Photonic devices:

Photodetectors and LEDs

Lucio Pancheri
lucio.pancheri@unitn.it

Electronic Materials and Technologies

Electromagnetic spectrum
Photonic devices are used to generate
and detect light in the near UV,
visible and near-infrared part
of the spectrum

Wavelength (in vacuum):

 = 1mm (10-6 m)

Frequency:
 = c/ = 3x108 [m/s]/ 10-6 [m]
= 300x1012 Hz = 300 THz Spectral region
used in optical
Frequency [Hz]
communications
Carrier frequency is 5 orders of

Wavelength
magnitude larger than GHz carrier in
microwave communications

Electronic Materials and Technologies 2

Outline
▪ Charge carrier transport and generation
▪ Photoconductors
▪ p/n photodiode
▪ pin photodiode
▪ Avalanche photodiode
▪ MSM photodiode
▪ LED operation principle
▪ LED structures

Electronic Materials and Technologies 3

Carrier transport: drift
Drift: electrons and holes are driven by the electric fieldE

Electron and hole velocity at low fields:

vn = μnE vp = μpE
μn, μp: mobility

Electron and hole velocity saturates

at high fields (vsat = 107cm/s for Si):
vn = vp = vsat
Drift time in a semicond. thickness W:

tDRIFT = W/vsat

Electronic Materials and Technologies 4

Carrier transport: diffusion

Diffusion: electrons and holes are driven by concentration

gradients
Electron and hole diffusion time in a semiconductor with thickness W
W2 W2
t DIFF,n = t DIFF,p =
Dn Dp
Dn,Dp : diffusivity

Example:
Drift time (at highE ) and diffusion time in a 10-mm thick silicon layer
(vsat= 107cm/s, Dn = 36 cm2/s, Dp = 12 cm2/s):

tDRIFT = 10-3/107 = 100ps tDIFF,n=(10-3)2/36=28ns tDIFF,p=(10-3)2/12=83ns

Electronic Materials and Technologies 5

Current and electron rates

How many electrons per second are flowing with a 0.1 μA

current?

Nel = I/q = 10-7/1.6x10-19 = 6.25x1011 el./s

How many electrons are contained in a current pulse with

0.1 μA amplitude and a width Dt = 100ps?

Nel = Dt I/q = 10-10 x 10-7 / 1.6x10-19

= 62.5 electrons

Electronic Materials and Technologies 6

Optical power and photon rates
Consider photons with a wavelength =1.55 μm. What is the photon
energy?
Eph = h = h(c/) = 4.13x10-15 x 3x108 / 1.55x10-6
= 1.24 / (μm) = 1.24 / 1.55 = 0.8 eV
= 0.8 x 1.6x10-19 J = 1.28x10-19 J

How many photons (=1.55 μm) per second are flowing in a continuous
light beam with an optical power Popt = 0.1 μW?
Nph = Popt/Eph = 10-7/1.28x10-19 = 7.8x1011 ph./s

How many photons (=1.55 μm) are contained in a light pulse with
0.1 μW amplitude and a width Dt = 100ps?
Nph = Dt Popt/Eph = 10-10 x 10-7 / 1.28x10-19
= 78.1 photons

Electronic Materials and Technologies 7

Generation in semiconductors

EC - Electron-hole pair generation:

▪ Thermal
▪ Optical
EG
EV ▪ Other (impact ionization,
+ tunneling, high-energy
radiation)

Optical generation:
• A photon is absorbed and its energy promotes an electron
from the valence band to the conduction band
• Absorption is possible only if photon energy Eph ≥ EG

Eph = h = hc/

Electronic Materials and Technologies 8

Photon absorption in semiconductors

• In direct gap
semiconductors, the
condition EPH > EG is
sufficient to
generate an e-h pair
Direct Indirect
• In indirect gap gap gap
semiconductors, like
Si and Ge, also a
phonon must be
involved to ensure
momentum
CRYSTAL MOMENTUM
conservation.

Electronic Materials and Technologies 9

Generation in semiconductors

The semiconductor band gap is equal to the minimum absorbable photon

energy and is related to its maximum wavelength:

EG = EphMIN = hc/MAX MAX = hc/EG = 1.24mm/EG

Semiconductor EG [eV] MAX [mm]

Si 1.12 1.10
Ge 0.66 1.88
GaAs 1.43 0.87
InAs 0.36 3.44
In0.53Ga0.47As 0.74 1.67
InP 1.34 0.92

Electronic Materials and Technologies 10

Absorption coefficient

Light intensity, I Lambert-Beer law:

𝐼 𝑥 = 𝐼0 𝑒 −𝛼𝑥

La Semiconductor depth, x
Semiconductor
surface

a absorption coefficient
La=1/a absorption length

Electronic Materials and Technologies 11

Absorption coefficient
• Si and Ge:
indirect band gap
• III – V semiconductors:
direct band gap
• Examples at  = 0.65mm
(red light):
Si: a = 3000 cm-1
La = 3.3 mm
GaAs: a = 30000 cm-1
La = 0.33 mm

Electronic Materials and Technologies 12

Optical absorption in silicon
 = 430nm:
1 La = 220nm
Normalized absorption

0.8 430nm  = 565nm:

La = 1.7mm
565nm
0.6 780nm  = 780nm:
La = 10mm
0.4

0.2

0
0 10 20 30 40 50
Depth (um)

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Photoconductor
Semiconductor electrical conductivity in the dark:
 = q(nnmn + pnmp)

Gopt [pairs/cm3s]

n-type semicon.
Δnn = Δpn = Gopt τ p

Electrical conductivity increases with incident light:

D = q(D nmn + D pmp)=q Gopttp(mn + mp)
Electronic Materials and Technologies 14
Photoconductor materials
• IR photoconductors have a low band gap: need to be cooled
to reduce dark current
• Legal restriction in Europe for Cd-containing materials
• Commonly used materials: compound semiconductors
– CdS, CdSe: 0.4 – 0.8 μm
– Lead sulfide (PbS):
1 to 3.4 μm
– Indium antimonide (InSb):
2 to 7 μm
– Mercury cadmium telluride
(HgxCd1-x Te): 5 to 14 μm

Electronic Materials and Technologies 15

Example: photoconductive cell
Source: GL5528 – CdS
• Large area (10s mm2 - cm2)
photoconductive cells datasheet
• Low cost: ~ 1Euro
• Slow (ms response time)

Electronic Materials and Technologies 16

p/n photodiode
Is a p/n junction diode with transparent optical window

When reversed – biased,

Electric
field an electric field is present
across the junction

Cathode n-type p-type Anode

Light

Neutral region Depletion region Neutral region

Electronic Materials and Technologies 17

p/n photodiode
Optical generation creates electron-hole pairs that are separated
by the internal electric field

Result: an electrical current flows when the diode is illuminated

Cathode n-type p-type Anode

-
+
Light
-
+

Electric field

Electronic Materials and Technologies 18

p/n photodiode
Electron and hole transport
in the depletion region is
driven by drift:
fast (100ps – 1ns)

Transport in the neutral

regions is driven by diffusion:
slow (several ns – 10s of ns)

Electronic Materials and Technologies 19

Photodiode: I-V curves

Current, I
Light +
I
V
Dark current _

Voltage, V

Increasing
optical power
Photovoltaic
mode

Photoconductive
mode

Electronic Materials and Technologies 20

Responsivity
Responsivity: proportionality
factor between photo-generated
current IPH and incident optical
power POPT

R=IPH/POPT [A/W]

Quantum efficiency: ratio of

number of photo-generated
electrons to number of incident
photons

h = nel/nPH =(IPH/q)/(POPT/h)
= R hc/q

R = h /1.24mm
Source: http://www.fiberoptics4sale.com

Electronic Materials and Technologies 21

Factors affecting responsivity
• Transmission efficiency: fraction of photons
transmitted at the detector interface
• Absorption efficiency: fraction of transmitted
photons that are absorbed in the semiconductor.
Good if W > La
• Collection efficiency: fraction of generated e-h
pairs that are collected at the electrodes (not
recombining)

Electronic Materials and Technologies 22

Transmittance
• Semiconductor devices are typically covered by
thin passivation films
• Multiple reflections at the interfaces: interference
• Silicon: SiO2, Si3N4
• Thickness: from a few
nm to several mm
• Thin film interference
can be exploited to
increase transmittance
in selected spectral
regions
Electronic Materials and Technologies 23
Effect of surface oxide thickness
1 1

0.8 0.8
Transmittance

Transmittance
0.6 0.6

0.4 0.4

0.2 0.2 tOX = 100nm

Bare silicon
0 0
300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
Wavelength [nm] Wavelength [nm]
1 1

0.8 0.8
Transmittance

Transmittance
0.6 0.6

0.4 0.4

0.2 0.2
tOX = 1mm tOX = 5mm
0 0
300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
Wavelength [nm] Wavelength [nm]

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Antireflection coating

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Absorption efficiency
Effect of
silicon thickness

Increasing
thickness

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Collection efficiency
• Charge carriers that recombine do not contribute to the
signal.
• The collection efficiency strongly depends on the type of
motion. The distance to travel should be compared to:

– Drift length Ldrift = m t  

or

- Diffusion length Ldiff = D t

Electronic Materials and Technologies 27

Dead layer
Junction depth effect on blue photons
Quantum efficiency

1.0
0.8
@ 406 nm

0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Junction depth (mm)

Electronic Materials and Technologies 28

PIN photodiode
Cathode n-type intrinsic p-type Anode

Light
-
+
-

Electric
field

Low-doped (intrinsic) semiconductor is fully depleted with a uniform electric field

Electrons generated in the intrinsic region, move at the saturation velocity vs

Electronic Materials and Technologies 29

PIN photodiode: capacitance
Cathode n-type intrinsic p-type Anode

Light
-
+
- Area, A

Thickness, W

PIN photodiode capacitance can be calculated as in a parallel plate capacitor:

C = εS A/W εS = ε0 εR semiconductor dielectric

constant

Electronic Materials and Technologies 30

PIN photodiode: capacitance
Example 1:
Silicon PIN photodiode (εS = 1.05x10-12 V/cm) with diameter D = 100um and
thickness W = 50um

A = 3.14 · (100·10-4 )2 / 4 = 7.85·10-5 cm2

C = 1.05x10-12 · 7.85 · 10-5 / 50·10-4 = 16·10-15 F = 16fF

Example 2:
InGaAs PIN photodiode (εS = 1.03x10-12 V/cm) with diameter D = 100um and
thickness W = 5um

C = 1.03x10-12 · 7.85 · 10-5 / 5·10-4 = 160·10-15 F = 160fF

Electronic Materials and Technologies 31

Photodiode electrical model

RPD
IPH ID CPD

• Photogenerated current IPH = R POPT

• Dark current ID: reverse current mostly due to thermally generated

electron-hole pairs

• CPD: junction capacitance

• RPD: parasitic resistance

Electronic Materials and Technologies 32

Packaged PD electrical model

RPD LP
IPH ID CPD CP RL

Packaging parasitics

LP : parasitic inductance
(typically ~ nH )

CP : parasitic capacitance
(typically ~ pF)

RL : input resistance of the

external circuit

Electronic Materials and Technologies 33

Response speed
It depends on the combination of 3 factors:
1. Carrier transit time in the depleted region (W)
W W2 W
t1 = = 
v mVbias v sat

2. Diffusion time in the non-depleted

region (L) tR = t + t +t
2
1
2
2
2
3
L2
t2 =
2D
3. RC time constant resulting from
detector capacitance CD = CPD + CP
and load resistance RL (LP negligible, RL >> RPD)
t 3 = 2. 2  R L  C D
Electronic Materials and Technologies 34
Hetherojunction
Junction between different materials

Material 1: Material 2:
• Large EG • Small EG
• n-type doping • p-type doping

Example: Example:
InP (EG = 1.34 eV) In0.53Ga0.47As
(EG = 0.74 eV)

Electronic Materials and Technologies 35

InGaAs PIN photodiode
InGaAs is optimal for detection of
IR light at  = 1.3mm and 1.55mm
used in optical communications p-type

InP p and n-type regions are intrinsic

transparent to these wavelengths semiconductor
(MAX = 0.92mm for InP) n-type

The intrinsic layer width W results from a tradeoff of operation speed

(Bandwidth, BW a 1/tR) and responsivity

Typical characteristics of an InGaAs PIN photodiode for telecommunications:

R = 0.8 A/W ID = 1 – 20nA

BW = 40GHz Vbias = 6V

Electronic Materials and Technologies 36

Avalanche photodiode (APD)
Multiplication Absorption
region region

Cathode n-type p-type intrinsic p-type Anode

Light

Short region with high E, long

Electric region with low E
field

x
Electronic Materials and Technologies 37
Avalanche photodiode (APD)
Multiplication Absorption
region region

Cathode n-type p-type intrinsic p-type Anode

- +
- +
Light -
+ -
+ +
- +
-
- +

Electric field

Primary electrons generated in the absorption region, enter the multiplication

region and generate secondary electron-hole pairs through avalanche
multiplication
Electronic Materials and Technologies 38
Avalanche multiplication
n-type region Multiplication region Absorption region

-
+ 1 electron
- -
M electrons + + -
-
(on average) - - +
+ +
-
+

Electric field

For each electron entering the multiplication region, M electrons are

collected by the n-type region
M is the gain of the Avalanche Photodiode
Electronic Materials and Technologies 39
InGaAs Avalanche photodiode
APD photo-current:

IAPD = M R POPT

M depends strongly on
voltage and temperature:
Temperature compensation
is needed for constant gain

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Silicon avalanche photodiode
Deep n-doped
region to increase
edge breakdown

Electronic Materials and Technologies 41

MSM photodiode
Cathode

-
- Electric field
Light
+
+

Anode n-type Insulating substrate

Metal-Semiconductor-Metal photodiodes are formed by two metal-semiconductor

(Schottky) junctions.
The semiconductor is fully depleted with a high field: electrons and holes move at
the saturation velocity vs

Electronic Materials and Technologies 42

MSM photodiode

Advantages:
• Low capacitance: very high bandwidth (up to 300GHz)
• Simple fabrication
• Compatible with electronics processing:
Monolithic integration of detector and preamplifier

Disadvantages:
• Lower responsivity than PIN diodes (surface metal reflection, thinner
semiconductor)

Electronic Materials and Technologies 43

Light Emitting Diode (LED)
A LED is a p/n junction diode emitting light EC h
through spontaneous emission process when
operated in forward bias EG
EV
-
+
Electron diffusion

Cathode n+ type Anode

+ p-type
- +
+
- +
Light
- + +
emission - +
+ +
- - +

Electronic Materials and Technologies 44

LED efficiency
External quantum efficiency hext
hext = n. of emitted photons
n. of carriers crossing the junction

Sources of inefficiency:
- Non-radiative recombination
- Photon absorption in the LED material:
LED junction is typically placed close to the surface
- Photon absorption in the substrate:
substrate thinning or transparent substrate
- Reflection losses:
anti-reflective coatings
Electronic Materials and Technologies 45
Homojunction LED
n+ and p-type semiconductor have the same EG. Disadvantages:
▪ Light emitted in the active region is reabsorbed by the n+ region: reduced
quantum efficiency
▪ Electrons injected in the p-type region can reach the surface of the device to
recombine non-radiatively → reduced efficiency

- - - - EC
- - -
Simplified band diagram

h
+ + + + + + EV

n+-type p-type

Electronic Materials and Technologies 46

Heterostructure LED
Small bandgap semiconductor “sandwiched” between two large bandgap
semiconductors (double hetherojunction). Advantages:
▪ Light emitted in the active region is not reabsorbed by the n+ region: higher
quantum efficiency
▪ Emitted electrons and holes are confined in the small-bandgap region and
cannot reach the surface of the device to recombine non-radiatively

- - - EC
- - - Simplified band diagram

h + + + EV
+ + +

n+-AlGaAs p-GaAs p+-AlGaAs

Electronic Materials and Technologies 47

LED materials and wavelengths
Emission wavelength depends on the Material , nm EG, eV
material band gap (EG) GaAs 900 1.4
GaAIAs 800-900 1.4-1.55
LED emission spectra are typically wide InGaAs 1000-1300 0.95-1.24
(20-100 nm FWHM)
InGaAsP 900-1700 0.73-1.35
NIR telecom LEDs

Visible LEDs

Electronic Materials and Technologies 48

LED I-V and P-I curves
Current-Voltage curves: LED on voltage
Depends on EG and therefore on
emission wavelength
Electronic Materials and Technologies
Power-Current curves (LED output
characteristics).
Approximately linear at low current
levels, the efficiency drops at high
currents
49
Telecom LED characteristics
Disadvantages:
• Low emitted power (in the mW range)
• Incoherent light emission
• Large emission angle: inefficient fiber coupling
• Maximum bitrate 300 – 400 Mbps
Advantages
• Linear P-I curve (easy direct modulation)
• Low cost
• High lifetime and reliability

Electronic Materials and Technologies 50

Surface emitting LED

Active area diameter: 20 – 100um, suitable for coupling to a multimode fiber

Electronic Materials and Technologies 51

Edge-emitting LED

Emitting area: 2 – 5um, suitable for coupling to a single-mode fiber

Electronic Materials and Technologies 52

Red – yellow and green LEDs
Based on GaAsP material system
Nitrogen is introduced: band gap electronic level for efficient radiative transition

Electronic Materials and Technologies 53

Band gap engineering

Electronic Materials and Technologies 54

RYG LED efficiency

Electronic Materials and Technologies 55

Blue LEDs
Stack of multiple GaN –based
materials on insulating
substrate

Electronic Materials and Technologies 56

White LEDs
Most common solution:
blue LEDs + phosphor material
Converting blue photons to green and
Red photons

Electronic Materials and Technologies 57

LEDs for illumination

M.R. Krames, J. of Display Technologies, 2007

Electronic Materials and Technologies 58

LED packaging
In high-power LEDs the package should provide efficient heat dissipation

www.electronics-cooling.com

Electronic Materials and Technologies 59