Photodetectors

Content
Physical Principles of Photodiodes
pin, APD
Photodetectors characteristics (Quantum efficiency,
Responsivity, S/N)
Noise in Photodetector Circuits
Photodiode Response Time
Photodiodes structures
These are Opto-electric devices i.e. to
convert the optical signal back into
electrical impulses.

The light detectors are commonly made up
of semiconductor material.

When the light strikes the light detector a
current is produced in the external circuit
proportional to the intensity of the incident
light.

Photodetectors
Optical signal generally is weakened and distorted when it
emerges from the end of the fiber, the photodetector must
meet following strict performance requirements.
Photodetectors
A high sensitivity to the emission wavelength range of the
received light signal
A minimum addition of noise to the signal
A fast response speed to handle the desired data rate
Be insensitive to temperature variations
Be compatible with the physical dimensions of the fiber
Have a Reasonable cost compared to other system components
Have a long operating lifetime
Photodetectors
Some important parameters of photodetectors are:
Detector Responsivity
*This is the ratio of output current to input optical power.
Hence this is the efficiency of the device.
Spectral Response Range
This is the range of wavelengths over which the device
will operate.
Quantum Efficiency
It is the ratio of primary electron-hole pairs created by incident
photon to the photon incident on the diode material.
Noise Characteristics
The level of noise produced in the device is critical to its
operation at low levels of input light.
Response Time
This is a measure of how quickly the detector can respond
to variations in the input light intensity.
Types of Light Detectors
PIN Photodiode
Avalanche Photodiode
Photodetectors
InGaAs avalanche photodiode
PIN photodiode
Photodetector materials
Operating Wavelength Ranges for Several Different Photodetector Materials
Photodetectors
InGaAs is used most commonly for both long-wavelength
pin and avalanche photodiodes
Physical Principles of Photodiodes
The Pin Photodetector
The device structure consists of p and n semiconductor
regions separated by a very lightly n-doped intrinsic (i)
region.
In normal operation a reverse-bias voltage is applied across
the device so that no free electrons or holes exist in the
intrinsic region.
Incident photon having energy greater than or equal to the
bandgap energy of the semiconductor material, give up its
energy and excite an electron from the valence band to the
conduction band
pin Photodetector
The high electric field present in the depletion region causes photo-generated carriers to
Separate and be collected across the reverse biased junction. This give rise to a current
Flow in an external circuit, known as photocurrent.
w
Incident photon, generates free (mobile) electron-hole pairs
in the intrinsic region. These charge carriers are known as
photocarriers, since they are generated by a photon.
The Pin Photodetector
The electric field across the device causes the photocarriers
to be swept out of the intrinsic region, thereby giving rise to
a current flow in an external circuit. This current flow is
known as the photocurrent.
Photocarriers:
Photocurrent:
Energy-Band diagram for a pin photodiode
An incident photon is able to boost an electron to the
conduction band only if it has an energy that is greater than or
equal to the bandgap energy
The Pin Photodetector
**Beyond a certain wavelength, the light will not be
absorbed by the material since the wavelength of a photon
is inversely proportional to its energy
Thus, a particular semiconductor material can be used only
over a limited wavelength range.
The upper wavelength
c
cutoff is determined by the
band-gap energy E
g
of the material.
continued
As the charge carriers flow through the material some of
them recombine and disappear.
The charge carriers move a distance L
n
ot L
p
for electrons
and holes before recombining. This distance is known as
diffusion length
The time it take to recombine is its life time t
n
or t
p

respectively.

L
n
= D
n
t
n
and L
p
= D
p
t
p

Where D
n
and D
p
are the diffusion coefficients for
electrons and holes respectively.
Photo current
As a photon flux penetrates through the semiconductor, it will
be absorbed.
If P
in
is the optical power falling on the photo detector at x=0
and P(x) is the power level at a distance x into the material
then the incremental change be given as


where
s
() is the photon absorption coefficient at a
wavelength . So that

( ) ( ) ( )dx x P x dP
s
o =
( ) ( ) x P x P
s in
o = exp
Photocurrent
Optical power absorbed, in the depletion region can be written in
terms of incident optical power, :



Absorption coefficient strongly depends on wavelength. The upper
wavelength cutoff for any semiconductor can be determined by its energy
gap as follows:



Taking entrance face reflectivity into consideration, the absorbed power in
the width of depletion region, w, becomes:





) 1 ( ) (
) ( x
in
s
e P x P
o
=
[6-1]
) ( o
s
) (x P
in
P
(eV)
24 . 1
) m (
g
c
E
=
[6-2]
) 1 )( 1 ( ) ( ) 1 (
) (
f
w
in f
R e P w P R
s
=
o
Optical Absorption Coefficient
Responsivity
The primary photocurrent resulting from absorption is:




Quantum Efficiency:





Responsivity:
) 1 )( 1 (
) (
f
w
in p
R e P
h
q
I
s
=
o
v
[6-3]
v
q
q
h P
q I
in
P
/
/
photons incident of No.
pairs ated photogener hole - electron No.of
=
=
[6-4]
[A/W]
v
q
h
q
P
I
in
P
= = 9
[6-5]
Responsivity vs. wavelength
Typical Silicon P-I-N Diode Schematic
Generic Operating Parameters of an InGaAs
pin Photodiode
The Pin Photodetector
Avalanche Photodiode (APD)
APDs internally multiply the
primary photocurrent before it
enters to following circuitry.
In order to carrier multiplication
take place, the photogenerated
carriers must traverse along a
high field region. In this region,
photogenerated electrons and
holes gain enough energy to
ionize bound electrons in VB
upon colliding with them. This
multiplication is known as
impact ionization. The newly
created carriers in the presence of
high electric field result in more
ionization called avalanche
effect.
Reach-Through APD structure (RAPD)
showing the electric fields in depletion
region and multiplication region.
Optical radiation
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 ionization rates and
hole ionization rates .
Ionization rate
The ratio k = / of the two ionization rates is a
measure of the photodetector performance.
Only silicon has a significant difference between electron and
hole ionization rates.
Avalanche Photodiode (APD)
Responsivity of APD

The multiplication factor (current gain) M for all carriers generated in the
photodiode is defined as:


Where is the average value of the total multiplied output current &
is the primary photocurrent.

The responsivity of APD can be calculated by considering the current gain
as:
p
M
I
I
M =
[6-6]
M
I
P
I
M M
h
q
0 APD
9 = = 9
v
q
[6-7]
Current gain (M) vs. Voltage for different optical
wavelengths
Generic Operating Parameters of an InGaAs Avalanche
Photodiode
Photodetector Noise & S/N
Detection of weak optical signal requires that the photodetector and its
following amplification circuitry be optimized for a desired signal-to-noise
ratio.
It is the noise current which determines the minimum optical power level
that can be detected. This minimum detectable optical power defines the
sensitivity of photodetector. That is the optical power that generates a
photocurrent with the amplitude equal to that of the total noise current
(S/N=1)
power noise amplifier power noise tor photodetec
nt photocurre from power signal
+
=
N
S
Signal Calculation
Consider the modulated optical power signal P(t) falls on the photodetector
with the form of:


Where s(t) is message electrical signal and m is modulation index.
Therefore the primary photocurrent is (for pin photodiode M=1):


The root mean square signal current is then:
)] ( 1 [ ) (
0
t ms P t P + =
[6-8]
] current AC )[ ( ] value DC [ ) (
ph
t i I t MP
h
q
i
p P
+ = =
v
q
[6-9]

2
2 2
2 2
2
2
2 2
P
p p
s p s
I m
i
M i i
= =
= =
o
o
[6-9]
[6-10]
For sinusoidal variation of
modulation index m
Noise Sources in Photodetecors
The principal noises associated with photodetectors are :
1- Quantum (Shot) noise: arises from statistical nature of the production
and collection of photo-generated electrons upon optical illumination. It has
been shown that the statistics follow a Poisson process.
2- Dark current noise: is the current that continues to flow through the
bias circuit in the absence of the light. This is the combination of bulk
dark current, which is due to thermally generated e and h in the pn
junction, and the surface dark current, due to surface defects, bias voltage
and surface area.
Surface dark current is also known as surface leakage current. It dpends on
surface defects, cleanliness, bias voltage and surface area. The surface
currnt can be reduced by using the guard rings so that the surface current
should nnot flow through the load resistor
In order to calculate the total noise present in photodetector, we should sum
up the root mean square of each noise current by assuming that those are
uncorrelated.

Total photodetector noise current=quantum noise current +bulk dark
current noise + surface current noise
Noise calculation (1)
Quantum noise current (lower limit on the sensitivity):



B: Bandwidth, F(M) is the noise figure and generally is

Bulk dark current noise:



is bulk dark current

Surface dark current noise: is the surface leakage current.
) ( 2
2
2 2
M F BM qI i
P shot shot
= =o
0 . 1 0 ) ( s s ~ x M M F
x
[6-11]
) ( 2
2 2
2
M F BM qI i
D DB DB
= = o
[6-12]
D
I
B qI i
L DS DS
2
2
2
= = o
L
I
Note that for pin photodiode

1 ) (
2
= M F M
[6-13]
Noise calculation (2)
Since the dark current and the signal current are totally uncorrelated so the
total rms photodetector noise current is:






The thermal noise of amplifier connected to the photodetector is:
[Assumption: amplifier input impedance is much greater than the load
resistor]




input resistance of amplifier, and is Boltzmann cte.
B qI M F BM I I q
i i i i
L D P
DS DB Q N N
2 ) ( ) ( 2
2
2 2 2 2 2
+ + =
+ + = = o
[6-14]
L
B
T T
R
TB k
i
4
2 2
= =o
[6-15]
L
R
-1 23
JK 10 38 . 1

=
B
k
S/N Calculation
Having obtained the signal and total noise, the signal-to-noise-ratio can be
written as:






Since the noise figure F(M) increases with M, there always exists an
optimum value of M that maximizes the S/N. For sinusoidally modulated
signal with m=1 and :
L B L D P
P
R TB k B qI M F BM I I q
M i
N
S
/ 4 2 ) ( ) ( 2
2
2
2
+ + +
=
[6-16]
x
M M F ~ ) (
) (
/ 4 2
2
opt
D P
L B L x
I I xq
R T k qI
M
+
+
=
+
[6-17]
Detector Response Time
The response time of photodiode together with its
output circuit depends mainly on the following
three factors:
1.The transit time of the photocarriers in
the depletion region.
2.The diffusion time of the photocarriers
generated outside the depletion region.
3.The RC time constant of the photodiode
and its associated circuit.
Reverse-biased pin photodiode
Schematic representation of a reversed biased pin photodiode
Depletion Layer Photocurrent
Under steady state the total current flowing through the depletion
layer is J
total
= J
dr
+ J
diff

J
dc
is the drift current from the carriers inside the depletion region
J
diff
is the current due to the carriers generated outside the
depletion region (in n or p side) and diffuses into the reverse bias
region. The drift current density is

( )
( )
u
o
Ah
R P
e q
A
I
J
f in
o
w
o
p
dr
s

= u
u = =

1
1
where
Depletion Layer Photocurrent
The surface p layer of a pin photodiode is normally
very thin. The diffusion current is mainly due to the
holes diffusion from bulk n region. The hole diffusion
in the material can be determined by the on
dimensional diffusion equation



Where D
p
is the hole diffusion constant, p
n
is the hole
concentration in the n-type material, t
p
is the excess
hole life time, p
no
is the equilibrium hole density, and
G(x) is the electron-hole generation rate.

( ) 0
2
2
= +

c
c
x G
p p
x
p
D
p
no n n
p
t
Depletion Layer Photocurrent
Diffusion current:
Solving the diffusion equation using the electron hole generation rate


The diffusion current density is given as [Assignment: problem 6.10]



The total current density can be written as


x
s o
s
e x G
o
o

u = ) (
p
p
no
x
p s
p s
o diff
L
D
qp e
L
L
q J
s
+
+
u =
o
o
o
1
p
p
no
p s
x
o tot
L
D
qp
L
e
q J
s
+
(
(

+
u =

o
o
1
1
Photodetector Response Time
The response time of a photo detector with its output circuit depends
mainly on the following three factors:
1- The transit time of the photo carriers in the depletion region. The transit
time depends on the carrier drift velocity and the depletion layer width
w, and is given by:


2- Diffusion time of photocarriers outside depletion region.
3- RC time constant of the circuit. The circuit after the photodetector acts
like RC low pass filter with a passband given by:
d
t
d
v
d
d
v
w
t = [6-18]
T T
C R
B
t 2
1
=
[6-19]
d a T L s T
C C C R R R + = = and ||
The photodiode parameters responsible for these three factors
(transient time, diffusion time, RC time constant) are:
1. Absorption coefficient
2. Depletion region width
3. Photodiode junction and package capacitance
4. Amplifier capacitance
5. Detector load resistor
6. Amplifier input resistance
7. Photodiode series resistance
Detector Response Time
The diffusion processes are slow compared with the
drift of carriers in the high field region.
To have a high speed photodiode:
Photocarriers should be generated in the depletion
region or close to the depletion region.
Diffusion times should be less than or equal to the
carrier drift times.
Detector Response Time
The effect of long diffusion times can be seen by
considering the photodiode response time.
Detector Response Time
Response time is described by the rise time and the fall time
of the detector output when the detector is illuminated by the
step input of optical radiation.
The rise time is typically measured from the 10 to 90 percent
points of the leading edge of the output pulse.
For Fully depleted photodiodes the rise time and the fall
time are generally the same. They can be different at low bias
levels where the photodiode is not fully depleted.
Charge carriers produced in the depletion region are separated
and collected quickly.
Electron hole pairs generated in the n and p regions must
slowly diffuse to the depletion region before they can be
separated and collected.
Fast carriers
Slow carriers
Photodiode response to optical pulse
Typical response time of the
photodiode that is not fully depleted
Various optical responses of photodetectors:
Trade-off between quantum efficiency & response time
To achieve a high quantum efficiency, the depletion layer width must be
larger than (the inverse of the absorption coefficient), so that most
of the light will be absorbed. At the same time with large width, the
capacitance is small and RC time constant getting smaller, leading to
faster response, but wide width results in larger transit time in the
depletion region. Therefore there is a trade-off between width and QE. It
is shown that the best is:
s
o / 1
s s
w o o / 2 / 1 s s
Structures for InGaAs APDs
Separate-absorption-and multiplication (SAM) APD










InGaAs APD superlattice structure (The multiplication region is composed
of several layers of InAlGaAs quantum wells separated by InAlAs barrier
layers.
Metal contact
multiplication layer
INGaAs Absorption layer
buffer layer
substrate
light
Temperature effect on avalanche gain
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. Detailed values on specific devices for particular applications can be obtained
from photodetector and receiver module suppliers.
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. Detailed values on specific devices for particular applications can be obtained from
photodetector and receiver module suppliers.
Advantages & Disadvantages of APD
Advantages:-
Low level light can be detected.
Increase in sensitivity of receiver.
SNR of receiver is high hence overall link SNR improves.
Excellent linearity.
Disadvantages:-
Complex structure.
Temperature stabilization required as M factor depends
on it.
High reverse bias voltage is required. (50 to 400 volts)
Random nature of photo diodes gives additional noise.


APD Vs PIN
APD has high gain due to self
multiplying mechanism, used in high
end systems
The tradeoff is the excess noise due to
random nature of the self multiplying
process.
APDs need high reverse bias voltage
(Ex: 40 V)
Therefore costly and need additional
circuitry
APD Vs PIN
PIN gives higher bandwidth and bit rate
APD gives higher sensitivity
Si works only up to 1100 nm; InGaAs up to
1700, Ge up to 1800
InGaAs has higher q for PIN, but Ge has
higher M for APD
InGaAs has lower dark current