Q. 1. What do you mean by Photo detection? Ans. Photo detection.

It is the process whereby optical power is detected and then converted to electrical power. Photo detector devices perform photo detection. The performance of an optical detector can be determined by its ability to detect smallest optical power possible and generate a maximum electric power at the output with an absolute minimum degree of distortion. Optical detection must also exhibit a comparatively wide Bandwidth and sharp response to accommodate high bit rate criteria for selecting particular photodiode is its ability to interface with optical cables, along operating life and cost highly sensitivity, fast response, low noise, high reliability.

Q. 2. Define quantum efficiency and responsively of a photo detector. How does the responsively depend on the quantum efficiency of the device and wavelength of the incident radiation. Ans. Quantum efficiency: Quantum efficiency is defined as the ratio of number of electrons collected to the number of incident photons. It is

also defined as the fraction of incident photons which are absorbed by photo detector and generate electrons which are collected at detector terminals.

All the incident photons are not absorbed to generate electron hole pairs therefore quantum efficiency is generally less than one. It depends on the absorption coefficient of the semiconductor material used within the photo detector. Responsivity. Responsivity represents the sensitivity of a photo detector. The function of photo detector is to convert the optical signal into electrical signal. When the incident on semiconductor material has an energy greater than band gap energy then an electron-hole pair is generated each time a photon is absorbed by semiconductor. More photons that strike the photo detector, more charge carriers will be produced i.e. greater will be the photo current I.,, i.e. photo current is directly proportional to incident optical power Pm.

From above equation responsivity is directly proportional to quantum efficiency at particular wavelength. An ideal responsivity versus

wavelength quantum efficiency is shown in fig . for a silicon photo diode having unit 4.1.

Responsivity of photo detector increases with wavelength because more photons are present for same optical power. For photons having energy have less than band gap energy E, the linear dependence of responsivity on wavelength does not continue because photon energy becomes too small to generate electrons. The quantum efficiency drops to zero.

Q. 3. What do you mean by the long wavelength cut off point for photodetector. Ans. For intrinsic, absorption of photons to take place, the energy of incident photon should be equal to or greater than band gap energy E of the photo detector material

Therefore we have a threshold for detection which is represented by and rekrred as long wavelength cut off point.

Q. 4. What is P-N photodiode. Explain the detection process in a P-N photodiode. Ans. P-N photodiode is a reverse biased P-N junction diode with light permitted to fall one one surface of device across the junction keeping remaining sides unilluminated.

Fig. shows basic structure of a photo diode.

Fig. shows PN photodiode with depletion and diffusion region. A reverse biased P-n junction consists of a region known as depletion region which is devoid of free charge carriers. There is large electric field across depletion region which opposes flow of electrons from n side to p-side and holes from P to side to n side. A reverse biased P-N junction diode has small amount of reverse saturation current due to thermally generated electron-hole pairs. When P-N junction is illuminated with light on one side, electron hole pairs are created through absorption. The photo induced electrons in conduction band of P type will move across the junction to n-side and holes produced in valence band of N type will flow across junction to P side. This process of diffusion and rapid crossing of depletion region takes place so rapidly that there is little possibility of recombination. The resulting flow of current is proportional to incident optical power.

Fig. 4.4(a) Variation of Optical Power inside the photodiode. As shown in Fig. 4.4(a) optical power decreases exponentially as the incident light is absorbed inside the depletion region. Fig. 4.4( b ) shows the curves between the photo current versus reverse biased voltage with light intensity as parameter The bandwidth of a P-n photodiode is limited by the transit time

The width of depletion region depends on the concentration of acceptor and donor impurities. Drift velocity depends on the applied voltage. Disadvantages. When the light strikes P-N junction photodiode. Some of the photons enters into the n region. These electron-hole pairs are not affected by the field across the junction and do not

contribute to the photo current. The conversion efficiency of P-N junction photodiode is low but they respond very quickly to any change of light intensity. Detection process in P-n junction photo diode Consider a reverse biased P-N junction photodiode. Due to reverse biasing, a thick depletion layer develops on the either side of the junction. The large potential

barrier across the depletion layer prevent the majority carriers to cross the junction. Suppose a photon of light is incident in or near the depletion region. If the incident photon has energy hv equal to or greater than the bandgap energy Eg of the semiconductor material of the P-N junction, the photon will excite an electron from valence band to conduction band. This, process will generate an electron-hole pair as shown in Fig. 4.5. This is known as photogeneration. The photogenerated electron- hole pairs are separated in the depletion layer and are swept away by the electric field due to the applied reverse biased votlage. In order to

achieve maximum carrier pair generation, the depletion region should be sufficiently thick so that large fraction of the incident light can be absorbed.

Q. 5. Explain the principle of p-i-n photodlode. Ans. p-i-n photodiode consists of p and n regions separated by a very lightly deped intrinic (i) region. The intrinic layer has only a very small amount of dopant and acts as a wide depletion layer. In normal operation, a sufficiently large reverse bias voltage is applied across the device so that the intrinsic region is fully depleted of carriers. At longer wavelengths, light penetrates more deeply into the semiconductor material. To operate at lqnger wavelength, we must have a wider depletion region which is obtamd in P-i-n photo diode.

When an incident photon has an energy greater than or equal to the bandgap energy E of the semiconductor material, the energy of the photon excites an electron from the valence band to the conduction band. This process produces electron hole pairs. The generated carriers are called photocarriers. Light is incident on depletion region so photo generatd carriers are generated in the depletion region. The high electric field developed across the depletjon region causes the carriers to separate and to be collected by the reverse biased voltage. This causes a current to flow in the external circuit which is referred to as photocurrent. The performance of p-i-n photodiodes can be improved by using a double heterostructure design. In this intrinsic layer is sandwiched between the p-type and n-type layers of a different semiconductor whose band gap is chosen such that light is absorbed only in the middle i-layer. For light wave applications a P-i-n photodiode using In GaAs for intrinsic layer and In P and 8 surrounding P-type and n-type layers are used.

Q. 6. Explain the operation of Avalanche photodiode with the help of necessary diagram. OR Explain the principle and construction of reach through APD with a neat sketch. Ans. Avalanche photo diodes amplify the signal during the detection process. They use a similar principle to that of photo multiplier tubes. In APDS multiplication takes place within the semiconductor material. An internal amplification of between 10 and 100 times takes place in APDS.

Avalanche photo diodes (APDs) internally multiply the primary signal photocurrent before it enters the input circuitry of the following amplifier which increases receiver sensitivity. For carrier multiplication to take place, the photogenerted carriers must traverse a region where a very high electric field is present. Photo generated electron or whole get energy from high field region and ionizes the bound electrons in the valence band. This carrier multiplication mechanism is known as impact ionization. The newly generated carriers are again accelerated by, high electric field and gain

Enough energy to cause further impact ionization. This phenomenon is avalanche effect. Below diode breakdown voltage, a finite number of carriers are created where as above breakdown infinite no. of carriers is created. Silicon Reach through Avalanche photo diode

Silicon Reach though avalanche photodiode is shown in figure 4.8. It is composed of high resistivity P type material deposited as an epitaxial layer on p + (heavily deposed p type) substrate. A p type diffusion or ion implant is then made in high resistivity material followed by the construction of a (n +) layer. This configuration is referred to as reach through structure. When a low reverse bias voltage is applied across APD, most of the potential drop is across pn+ junction. When we increase the reverse bias, the width of depletion layer increases which increases the electric field across Pn+ for upto the point needed to cause avalanche breakdown. At this point, the depletion layer just reaches through to nearly intrinsic region. Photons pass through the n+p junction and are absorbed in the layer. This absorption produces a free electron in the conduction band and a hole in the valence band. The electric potential across the layer is sufficient to attract the electrons towards one contact and the holes towards the other. The potential gradient across the layer is not sufficient for the charge carriers to gain enough energy for multiplication to takeplace Around the Junction between the n+ and P layers, the electric field is so mtense that the charge

carriers are strongly accelerated and pick up energy, when these electrons collide with other atoms in the lattice they produce new electron hole pairs. The newly released charge carriers are themselves accelerated in opposite directions and collide again. Germanium Avalanche photodiode Germanium avalanthe photo diodes are usd to fabricate more sensitive and fast APDS. These are used over wavelength range of . They have same n+p structure as that of Si APDS. GeAPDS have dark current which is very much sensitive to temperature variations. They have relatively high absorption coefficient at due to which they have quite low avalanche breakdown voltages. Ge APD structures are fabricated to provide multiplication initiated by holes to reduce excess noise factor in longer wavelength.

Q. 7. What are the advantages and disadvantages of avalanche photodiode? Ans. Advantages of avalanche photodiode: (i) Avalanche photodiode are more sensitive to detection of optical signal.

(ii) APDS amplify the signal during the detection of optical signal. Disadvantages of avalanche photodiode: (i) APDS require high bias voltages which are wavelength dependent. (ii) APDS have random nature of gain mechanism which gives an additional noise contribution. (iii) APDS are costly as compared to other photodiodes. (iv) APDS are difficult to fabricate.

Q. 8. Explain the effect of temperature on avalanche gain in APDS. Ans. Avalanche gain in APDS is temperature sensitive because electrons and holes ionization rates depend on temperature. The effect of temperature on gain is more at high bias voltages. To minimize the effect of temperature on avalanche gain, the electric field in multiplying region of p-n junction should be changed. This is obtained by using compensation circuit that adjusts the applied bias voltage on photo detector when temperature changes. The multiplication factor for charge carriers is given by

Q. 9. Briefly explain the term multiplication factor w.r.t. APD? Ans. Multiplication factor M is a measure of internal gain provided by APD. It is defined as the ratio of total multiplied output current to the primary unmultiplied current.

Multiplication depends on physical and operational characteristics of photo detector device. Operational characteristics include the width of avalanche region, the strength of electric field and type of semiconductor material employed.

Q. 10. What are the different noise mechanisms which are responsible for current fluctuations In optical receivers, OR Derive the expressions of signal to noise ratio in P-i-n. And APD receivers. Ans. Receiver Noise Optical Receivers convert incident optical power into electric current through photodiode. The relationship assumes that such a conversion is noise free. But this is not the case even for perfect receiver. Two fundamental noise mechanisms shot noise and thermal noise lead to fluctuations in current even when incident optical signal has constant power. Electrical noise induced by current fluctuations affects the receiver performance. Noise Mechanisms The photocurrent in photo diode depends of light power input . Even if input light power is constant; the photo current does not remain constant as in reality it contains noise components.

1.

Shot Noise. Suppose input power is constant which means number of photons per unit of time is constant. But the actual number of photons arrived at a particular time is unknown and so it is a completely random variable. Hence, the no. of photo generated electrons at any particular instant is a random variable. The number of electrons producing photocurrent will also vary because of their random recombinations and absorptions even though the average number of electrons is constant, the actual number of electrons will vary.

Deviation of actual is of electrons from the average number is known as shot noise.

Thermal Noise Electron motion due to temperature occurs in random way. Thus the number c electrons flowing through a given circuit at any instant is a random variable. The deviations of an instantaneous number of electrons from their average value because of temperature change is called thermal

noise. Thermal noise is often called Johnson noise and Nyguist noise. OR At a finite temperature, electrons more randomly in any conductor. Random thermal motion of electrons in a resistor manifests as a fluctuating current even in the absence of an applied voltage. The load resistor in the front end of an optical receive ads such fluctuations to the current generated by photodiode. This additional no component is referred to as thermal noise. The photodiode current generated is given by

Noise generated in load resistor. An actual receiver contains many other electric components, some of

which add additional noise. If we consider amplifier noise figure Fn them

F represents the factor by which thermal noise is enhanced by various resistor used in pre and main amplifiers. Total Current Noise Total noise is obtained by adding the contributions of shot noise and thermal noise. As are independent random processes with approximately Gaussian statistics total variance of current fluctuations

P-i-n Receivers

Thermal Noise limit

Load resistance. The effect of thermal noise is also quantified through a quantity noise equivalent power (NEP). NEP is defined as minimum optical power per unit B required to produce SNR = 1. NEP is given by

Short Noise limit:

The SNR of ADD receivers is worse than that of pi-n receivers when shot noise dominates because of excess noise generated inside APD.

Q. 11. Define response time, dark current and signal to Noise ratio.

Ans. (a) Response time. Response time or speed of photo detector is defined as the time required by the generated carriers within the absorption region to travel that region under reverse bias conditions. Response time mainly depends on the thickness of the absorption region. The thicker the absorption region, the longer the response time. The response time of a photo detector is given by

(b) Dark Current. Dark current is defined as the reverse leakage current of a photedetector device in the absence of optical power entering the photo detector device. Dark current is an unwanted current in photo detectors. it occurs due to recombination of charge carriers within the depletion region and surface leakage current. (c) Signal to Noise Ratio. Signal to noise ratio is defined as the ratio of signal power to noise power at the input and output of an electronic device. It is expressed in decibels

Q. 12. Discuss the basic principle of MSM photo detector. OR Explain MSM photedetector with suitable diagram. Ans. MSM (Metal Semiconductor Metal) photo detector is used in fiber optic communications. Its basic meachism of light current conversion is same as its PN junction diode. In MSM photo detector, a semiconductor absorbing layer is sand witched between the metals forming schottky barriers at each metal semiconductor interface that prevents flow of electrons from the metal to semiconductor. Due o absorption of light, electron-hole - pairs are generated. These electron hole pairs flow toward metal contacts resulting in photocurrent. For practical reasons two metal contacts are, made on same side of epitaxial grown absorbing layer. This results in planar structure with low parasitic capacitance that allows high speed operation (up to 300 GHZ) of MSM photo detectors. If the light is incident from electrode side the responsively of MSM photo detector is reduced because of its blockage by opaque electrodes. This problem can

be solved by back illumination if the substrate is transparent to incident light.

MSM photo detector is shown above. In this a set of flat metal contacts is deposited on surface of semiconductor. These contacts are called fingers and they are biased alternately. So that a relatively high electric field exists material new fingers and creates electron hole pair which are separated by electric field, thus electric current is created. Since both electrodes and photo sensitive regions are fabricated on same side of semiconductor this structure is called planar structure.

NUMER ICALS PROBLEMS

Problem 1. Calculate the response time of photo detector composed f In GaAS with of absorption layers thickness.

Problem 2. Calculate the efficiency of silicon photodiode of the responsivity is at wavelength.

Problem 4. Determine the long cut off wavelength for Ga AS photodetector having band gap energy of 1.39 ev at room temperature.

Problem 5. A photodiode has a quantum efficiency of 65 percent when photons of energy are incident on it:

1.

Calculate the wavelength at which the photo diode is operating.

Problem 7. When 1012 photons per second each with an energy of are incident on an ideal photodiode, find (a) Wavelength of incident radiatioi (b) Output photo current (c) Output photocurrent of the device is an APD with multiplication factor of 18.

Problem 8. Calculate Multiplication factor of an APD, if (i) Received optical power at 1.35 mm is 0.2 mw (ii) Output photo current after avalanche gain is 4.9 mA (iii) Quantum efficiency = 50%