CURRENT TRANSFER

DEVICE TYPE SOURCE OF LIGHT SENSOR TYPE SPEED RATIO

Incandescent light bulb Very Low

Resistive opto-isolator
(Vactrol) LDR Low <100%
Neon lamp
Low
GaAs infrared LED

Silicon photodiode
Diode opto-isolator GaAs infrared LED Highest 0.1–0.2%
Bipolar silicon
phototransistor Medium 2–120%
Transistor opto-isolator GaAs infrared LED
Darlington
phototransistor Medium 100–600%

Silicon-controlled
Opto-isolated SCR GaAs infrared LED rectifier Low to Medium >100%
TRIAC
Opto-isolated triac GaAs infrared LED Low to Medium Very high
Stack of photodiodes
Stack of GaAs infrared driving Practically unlimited
Solid-state Relay LEDs a pair of MOSFETs or Low to High
an IGBT
 RESISTIVE OPTO-ISOLATOR

The earliest opto-isolators, originally marketed as

light cells, emerged in the 1960s. They employed miniature
incandescent light bulbs as sources of light, and cadmium
sulfide (CdS) or cadmium selenide (CdSe) photoresistors (also
called light-dependent resistors, LDRs) as receivers. In
applications where control linearity was not important, or
where available current was too low for driving an
incandescent bulb, it was replaced with a neon lamp.
European-style schematics of resistive opto-isolators that use an incandescent bulb (top),
a neon lamp (middle) or a light-emitting diode (bottom).
 PHOTODIODE OPTO-ISOLATOR
Diode opto-isolators employ LEDs as sources of light and
silicon photodiodes as sensors.
The advantage of using the photodiode is its high linearity. When
the pulse at the input goes high, the LED turns ON. It emits light. This light is
focused on the photodiode.
In response to this light the photocurrent will start flowing though the
photodiode. As soon as the input pulse reduces to zero, the LED turns OFF &
the photocurrent through the photodiode reduces to zero. Thus the pulse at
the input is coupled to the output side.
Photodiode opto-isolators can be used for interfacing analog
signals, although their non-linearity invariably distorts the signal.
 PHOTOTRANSISTOR OPTO-ISOLATOR
Phototransistors are inherently slower than photodiodes. An
infrared LED acts as a light source and the phototransistor acts as a photo
detector.
Phototransistor is the most popularly used optoisolator, because it
does not need any additional amplification.
When the pulse at the input goes high, the LED turns ON. The light
emitted by the LED is focused on the CB junction of the phototransistor. In
response to this light photocurrent starts flowing which acts as a base
current for the phototransistor.
The collector current of phototransistor starts flowing. As soon as
the input pulse reduces to zero, the LED turns OFF & the collector current of
phototransistor reduces to zero. Thus the pulse at the input is optically
coupled to the output side.
 BIDIRECTIONAL OPTO-ISOLATORS
All opto-isolators described so far are uni-directional.
Optical channel always works one way, from the source (LED)
to the sensor. The sensors, be it photoresistors, photodiodes or
phototransistors, cannot emit light.

The simplest bidirectional opto-isolator is merely a pair of

LEDs placed face to face and held together with heat-shrink
tubing.