PRELAB 5

OPTOELECTRONIC CIRCUITS
Its o.k. if we lose money on the po!"#t$ well %"st m&ke it "p in 'ol"me(
Harvard MBA Graduate
OB)ECTI*ES +,hy &m I !oin- this pel&./0
To learn about interfaces between the optical world and the electronic world.
,1ERES 23 PRELAB TE4T///
At this point, you really should be working on your projects. Surprise! Again, no prelab
text to read!!!
While the materials in the lecture notes are sufficient, it would make sense to flip through
orowit! and ill to in"estigate some of the many "ariants of optoelectronic circuits.
#ou will notice that the $relab % &xercises are much more design oriented than the
pre"ious ones, except for $relab ', which is similar.
By Professor Gregory Kovacs
Edited and Updated by Rizwan Ahed
(
PRELAB 5 E4CERCISES
Work With Your Partner
E4ERCISE 56
)esign an optical data transmitter and recei"er. #ou can use *&)s or lasers as the output
de"ices, #ou will use a laser as the output de"ice and a photodiode or phototransistor as
the input de"ice. $lease keep in mind that the !i'e 'olt&-e fo the l&se mo!"le m"st
not e7#ee! 5 * &n! fo the LE8 &&y +moe on this .elow0 the 'olt&-e m"st not
e7#ee! 59* +5: * nomin&l0.
#our transmitter should fre+uency,modulate
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an incoming "oltage signal -from a stereo, a
microphone, a function generator, etc.... and send out the modulated wa"eform through
the light source of choice. We suggest using an A)/%' -see datasheet0application note on
the web and the additional material on the A)/%' at the end of this section..
1odulate the light at a sufficiently high fre+uency that /2 and (32 ! flicker from room
lights will not affect your recei"er.
#our recei"er will not be re+uired to demodulate on its own. The signal analy!er -high
fre+uency. can perform 41 demodulation if it is gi"en a clean 41 signal. #ou will ha"e
to recei"e the signal, clean it up -remo"e unwanted fre+uencies. and pass it with
sufficient energy to the demodulator.
5se a transresistance amplifier -the schematic for this amplifier is in the lecture notes. to
capture the light signal , you will only need to pass the A6 signal, so you may want to
design it so that the )6 gain is minimal. The best way to do this is to use a low feedback
resistance "alue -e.g., (2 k7., A6,couple using a series capacitor into a second amplifier
stage where more gain is pro"ided. $lease also re"iew the $hotodiode Amplifier notes
from 8ational Semiconductor that were pro"ided to you.
6onsider using analog filters to fight noise.
4lesh out the design, select components, and simulate what you can
3
.
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4re+uency modulation means that you take a carrier signal of fre+uency fc and change its fre+uency
according to the "oltage of the signal you would like to transmit. Think of this operation as a 9oltage to
4re+uency con"ersion.
3
At the "ery least, you should ha"e all of your transmit and recei"e circuitry designed -minus the
modulation circuitry... This includes any amplifiers and filters that you:ll need. #ou won:t be able to
simulate the transimpedance amp in S$;6&. <ust pretend you:re simulating a regular in"erting amp. )o not
worry about simulating the A)/%'. ;n addition, you cannot really predict how much current you will get
By Professor Gregory Kovacs
Edited and Updated by Rizwan Ahed
3
6omment on the design tradeoffs you considered , gain, bandwidth, power, etc. 4or
example, putting too much gain in the transresistance amplifier usually results in low
bandwidth and saturation by background light le"els. 6onsider spreading the gain out
between stages. ow would you couple the stages to block )6 from being amplified=
6arry out a design re"iew with your partner and, if you can, with another team. $repare
some brief notes on the findings from your design re"iew and how they affect your
design. >e sure to record these notes in your lab notebook with a heading that clearly
indicates that they are from a ?)esign @e"iew.A This will be graded.
A88ITIONAL 2ATERIAL ON T1E A8;5<
4re+uency modulation is accomplished with the A)/%', found in your parts kit. The
/%' basically outputs a s+uare wa"e with a fre+uency proportional to the input "oltage.
The /%' data sheet can be found on the class web page. 4or this lab, we will be building
the reference design shown on 4ig. (, pg. B of the datasheet , C904 6onnection for
$ositi"e ;nput 9oltages.C We suggest you become "ery familiar with pg. (,B of the
datasheet at least, and read through the rest, so you understand how the A)/%'
works. #ou can browse through the app note, but we will not be using that for this lab as
much.
#ou will probably want to use a full,scale "oltage input of (2 9. The A)/%' then maps
this "oltage range into a fre+uency range centered at a center fre+uency set by a center
"oltage le"el. ;tDs recommended you set this center "oltage to 4S03 E % 9, and ha"e this
correspond to a center fre+uency of %2 k!. @efer to the application notes and data sheet
for more details. The amplitude of your incoming "oltage signal thus will set the
bandwidth -or fre+uency de"iation from center. of your 41 signal.
As a guideline, we can recommend that you use a total bandwidth of '2k!. This means
you will be generating a signal with fre+uencies of B2,F2k! -hint hint bandpass filter..
#ou do not ha"e to use these numbers,,they are recommended if you intend to try
demodulating your recei"ed signal using the bench signal analy!er. The spectrum
analy!er can be used to demodulate the signal from your recei"er as long as the
fre+uency is higher than Gk!. #ou are not re+uired to do this, but it:s fun.
8ote that the A)/%' is normally configured for positi"e input signals. owe"er, our
signals of interest are centered around !ero -see 4igure (. ow do we achie"e this )6
le"el shift=
from the phototransistor under your specific lab conditions until you try it. #ou will probably get much less
than (mA. <ust make an assumption in order to complete your design, and then you can modify it as
necessary in lab. #ou do not need to spend time analy!ing the laser and phototransistor. <ust treat the laser
like a normal *&) which uses 32mA to turn on. <ust assume that the phototransistor will gi"e you a current
on the order of (2,(22uA.
By Professor Gregory Kovacs
Edited and Updated by Rizwan Ahed
B
=i-"e 5 > Inp"t si-n&l +left0$ wh&t the A8;5< w&nts +i-ht0
What we want to do is to block the )6 component of our signal and set it to a new le"el.
What element is good at blocking )6= A capacitor in the signal path with one end biased
to our desired "oltage le"el by a resistor di"ider achie"es this nicely -see 4igure 3. ;n the
A6 sense, the cap has an impedance of HI6H E (03f6. 4or A6 signals, )6 sources are
grounded, and we ha"e a "oltage di"ider attenuation of our A6 component. Thus, we
should choose a cap at our fre+uencies of interest that has an impedance much less than
our bias chain. Also keep in mind that the A)/%' also has its own input impedance,
which will matter if your bias chain resistors are on the same order of magnitude or
larger.
=i-"e : > 8C le'el shift #i#"it +left0 &n! its AC e?"i'&lent +i-ht0
The output of the A)/%' is an open 8$8 collector, meaning you need to pro"ide it with
a load. #ou can tie this load to whate"er "oltage le"el you want. 4or TT* applications,
you would probably use % 9, like on the data sheet. ;n our case, we want to dri"e a laser
module running at a fixed current and "oltage drop. #ou can assume that the output of
the A)/%' can swing all the way down to ground when calculating your "alues. ;f you
By Professor Gregory Kovacs
Edited and Updated by Rizwan Ahed
'
are using the ;@*I,B' 1JS4&T as a power dri"er, it re+uires a logic,le"el signal on its
gate.
By Professor Gregory Kovacs
Edited and Updated by Rizwan Ahed
%
LAB 5
OPTOELECTRONIC CIRCUITS
Is this -"y e'e .i-ht(
!ne "E# ta$%ing about another&
8JT&K #ou will not be told exactly what to put in your write up. The idea is that you
present your data and what you learned from it. Typically, you will make plots and
analyses a part of the write,up. Write,ups must not be longer than ten pages. ;f you ha"e
+uestions, please ask. We are here to help!!
INTRO8UCTION
BE CARE=UL TO OBSER*E T1E CONNECTIONS O= EAC1 CO2PONENT(((
3OU CAN ,ASTE A LOT O= TI2E I= 3OU RUS1 AN8 8O NOT C1EC@(
,hen "sin- the LE8 .&s$ emem.e not to st&e !ie#tly &t them while they &e lit(
The s&me &pplies fo the l&se mo!"les(
AL,A3S "se A.5 B= !e#o"plin- #&p&#itos on e&#h powe s"pply &il$ i-ht ne7t to
e&#h op>&mp. Use one #&p&#ito fom the positi'e &il to -o"n! &n! one fom the
ne-&ti'e &il to -o"n!.
;f you use a signal generator, you may wish to put an input %2 7 resistor from the signal
generatorDs output to ground if you are using it to test your circuits. This is done so that
the amplitudes read out on the signal generatorDs display are correct -they assume a %2 7
load.. $lease note that for many of the tests you will be asked to do, we will use the
?S#86A -or logic,le"el. output of the function generator, not the normal output. #ou 8O
NOT want to use a %27 resistor on the ?S#86A output.
By Professor Gregory Kovacs
Edited and Updated by Rizwan Ahed
/
C1ARACTERICIND T1E LE8 ARRA3
As described in lecture, the $ L$W@,6BGF is a series chain of 32 super,bright red
*&)s arranged in four series groups of fi"e *&)s in parallel. ;t is made up of a series
resistor -to limit *&) current. followed by a parallel resistor used for sensing. 4or this
lab, you will be performing a number of measurements to characteri!e its performance.
(. )raw out a basic schematic for the entire *&) array. ow are the two resistors
described abo"e incorporated into the circuit=
3. )e"ise a method to measure the "alues of the series and parallel resistors so that you
can put the actual, measured numbers on your schematic. )escribe your reasoning for
the measurements -for example, under what assumptions do the diodes not matter when
measuring a resistance in parallel with them=..
B. Jbtain an *&) array and measure the resistances, adding the "alues to your schematic.
'. 6onnect your *&) array to a digital power supply -Agilent &B/'MA. and take
measurements of the current it draws for a range of "oltagesN be thorough enough so you
can then take this data and plot it in &xcel -or some other program of your choice. to
determine the de"iceDs ;,9 characteristic. @emember not to look directly at the *&)s.
)J 8JT EVER &O6&&) (B9!!!
'. )ownload and re"iew the data sheet for the ;@*I,B' 1JS4&T from the &&(33 class
website. 6arefully determine which pins are for drain, gate and source, including a
sketch in your lab notebook. We will use the ;@*I,B' to characteri!e the arrayDs pulse
response.
4or this setup, first ground the source pin. 6onnect the drain to the black wire of the
*&) array, and finally connect the gate pin to the TT*0S#86 -labeled ?S#86A. output
of a standard signal generatorN )J 8JT 6J88&6T TJ T& P&8&@ATJ@DS
STA8)A@) J5T$5T. The ground of the ?S#86A connector should go to the source
-ground. also. To power the *&) array, connect a power supplyDs positi"e output to the
red *&) array wire, and the power supplyDs ground output to the common ground of the
resistor from the ;@*I,B'Ds source and of the S#86 output from the signal generator.
Set the power supply to (3 9 and make sure it can deli"er at least (03 amp of current.
8ote the schematic and all conditions of your setup in your lab notebook.
$lease ask your TA if you ha"e any doubts!

6onnect a (2 Jhm or so resistor -capable of dissipating the power generated by 2.%A of
current passing through it Q show this calculation in your lab book. between the ;@*I,
B':s source and ground, and then use a single,ended scope probe.to measure the "oltage
across the resistor. >ecause you know the "alue of the resistor from part 3., you can then
By Professor Gregory Kovacs
Edited and Updated by Rizwan Ahed
F
di"ide the "oltage wa"eform by resistance to obtain the "alue of the current going
through the array at any gi"en moment.
At some low fre+uency, say (2 !, "erify that the *&) array lights up and blinks,
indicating that it is not ?always on.A Then, while monitoring the "oltage across the
resistor to ground -tied between the ;@*I,B'Ds source and the actual ground "oltage.,
determine the fre+uency at which the current can no longer reach its full "alue within the
time the S#86 pulse is high -i.e., when the ;@*I,B' is on.. That we will take to be the
approximate maximum dri"e fre+uency for the *&) array.
8ote the approximate maximum dri"e fre+uency and capture the "oltage wa"eform from
the oscilloscope onto a floppy. Transferring the date from the floppy into an &xcel
spreadsheet, calculate and plot the actual current, scaling for the "alue of the resistor you
used. ;nclude the plot in your lab notebook. As a check, the current should be reasonable,
on the order of 2.3 Q 2.%A at its peak.
BUIL8IND T1E OPTOELECTRONIC TRANS2ITTER
This is your second effort to implement a complete system that you design. >uild the
opto,electronic 41 transmitter and recei"er circuit you designed in the prelab. #ou will
probably ha"e to make some modifications to the circuit in the lab. Try building the
circuit with both a normal laser module and the *&) arrays, noting any particular
tradeoffs in design considerations. As with last week, we pro"ide you with a few
necessary, but not sufficient, suggestions for characteri!ing your circuit. a"e fun!
B
Consi!e the IRLC>9< #i#"it we "se! in the LE8 &&y #h&&#teiE&tion se#tion &s
& !i'e fo yo" #hosen o"tp"t !e'i#e. Remem.e th&t the !i'e 'olt&-e fo the
l&se mo!"le m"st not e7#ee! 5 *$ yet the LE8 &&y nee!s & 'olt&-e of 5:*.
ow far can you transmit before you can no longer detect the signal=
6an you estimate the signal,to,noise ratio=
6ompare the results when blocking ambient light and not blocking it.
6an you estimate the channel capacity= -#ou will need ShannonDs 6hannel 6apacity
e+uation from the *ecture 8otes.. 4or the *&) array, you can estimate the channel
bandwidth -assuming a faster recei"er circuit. based on the measurements you did. ;f
your recei"er is slower, it, not the *&) array, will determine the bandwidth.
B
To )emodulate the 41 signal at the recei"er, use the $M%G(& Signal Analy!er, press the ?Aux 6trlA key,
select ?demodA and then set the appropriate settings.
By Professor Gregory Kovacs
Edited and Updated by Rizwan Ahed
M
)escribe any design changes you made to your circuit in the lab. Why werenDt they
ob"ious from the simulations you did= >e sure to note down your obser"ations in your
laboratory notebook.
;n addition to your normal lab write,up -which ade+uately describes the circuit you ha"e
built, tests you ha"e run on it, and an e"aluation of its performance., please summari!e in
a few sentences the key points you learned from this exercise, focusing primarily on the
design and planning aspects. @emember that the all of the information you will draw
from for your write,up should be in your lab notebook, and remember that we will grade
the notebooks.
By Professor Gregory Kovacs
Edited and Updated by Rizwan Ahed
G