OPTICAL DETECTORS

P-i-N Photodiode
the thickness of the depletion region is controlled by i-layer, not by reverse voltage
most of the incident photons absorbed in the thick i-layer - high q
large electric field across the i-layer - efficient separation of generated electrons & holes
the P and N layers are extremely thin compare to i-layer - diffusion current is very small
The increase in the i-
width reduces the
speed of a photodiode.

The speed of response
of the photodiode is
limited by
- the time it takes to
collect the carriers
(drift time)
- the capacitance of the
depletion layer (RC
time constant of the
detector circuit).

OPTICAL DETECTORS
Silicon P-i-N photodiodes < 1.09m
The front illuminated photodiode
for operation in the 0.8 to 0.9m
band.

i-layer thickness ~ 20 to 50m
q ~ 85%
response time ~ 1ns
dark current ~ 1nA
The side illuminated photodiode
for operation at wavelength close
to the bandgap limit (1.09m)

absorption width ~ 500m
Germanium P-i-N photodiodes which span the entire wavelength of interest are available
but limited by the relatively high dark currents (100nA at 20
0
C to 1A at 40
0
C)
OPTICAL DETECTORS
III-V P-i-N photodiodes - InGaAs/InP
Epitaxial growth of several layers
on a n type InP substrate.
Incident light is absorbed in the low
doped n type InGaAs layer
lattice matched In
0.53
Ga
0.47
As/InP
system,
C
= 1.67m
Drawback - optical absorption in the
undepleted p
+
region.
A substrate entry P-i-N photodiode with a p
+

InGaAsP layer to improve q but charges trap at
the InGaAsP/InGaAs interface limits the speed.
OPTICAL DETECTORS
Dark Current
Comparisons of P-i-N Photodiodes
OPTICAL DETECTORS
Avalanche Photodiodes (APDs) - photodiodes with internal gain
Internally multplied the primary photocurrent before it enters the input circuitry of
the following amplifier.
In the high field region of an APD, photogenerated electrons and holes can acquire
sufficient energy to create new electron-hole pairs through impact ionization process.
These secondary carriers gain enough energy to ionize other carriers, causing the
avalanche process of creating new carriers.
OPTICAL DETECTORS
M depends on the accelerating voltages, the thickness of the gain region, and the ratio
ionization coefficients of holes to electrons .
The multiplication factor M for all carriers generated in the photodiode is a measure of
the internal gain provided by the APD:
P
M
I
I
M =
the average value of the total multiplied output current
the primary unmultiplied photocurrent
The measured value of M is expressed as an average quantity since the avalanche
mechanism is a statistical process; not every carrier pair generated in the diode
experiences the same multiplication.

Analogues to P-i-N photodiode, the responsivity of APD is
M R M
hv
q
R
APD 0
= =
q
Carrier Multiplication
( ) k =
Avalanche Multiplication Noise
The randomness of multiplication process resulting in fluctuation of M values and is
defined by the excess noise factor
2
2
2
2
M
m
m
m
F
> <
=
> <
> <
=
F is dependent upon k, the shape of the electric field profile within the device and
whether the avalanche is initiated by holes or electrons.
OPTICAL DETECTORS
For pure electrons injected into the uniform
high electric field region of APD,
(

|
.
|

\
|

=
2
1
) 1 ( 1 ) (
M
M
k M M F
The best performance is achieved when k is small;for Si k ~ 0.02 to 0.1 and
for Ge and III-V alloys k ~ 0.3 to 1.
Excess Noise Factor
OPTICAL DETECTORS
APD bandwidth
( )
e
t BW M t 2 1 = M = zero-frequency gain
effective transit time, for
drift e
kt t =
RC drift
t t >>
APDs constructed of materials in which one type of carrier largely dominates impact
ionization (small k) exhibit low noise and large gain-bandwidth products provided the
multiplication process is initiated by carrier with larger ionization coefficient.
Gain-bandwidth product,
The response time of APD is limited by
the transit time of carriers across the absorption region
the time taken by the carriers to perform the avalanche multiplication process
the RC time constant incurred by the junction capacitance of the diode and its load

At high gain (M) the avalanche build-up time dominates and the device bandwidth
decreases proportionately with increasing gain. Such APD operation is distinguished
by a constant called
Often an asymmetric pulse shape is obtained from the APD which results from a relatively
fast rise time as electrons are collected and a fall time dictated by the transit time of the
holes traveling at a slower speed.
OPTICAL DETECTORS
Silicon reach through Avalanche Photodiodes RAPDs
A commonly used structure for achieving carrier multiplication with very little excess
noise is the RAPD consists of p
+
-t-p-n
+
layers.
When the reverse bias voltage is increased the W widens across the p region until it
reach through to the nearly intrinsic t region and this remove some of the excess
V
app
from the multiplication region to the t region giving a relatively slow increase in
M with V
P
.
When operating the APD, the field in t region is high enough (210
4
Vcm
-1
) to sweep
the carriers through to the multiplication region at their scattering limited velocity
(10
7
cms
-1
).
OPTICAL DETECTORS
Typical room temperature current
gain of a silicon RAPD
At short most of the light absorbed in the
n
+
p region and since |<<o the total current
gain is reduced
Measurement of q against for silicon RAPD
for applications at = 0.825 m
A nearly 100% quantum efficiency (without
avalanche gain) in the working region.
OPTICAL DETECTORS
Germanium APDS
p
+
n structures were fabricated to provide multiplication initiated by hole to reduce F.
Dark currents in Ge had significant components of both bulk (multiplied) and surface
(unmultiplied) current. The surface leakage current can be eliminated by the use of
guard ring structure.
The speed of p
+
n structure at 1.5m is poor because most of the absorption takes place
outside the depletion region.
The p
+
nn
-
structure resembles the reach through structure of Si APDs achieved high
bandwidth with low multiplied dark current and good excess noise performance.
p
+
n structure
p
+
nn
-
structure
OPTICAL DETECTORS
III-V alloy APDs
In the narrow band gap ternary InGaAs/InP and quaternary InGaAsP/InP material
systems suitable for 1.3 m and 1.55m optical absorption, the band to band or defect
assisted tunneling currents become large before the E is high enough to obtain
significant avalanche gain.
The SAM (separate
absorption and
multiplication) APD is
designed so that the electric
field in the absorption
region (narrower bandgap
layer, InGaAs) is low
enough to make the
tunnelling component of
the dark current negligibly
small, while high enough in
the wider bandgap layer
(InP) to cause avalanche
multiplication.
OPTICAL DETECTORS
By incorporating several thin
intermediate band-gap InGaAsP
layers between the absorption
and multiplication layers to
smooth out the discontinuity and
thus provide improved speed
performance.
SAGM (separate absorption,
grading and multiplication) APD
The trapping of holes in the
valence band discontinuity at
the InGaAs/InP heterointerface
limits the SAM APDs response
speed.
OPTICAL DETECTORS
Receiver sensivitiy comparison of P-I-N photodiode and APD devices at BER of 10
-9
.
InGaAs
= 1.55m
Si
= 0.82m
Drawbacks of APD
fabrication difficulties due to their more complex structure and hence increased cost.
the random nature of the gain mechanism which gives an additional noise contribution.
the often high bias voltage required which are wavelength dependent.
the variation of gain with temperature.
OPTICAL DETECTORS
Current gain against reverse bias for a silicon RAPD
operating at a wavelength of 0.825m.
Temperature Effect on Avalanche Gain
A simple empirical relationship
( )
n
B
V V
M

=
1
1
The parameter n varies between
2.5 and 7, depending on material.
| | ) ( 1 ) ( ) (
0 0
T T a T V T V
B B
+ =
M M a
R I V V =
V
a
= the reverse-bias voltage
applied to the detector
I
M
= the multiplied photocurrent
R
M
= photodiode series resistance
and load resistance
The breakdown voltage vary
with temperature as
The constant a and b can be
determined from the experimental
curves of gain versus temperature.
OPTICAL DETECTORS