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Photodetection
Stavros Iezekiel
Department of Electrical and
Computer Engineering
University of Cyprus

OPTOELECTRONIC (O/E) CONVERSION

HMY 645
Lecture 07
Spring Semester 2015

In addition to having sufficient bandwidth and

adequate conversion efficiency, we require that the output is a
faithful replica of the input
i.e. noise is bad news.

Photocurrent

In optical-to-electrical (O/E) conversion, our aim is to convert an incoming timevarying optical power into corresponding variations of electrical signal (current,
perhaps followed by transimpedance stage).

Slope is given by
responsivity

IP
(A/W)
PO

This is with reference to the static

characteristic

number of e hpairs
no. of incident photons
I q
= P
PO / hf

Quantum efficiency =

Input optical power

If we elect to use coherent detection, then we may use a local oscillator laser in
order to boost the sensitivity. Power handling will be important.

Responsivi ty =

=R

hc
q

In an ideal photodiode (no noise, no nonlinearity), there is a linear correspondence

between input optical power and photocurrent.

Definitions used here: a photodiode is a one-port electrical device with an optical input
which is based on a semiconductor diode. A photodetector is a circuit containing a
photodiode as the front end followed by electronic amplification.

One consequence of this is that optical loss in dB is double the corresponding electrical loss
in dB (1 dBo = 2 dBe).
Note that the photodiode is actually classified as a square law device, since optical power
varies directly with the square of the electric field magnitude.

When using external modulation, high optical power handling capability may be
important, since increased CW laser power will improve the modulator slope efficiency.

Applications of High-Speed Photodiodes & Photodetectors

In long haul and METRO networks, WDM is pervasive:

The most obvious application is in multi-Gb/s optical links, based on direct detection of
intensity modulated light:

TX1
TX2

Transimpedance
Amplifier

TX3

Multiplexer

RX1

EDFA

RX2

RX3

DMUX

MUX
1, 2, 3 ..... N

or using coherent detection of intensity modulated light:

TXN

N
Demultiplexer

RXN

1000

1998
100

10

Improving photonics

Note: PDs can only

respond to intensity
variations. Phase
modulation is
converted to intensity
variation through
mixing with LO laser.

2008
Number of wavelength channels

or using coherent detection of phase modulated light:

which means we can relax bandwidth

requirements by increasing the number of
wavelength channels and the channel
density. Even so, the trend is to higher bit
rates for optoelectronics.

2001
2003
2001
1998

2006
2003

1996
1995
1993
1977

1995

1
1986

1991

Improving electronics
0.1
0.01

0.1

10
1
Data rate per channel (Gb/s)

100

1000
Total
capacity

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Photodiode Requirements

In terms of telecommunication applications, there has been a recent trend toward more
sophisticated techniques such as polarisation multiplexing. So far this hasnt translated
into the microwave photonic domain.

High sensitivity at operating wavelengths

Minimum noise
High e/o conversion efficiency
Fast response times
High linearity
Small size
Low bias voltages
High reliability
Efficient coupling of light (anti-reflection coating)

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Classification according to electrical (microwave) properties

Travelling wave fully distributed

Vertical illumination

Lumped

Edge
illumination

TAXONOMY

Tapered
waveguide

p
i
n

p
i
n

p
i
n

p
i
n

Distributed

Travelling wave periodically distributed

p
i
n

p
i
n

Electrode configuration

p
i
n

p
i
n

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Classification according to optical collection/propagation

Vertical illumination
Improving
efficiency

PIN PD

TWPD

APD
Improving BW &
WGPD saturation current

Improving
efficiency

Improving
BW & saturation
current

Edge
illuminated

VMDP

UTC PD

Vertically
illuminated

Edge illumination

RCE PD

Distributed

Lumped

APD avalanche photodiode

UTC uni-travelling-carrier

RCE resonant cavity enhanced

WGPD waveguide photodiode
TWPD travelling-wave photodiode
VMPD velocity-matched distributed photodiode

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Vertically-illuminated PIN photodiode

Device Layer Structure

Band Diagram
showing carrier
movement in E-field

BASIC PRINCIPLES OF
PHOTODETECTION PIN STRUCTURES

Light intensity as a
function of distance below
the surface

Bias voltage usually needed to

fully deplete the intrinsic I
region for high speed operation

Incident photons must have

sufficient energy to meet the
bandgap requirement. Leads to
concept of cut-off wavelength.

Carriers absorbed here must diffuse

to the intrinsic layer before they
recombine if they are to contribute
to the photocurrent. Slow diffusion
can lead to slow tails in the
temporal response.

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Typical current-voltage characteristics

Optical radiation is absorbed in the
semiconductor material according to:

P( x ) = PO (1 )e ( )x
Id - Dark current
Unwanted component generated under no light
Leads to noise

Incident
optical power

Operate under reverse bias

Increased incident power leads to increased photocurrent

Front-facet reflectivity
Reduced with anti-reflection
coating

Absorption coefficient vs.

wavelength for selected
semiconductors

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The upper wavelength cutoff c is determined by the bandgap energy Eg (eV):

C (m) =

hc
1.24
=
E g E g (eV)

Internal quantum efficiency

number of e h pairs collected
i =
= 1 e ( )w
no. of photons entering device

Longer wavelengths do not have high enough photon energies to excite electrons from
the valence to the conduction band.
If the depletion width is w, the total power absorbed is:

PA = PO (1 ) 1 e

( ) w

)(

PA = PO (1 ) 1 + B e ( )w 1 e ( )w

External quantum efficiency

e =

number of e h pairs collected

I q
= (1 ) 1 e ( )w = P
no. of photons incident on device
PO hf

Responsivity

In some devices this can be increased through back reflection from the bottom metal
contact:

Basic figures of merit

R=

I
photocurrent
= P
incident optical power PO

R=

q
hc

Units of A/W

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PIN bandwidth and quantum efficiency versus absorption layer thickness

for different area diameters (10,20,40 & 100 m).

Responsivity vs. wavelength

Increases with wavelength until cutoff

Maximum value of quantum efficiency is unity, thereby also placing upper limit on responsivity

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Trade-off between bandwidth and quantum efficiency

Vertically illuminated photodiode

-ve bias

absorption region

Bandwidth is limited by both transit time and RC product, which are both dependent
on thickness, as is quantum efficiency.

f 3dB

1
1
= 2 + 2
f
f
T
RC

1
2

2d 2 2A(R + R ) 2
S
L

+
=

3.5veh
d

1
2

n
+ve bias

photon

Photons enter through top layer of device

Absorption throughout device
Only depletion region absorption useful
Long depletion region:
High absorption (efficient)
Transit time limited

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Recent attempts to improve both bandwidth and saturation current have focused on the
dual depletion region approach and the uni-travelling carrier (UTC) photodiode.

Edge coupled photodiode

-ve bias

photon

absorption region

p
i

n
+ve bias

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Light enters from edge

Coupled into absorption region optical
waveguide
Can be long but narrow
Short transit times/good absorption
High device capacitance, 3dB
bandwidth given by:

f 3dB =

f CR
f
1 + CR
ft

For the UTC, the absorption layer is constructed from p-type material followed by a
wide bandgap intrinsic layer, creating a barrier to hole transport. The UTC transit-time
limited bandwidth is governed by the electron diffusion time in the absorption p-layer.
Bandwidths into the THz range are now being reported.

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Photodetector Noise
Photodiodes must detect very weak optical signals. Must
maintain an adequate signal to noise ratio:

SNR =

signal power from photocurrent

photodiode noise power + amp noise power

PHOTODIODE & PHOTODETECTOR

NOISE

Photodiode noise is caused by statistical nature of photonelectron conversion process, while the amplifier noise is due
to thermal noise

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Sources of noise in a photoreceiver:

To achieve high SNR:

bias voltage

(1) The photodiode must have a high quantum efficiency to

generate a large signal power
(2) Photodiode and amplifier noises must be minimised.

photodiode
dark current noise
multiplication noise (only for APDs)

input (photon stream)

output

quantum noise

Photodiode efficiencies are normally high, hence it is the

noise currents that determine the minimum optical
power level that can be detected.

AMP
RL

Minimum detectable optical power = optical power

needed to produce a photocurrent of same magnitude
as rms of the total noise current. This is equivalent to
having an SNR of unity.

thermal noise

amplifier noise

APD = avalanche photodiode

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Impact on digital reception

SNR performance of PIN photoreceiver

photodiode

AMP

A
B
Comparator

vout B
C

RL
VREF

Let detected signal (photocurrent) be IP :

IP = Im + ip
mean value (DC)

signal component

signal power is proportional to: ip2 (normalise to R)

A: ideal signal (no noise)
B: output of photoreceiver (noise due to amplifier and photodiode)
C: output of comparator; noise can generate bit errors

N.B. this is a mean square current, units A2

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dark current noise: extra shot noise component

due to dark current (i.e. current that is present
in the absence of optical illumination)

quantum noise: due to random arrival of photons hence

detected current = mean value + random fluctuations

iD2 = 2qBID

Can be modelled as a current source with mean

square given by:

ID = mean value of dark current

iQ2 = 2qBIm

thermal noise: due to bias resistor RL

B = bandwidth
q = electron charge

iT2 = 4kTB / RL
k = Boltzmanns constant = 1.38110-23 J/K
T = absolute temperature in K

N.B. Also known as shot noise.

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amplifier noise: introduced by amplifier circuitry.

We can combine iT and iAMP as follows:
iT2 = 4kTBFn / RL
Fn = amplifier noise figure
Hence: SNR = average signal power
average noise power
=

ip2
2qB(Im + ID) + 4kTBFn / RL

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SNR is maximised by:

low receiver noise figure
low bandwidth
large load/bias resistance, although this
tends to increase receiver time constant,
reducing the bandwidth

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Typical SNR
plots for APDs
and PINs

APD = avalanche
photodiode

AVALANCHE PHOTODETECTION

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Device is operated under reverse bias; relatively high voltages (20 V or more) needed to achieve the high
electric field in the avalanche region.

APD structure and electric field variation

Most photons are absorbed in the depletion region, where they generate electron-hole pairs in much
the same way as in a pin photodiode. The resulting photocurrent is known as the primary photocurrent.
In the high field region, photogenerated carriers are accelerated and gain enough energy to ionise
covalent in the valance band if they collide, thus releasing more e-h pairs. This process of carrier
multiplication is termed impact ionisation. Newly created carriers are also accelerated by the high
electric field, gaining enough energy to cause further impact ionisation. This phenomenon leads to the
avalanche effect. In most devices, impact ionisation is confined to electrons alone.

(provides current gain)

photons absorbed here to give

primary photocurrent
Optical input

Keiser, McGraw Hill

The multiplication factor M for all carriers generated in the photodiode is:

M=

Responsivity of an APD is:

IM
IP
R=

IM is the average value of the total multiplied current

and IP is the primary (i.e. unmultiplied) current

q
M = R0 M
hf

where R0 is the unity gain responsivity.

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APD Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR)

Application of sufficient reverse bias leads to avalanche
multiplication, i.e. internal gain.

Both a PIN and APD will have contributions from shot noise, dark current noise and
thermal noise, while an APD will also exhibit excess noise. However, for high values of
multiplication M, an APD will achieve the shot noise limit (or quantum limit).

However, the dark current also increases.

In addition, the avalanche effect is random in nature, and this
introduces a new source of noise:

m = M + mn
Mean gain

Random arrival of carriers

These are multiplied through
avalanche process, which is
noisy (random nature);
i.e. there is multiplication noise

t
m1

m2

m3

Improvement in SNR (dB)

(SNR)APD - (SNR)pin

Variable gain m:

Random variable,
zero mean

m5
m4

t
Photocurrent
Quantum and shot noise
are increased by excess noise
of APD (multiplication noise)

SNRAPD =

M 2 i p2
2qB(I m + I D ) M 2+ x +

SNRPIN =

4kTBFn
RL

i p2
2qB(I m + I D ) +

4kTBFn
RL

Avalanche multiplication factor M

t

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c = (exL1 + exL2 + d)/L

The quantum efficiency of an RCE PD is:

RESONANT CAVITY ENHANCED

PHOTODIODES

e ex L1 + r22 e ex L2 c L
2 c L
c L
cos(2 L + 1 + 2 ) + (r1r2 ) e
1 2r1r2 e

= (1 1 ) (1 e d )

Resonant enhancement term, periodic with length L

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Peak value of quantum efficiency is:

= (1 1 ) (1 e d )

1 + 2 e d

1 1 2 e

c d 2

For a thin layer, d<<1, hence

= (1 R1 )d

1 + R2 e d

1 R1 R2 e c d

Compared to a conventional PIN PD, a higher quantum efficiency can be achieved for a
smaller absorption region.

The creation of an optical cavity effect leads to resonant enhancement (function

of cavity length and reflectivities), with potential applications to WDM systems
(removes need for external optical filter)

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Detection speed of RCE PD compared to conventional PIN

Responsivity: = (1 R )L

vh
L
IBM

Transit-time limited BW: BWtransit = 0.45

Trade-off between BW and responsivity

In an RCE PD, the absorption region can be

made much thinner, thereby reducing the
distance that electrons (L1) and holes (L2)
need to traverse. These distances can be
optimised to account for the slower hole
velocity.

BWtransit = 0.45

vh + ve
L+d

EDGE-COUPLED DEVICES

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Vertically illuminated photodiode

-ve bias

absorption region

photon

Photons enter through top layer of device

Absorption throughout device
Only depletion region absorption useful
Long depletion region:
High absorption (efficient)
Transit time limited

-ve bias
p
photon

absorption region

Edge coupled photodiode

n
+ve bias

n
+ve bias

Light enters from edge

Coupled into absorption region optical
waveguide
Can be long but narrow
Short transit times/good absorption
High device capacitance, 3dB
bandwidth given by:

f 3dB =

f CR
f
1 + CR
ft

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Traveling wave optoelectronic devices:

photodiode
Electrical Signal
Optical
Input

Optical Signal

Absorption region and

optical waveguide

Optical signal guided along device length and leaked into absorption region
(confinement factor )
Device is electrically and optically long, i.e. distributed:
Contact inductance and device capacitance forms transmission line structure
No longer limited by lumped RC time constants but velocity mismatch

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Velocity matching is important

Contacts (Transmission line)

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Travelling wave photodetector: periodic loading

Contacts (Transmission line)

Electrical
Signal

Optical
Input

Discrete Devices
Allows much higher optical power handling than individual devices
Individual device capacitances act as periodic loads on transmission line
Optical waveguide and transmission line design may be optimised separately