switching burglar alarms, etc. ergy into light energy. The most common flected light is then modulated by the de-
lasers used are semiconductor or injection tector system.
lasers. These lasers are based on the fact The laser diode-lens assembly and the
IR sensor modules
that a population of inversion electrons is sensor form the optical system of the CD
The photo current from a photodiode is produced when a voltage is applied across player. The lens system focuses the laser
very small and must be amplified for acti- the p-n junction. The p-n junction is doped beam reflected onto the disk and reflected
vating the circuit. IR modules (Fig. 11) with gallium arsenide. Laser beam is avail- back light is collected by the objective lens
are high-efficiency sensors having an able from the and transmitted to the detector system.
inbuilt phototransistor or photodiode and doped semicon- Before passing to the detector, the reflected
a transistor amplifier consisting of an npn ductor from the laser beam is polarised and aligned to 90
transistor or FET. These are 3-pin light-to- near UV to well degrees. The detector is a photosensor that
voltage converters with provision to im- into infrared re- produces corresponding electrical signals,
prove the amplifiers offset voltage stabil- gions. which are then amplified and separated into
ity. The output voltage is directly propor- The p-n junc- corresponding video and audio signals.
tional to the incident infrared light. Fig. 12: The working tion of the laser
IR sensors simplify the circuit design principle of a laser diode has pol- The author is a lecturer at Government
as these require no external component diode ished ends so that Victoria College, Palakkad, Kerala

ELECTRONICS FOR YOU OCTOBER 2003