Photodetectors

Photodetectors
Principle of the p-n junction Photodiode
Schematic diagram of a reverse
biased p-n junction photodiode
SiO
2
Electrode

net
eN
a
eN
d
x
x
E ( x )
R
E
max
e

h
+
I
ph
h v > E
g
W
E
n
Depletion
region
AR
coating
V
r
Electrode
V
out
Net space charge across the diode
in the depletion region. N
d
and N
a

are the donor and acceptor
concentrations in the p and n sides.
The field in the depletion region.
p
+
Photocurrent is depend on number
of EHP and drift velocity.
The electrode do not inject carriers
but allow excess carriers in the
sample to leave and become
collected by the battery.
6
Principle of pn junction photodiode
(a) Reversed biased p
+
n junction
photodiode.
Annular electrode to allow photon
to enter the device.
Antireflection coating (Si
3
N
4
) to
reduce the reflection.
The p
+
-side thickness < 1 m.
(b) Net space charge distribution,
within SCL.
(c) The E field across depletion
region.
p
+
SiO
2
Electrode

net
eN
a
eN
d
x
x
E(x)
R
E
max
e
h
+
I
ph
hu > E
g
W
E
n
Depletion region
(a)
(b)
(c)
Antireflection
coating
V
r
(a) A schematic diagram of a reverse biased pn junction
photodiode. (b) Net space charge across the diode in the
depletion region. N
d
and N
a
are the donor and acceptor
concentrations in the p and n sides. (c). The field in the
depletion region.
Electrode
V
out
1999 S.O. Kasap, Optoelectronics (Prentice Hall)
Photodetectors
Principle of the p-n junction Photodiode
(b) Energy band diagram under reverse bias.
(a) Cross-section view of a p-i-n photodiode.
(c) Carrier absorption characteristics.
Operation of a p-i-n photodiode.
A generic photodiode.
Photodetectors
Principle of the p-n junction Photodiode
Variation of photon flux with distance.
A physical diagram showing the depletion region.
A plot of the the flux as a function of distance.
There is a loss due to Fresnel reflection at the surface,
followed by the decaying exponential loss due to absorption.
The photon penetration depth x
0
is defined as the depth at
which the photon flux is reduced to e
-1
of its surface value.
Photodetectors
Principle of the p-n junction Photodiode
Photodetectors
RAMOs Theorem and External Photocurrent
t t
e
-
h
+
I
photo
(t)

Semiconductor
V
x

l
L l
t
v
hole
0
L
l
e
h
+
0
t
0
Area = Charge = e
e v
h
/L e v
e
/L
An EHP is photogenerated at x = l. The electron and the hole drift in opposite directions with
drift velocities v
h
and v
e
.
The electron arrives at time t
electron
= (L-l )/v
e
and the hole arrives at time t
hole
= l/v
h
.
photocurrent
i
electron
(t)
E
L
e
h
v
|
.
|

\
|
+
L
e
L
e
e h
v v
t
hole
t
electron
t
hole
i
hole
(t)

i (t)
t
electron
t
hole
v
electron
i
photo
(t)
As the electron and hole drift, each generates i
electron
(t) and i
hole
(t).
The total photocurrent is the sum of hole and electron photocurrents each
lasting a duration t
h
and t
e
respectively.
Photodetectors
RAMOs Theorem and External Photocurrent
( )
e
e
e
t t
L
e
t i < = ;
v
( )
h
h
h
t t
L
e
t i < = ;
v
( ) ( ) e dt t i dt t i Q
h e
t
h
t
e collected
= + =
} }
0 0
( )
transit
d
t t
L
t e
t i < = ;
v
) (
( ) ( )
h
h
e
e
l
t t and
l L
t t
v v
=

= Transit time
( ) dt t i V dx E e done Work
e
= =
dt
dx
v
L
V
E
e
= =
Ramos Theorem
Photocurrent
The collected charge is not
2e but just one electron.
If a charge q is being drifted with a velocity v
d
(t) by a field between two biased
electrodes separated by L, the motion of q generates an external current
given by

Photodetectors
Absorption Coefficient and Photodiode Materials
] [
24 . 1
] [
eV E
m
g
g
=
Absorbed Photon create Electron-Hole Pair.
Cut-off wavelength
vs. Energy bandgap
x
e I x I
o
=
0
) (
Absorption coefficient
Incident photons become absorbed as they travel in the
semiconductor and light intensity decays exponentially
with distance into the semiconductor.

13
Absorption Coefficient
Absorption
coefficient is a
material property.
Most of the photon
absorption (63%)
occurs over a
distance 1/ (it is
called penetration
depth )
Photodetectors
Absorption Coefficient and Photodiode Materials
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8
Wavelength (mm)
Ge
Si
In
0.7
Ga
0.3
As
0.64
P
0.36
InP
GaAs
a-Si:H
1 2 3 4 5
0.9 0.8 0.7
1

10
3
1

10
4
1

10
5
1

10
6
1

10
7
1

10
8
Photon energy (eV)

A
b
s
o
r
p
t
i
o
n

C
o
e
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
t

o


(
m
-
1
)

1.0
In
0.53
Ga
0.47
As

Absorption
The indirect-gap materials are shown with a broken line.
15
Absorption Coefficient
Direct bandgap semiconductors
(GaAs, InAs, InP, GaSb, InGaAs,
GaAsSb), the photon absorption does
not require assistant from lattice
vibrations. The photon is absorbed
and the electron is excited directly
from the VB to CB without a change
in its k-vector (crystal momentum
k), since photon momentum is very
small.
0 momentum photon
VB CB
~ = k k
Absorption coefficient for direct bandgap semiconductors
rise sharply with decreasing wavelength from
g
(GaAs and
InP).
16
Absorption Coefficient
Indirect bandgap
semiconductors (Si and Ge), the
photon absorption requires
assistant from lattice vibrations
(phonon). If K is wave vector
of lattice wave, then K
represents the momentum
associated with lattice vibration
K is a phonon momentum.
K k k = = momentum phonon
VB CB
Thus the probability of photon absorption is not as high as in a
direct transition and the
g
is not as sharp as for direct bandgap
semiconductors.
Photodetectors
Absorption Coefficient and Photodiode Materials
E
C B
V B
k
k
Direct Bandgap E
g
E
k
k
V B
C B
Indirect Bandgap
Photon
Phonons
Photon absorption in
an indirect bandgap semiconductor
E
g
E
C
E
V
E
C
E
V
Photon absorption in
a direct bandgap semiconductor.
Photon
Photodetectors
Quantum Efficiency and Responsivity
v
q
h P
e I
photons incidnet of Number
collected and geberated EHP of Number
ph
0
= =
External Quantum Efficiency
0
(W)
(A)
P
I
Power Optical Incident
nt Photocurre
R
ph
= =
Responsivity
c h
e
h
e
R

q
v
q = =
Spectral Responsivity

Responsivity vs. wavelength for a typical Si photodiode.
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1
Wavelength (nm)
Si Photodiode

g
R
e
s
p
o
n
s
i
v
i
t
y

(
A
/
W
)

Ideal Photodiode
QE = 100% ( q = 1)
Photodetectors
20
The pin Photodiode
The pn junction photodiode has two
drawbacks:
Depletion layer capacitance is not
sufficiently small to allow
photodetection at high modulation
frequencies (RC time constant
limitation).
Narrow SCL (at most a few microns)
long wavelengths incident photons are
absorbed outside SCL low QE
The pin photodiode can significantly
reduce these problems.
p
+
i-Si n
+
SiO
2
Electrode

net
-eN
a
eN
d
x
x
E(x)
R
E
o
E
e
-
h
+
I
ph
hu > E
g
W
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
V
r
The schematic structure of an idealized pin photodiode (b) The net
space charge density across the photodiode. (c) The built-in field
across the diode. (d) The pin photodiode in photodetection is
reverse biased.
V
out
Electrode
1999 S.O. Kasap, Optoelectronics (Prentice Hall)
Intrinsic layer has less doping and wider region (5 50 m).

Reverse-biased p-i-n photodiode
Photodetectors
The pin Photodiode
pin energy-band diagram
pin photodiode circuit
SiO
2
Schematic diagram of pin photodiode
p
+
i-Si
n
+
Electrode

net
eN
a
eN
d
x
x
E(x)
R
E
0
e

h
+
I
ph
h u > E
g
W
V
r
V
out

Electrode
E
Photodetectors
The pin Photodiode
Small depletion layer capacitance gives high modulation frequencies.
High Quantum efficiency.
In contrast to pn junction
built-in-field is uniform
A reverse biased pin photodiode is illuminated with a short wavelength
photon that is absorbed very near the surface.
The photogenerated electron has to diffuse to the depletion region
where it is swept into the i- layer and drifted across.
h
u
> E
g
p
+
i -Si
e

h
+
W l
Drift
Diffusion
V
r
E
Photodetectors
The pin Photodiode
p-i-n diode

(a) The structure;









(b) equilibrium energy band diagram;





(c) energy band diagram under reverse bias.
Photodetectors
The pin Photodiode
Photodetectors
The pin Photodiode
The responsivity of pin photodiodes
Quantum efficiency versus wavelength for various photodetectors.
Photodetectors
Photoconductive Detectors and Photoconductive gain
W
A
C
r
dep
c c
0
=
Electric field of biased pin
Junction capacitance of pin
Photodetectors
The pin Photodiode
Small capacitance: High modulation frequency
RC
dep
time constant is ~ 50 psec.
W
V
W
V
E E
r r
~ + =
0
Response time
d
drift
W
t
v
=
E
d d
= v
The speed of pin photodiodes are invariably limited by the transit time of
photogenerated carriers across the i-Si layer.
For i-Si layer of width 10 m, the drift time is about is about 0.1 nsec.

Drift velocity vs. electric field for holes and electrons in Silicon.
10
2
10
3
10
4
10
5
10
7
10
6
10
5
10
4
Electric field (V m
-1
)
Electron
Hole
D
r
i
f
t

v
e
l
o
c
i
t
y

(
m

s
e
c
-
1
)

Photodetectors
The pin Photodiode
Example
Bandgap and photodetection
(a) Determine the maximum value of the energy gap which a semiconductor, used as a
photoconductor, can have if it is to be sensitive to yellow light (600 nm).
(b) A photodetector whose area is 510
-2
cm
2
is irradiated with yellow light whose
intensity is 20 mW cm
2
. Assuming that each photon generates one electron-hole
pair, calculate the number of pairs generated per second.
Solution
(a) Given, = 600 nm, we need E
ph
= hu = E
g
so that,
E
g
= hc/ = (6.62610
-34
J s)(310
8
m s
-1
)/(60010
-9
m) = 2.07 eV

(b) Area = 510
-2
cm
2
and I
light
= 2010
-3
W/cm
2
.
The received power is
P = Area I
light
= (510
-2
cm
2
)(2010
-3
W/cm
2
) = 10
-3
W
N
ph
= number of photons arriving per second = P/E
ph

= (10
-3
W)/(2.0591.6021810
-19
J/eV)
= 2.978710
15
photons s
-1
= 2.978710
15
EHP s
-1
.
(c) For GaAs, E
g
= 1.42 eV and the corresponding wavelength is
= hc/ E
g
= (6.62610
-34
J s)(310
8
m s
-1
)/(1.42 eV1.610
-19
J/eV)
= 873 nm (invisible IR)
The wavelength of emitted radiation due to EHP recombination is 873 nm.

(d) For Si, E
g
= 1.1 eV and the corresponding cut-off wavelength is,

g
= hc/ E
g
= (6.62610
-34
J s)(310
8
m s
-1
)/(1.1 eV1.610
-19
J/eV)
= 1120 nm
Since the 873 nm wavelength is shorter than the cut-off wavelength of 1120 nm, the
Si photodetector can detect the 873 nm radiation (Put differently, the photon energy
corresponding to 873 nm, 1.42 eV, is larger than the E
g
, 1.1 eV, of Si which mean
that the Si photodetector can indeed detect the 873 nm radiation)
Example
Bandgap and Photodetection
(c) From the known energy gap of the semiconductor GaAs (E
g
= 1.42 eV), calculate the
primary wavelength of photons emitted from this crystal as a result of electron-hole
recombination. Is this wavelength in the visible?
(d) Will a silicon photodetector be sensitive to the radiation from a GaAs laser? Why?
Solution
Example
Absorption coefficient
(a) If d is the thickness of a photodetector material, I
o
is the intensity of the incoming
radiation, the number of photons absorbed per unit volume of sample is


| |
u
o
h d
d I
n
ph
) exp( 1
0

=
(a) If I
0
is the intensity of incoming radiation (energy flowing per unit area per
second), I
0
exp(o d ) is the transmitted intensity through the specimen with
thickness d and thus I
0
exp(o d ) is the absorbed intensity
Solution
Example
(b) What is the thickness of a Ge and In
0.53
Ga
0.47
As crystal layer that is needed for
absorbing 90% of the incident radiation at 1.5 m?
For Ge, o ~ 5.2 10
5
m
-1
at 1.5 m incident radiation.
m m d
d

o
o
428 . 4 10 428 . 4
9 . 0 1
1
ln
10 2 . 5
1
9 . 0 1
1
ln
1
9 . 0 ) exp( 1
6
5
= =
|
.
|

\
|

=
|
.
|

\
|

=
=

For In
0.53
Ga
0.47
As, o ~ 7.5 10
5
m
-1
at 1.5 m incident radiation.
m m d 07 . 3 10 07 . 3
9 . 0 1
1
ln
10 5 . 7
1
6
5
= =
|
.
|

\
|

=

For Ge, o ~ 5.2 10

5
m
-1
at 1.5 m incident radiation.
For In
0.53
Ga
0.47
As, o ~ 7.5 10
5
m
-1
at 1.5 m incident radiation.
(b)
Example
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800
Wavelength (nm)
Responsivity (A/W)
The responsivity of an InGaAs
pin photodiode
InGaAs pin Photodiodes
Consider a commercial InGaAs pin photodiode whose responsivity is shown in fig.
Its dark current is 5 nA.
(a) What optical power at a wavelength of 1.55 m would give a photocurrent that
is twice the dark current? What is the QE of the photodetector at 1.55 m?
(b) What would be the photocurrent if the incident power in a was at 1.3 m?
What is the QE at 1.3 m operation?
Solution
(a) At = 1.5510
-6
m, from the responsivity vs. wavelength curve we
have R ~ 0.87 A/W. From the definition of responsivity,
we have

From the definitions of quantum efficiency q and responsivity,


Note the following dimensional identities: A = C s
-1
and W = J s
-1
so that A W
-1
= C J
-1
.
Thus, responsivity in terms of photocurrent per unit incident optical power is also charge
collected per unit incident energy.
0
) (
) (
P
I
W Power Optical Incident
A nt Photocurre
R
ph
= =
nW
W A
A
R
I
R
I
P
dark
ph
5 . 11
) / 87 . 0
) ( 10 5 2 2
9
0
=

= = =

hc
e
h
e
R

q
u
q = =
%) 70 ( 70 . 0
) 10 55 . 1 )( 10 6 . 1 (
) / 87 . 0 )( / 10 3 sec)( 10 62 . 6 (
6 19
8 34
=


= =

m coul
W A s m J
e
hcR

q
Solution
(b) At = 1.310
-6
m, from the responsivity vs. wavelength curve, R = 0.82 A/W.

Since P
o
is the same and 11.5 nW as in (a),
The QE at = 1.3 m is
%) 78 ( 78 . 0
) 10 3 . 1 )( 10 6 . 1 (
) / 82 . 0 )( / 10 3 sec)( 10 62 . 6 (
6 19
8 34
~


= =

m coul
W A s m J
e
hcR

q
nA nW W A P R I
ph
43 . 9 ) 15 . 1 )( / 82 . 0 (
0
= = =
t p +
SiO
2 Electrode

n e t
x
x
E ( x )
R
h u > E
g
p
I
photo
e

h
+
Absorption
region
Avalanche region
Electrode
n +
E
Photodetectors
Avalanche Photodiode (APD)
h
+
t
n
+
p
e

Avalanche region
E
e
-
h
+
E
c
E
v
Impact ionization processes
resulting avalanche multiplication
Impact of an energetic electron's kinetic
energy excites VB electron to the CV.
SiO
2
Guard ring
Electrode
Antireflection coating
n
n
n
+
p
+
t
p
Substrate
Electrode
n
+
p
+
t
p
Substrate
Electrode
Avalanche breakdown
Si APD structure without a
guard ring
More practical Si APD
Photodetectors
Avalanche Photodiode (APD)
Schematic diagram of typical Si APD.
Breakdown voltage around periphery is higher and avalanche is
confined more to illuminated region (n
+
p junction).

E
N n
Electrode
x
E ( x )
R
h u
I
p h
Absorption
region
Avalanche
region
InP InGaAs
h
+
e

InP
P
+
n +
V
r
V
out
E
Photodetectors
Heterojunction Photodiode
Separate Absorption and Multiplication (SAM) APD
InGaAs-InP heterostructure Separate Absorption and Multiplication APD
P and N refer to p- and
n-type wider-bandgap
semiconductor.

InP
InGaAs
h
+
e

E
c
E
v
E
c
E
v
InP
InGaAs
E
v
E
v
h
+
A E
v


E
Photodetectors
Heterojunction Photodiode
Separate Absorption and Multiplication (SAM) APD
InGaAsP grading layer
(a) Energy band diagram for a SAM
heterojunction APD where there is
a valence band step AE
v
from
InGaAs to InP that slows hole
entry into the InP layer.
(b) An interposing grading layer
(InGaAsP) with an intermediate
bandgap breaks AE
v
and makes it
easier for the hole to pass to the InP
layer.
x
R
e

h
+
i
p h
h
u
> E
g
W
V
r
Photogenerated electron concentration
exp(
o
x ) at time t = 0
B
A
v
d e
E