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Optical Fiber Communication

(Optical Detectors)

Dr. Sudhish N George


Assistant Professor
Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering
National Institute of Technology, Calicut
email id: sudhish@nitc.ac.in

March 4, 2016

Sudhish N George ( Assistant ProfessorDepartment ofOptical


Electronics
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Communication Engineering National Institute
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Optical Detectors

Block diagram of optical reciever

Sudhish N George ( Assistant ProfessorDepartment ofOptical


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Optical Detectors
Detectors for optical communication
Optical detectors function is to convert the received optical signal
into an electrical signal, which is then amplified before further processing.
The following criteria define the important performance and compatibility requirements for detectors.
1
2

4
5

6
7
8

High sensitivity at the operating wavelengths


High fidelity (response of the photodetector must be linear with regard to the optical signal over a wide range).
Large electrical response to the received optical signal (the quantum
efficiency should be high).
Short response time to obtain a suitable bandwidth.
A minimum noise introduced by the detector (Dark currents, leakage
currents and shunt conductance must be low).
Stability of performance characteristics.
Small size and low bias voltages.
High reliability and low cost.

Sudhish N George ( Assistant ProfessorDepartment ofOptical


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Optical Detectors
Optical detection principles

Sudhish N George ( Assistant ProfessorDepartment ofOptical


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Optical Detectors
Detectors for optical communication
This device is reverse biased and the electric field developed across the
p n junction sweeps mobile carriers (holes and electrons) to their respective majority sides (p and ntype material).
A depletion region is created on either side of the junction.
This barrier stops the majority carriers crossing the junction in the opposite direction to the field and accelerates minority carriers from both sides
to the opposite side of the junction, forming the reverse leakage current
of the diode.
A photon incident in or near the depletion region of this device with hf
Eg will excite an electron from the valence band into the conduction band.
This process leaves an empty hole in the valence band and is known as
the photogeneration of an electron-hole pair and generates current in the
external circuit in excess of any reverse leakage current.
The depletion region must be sufficiently thick to allow a large fraction of
the incident light to be absorbed.

Sudhish N George ( Assistant ProfessorDepartment ofOptical


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Optical Detectors
Quantum efficiency of detectors
The quantum efficiency is defined as,
=

number of electrons collected


re
electron rate
=
=
number of incident photons
rp
incident photon rate

Responsivity
The responsivity R is defined as,
R=

Ip
output photocurrent
=
incident optical power
Po

in

AW 1

Sudhish N George ( Assistant ProfessorDepartment ofOptical


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Optical Detectors
Responsivity
The incident photon rate rp and electron rate re are defined as,
Po
hf
re = rp

rp =

re =

Po
Po e
and Ip =
hf
hf

Hence the responsivity R is R =

Ip
e
e
=
=
Po
hf
hc

Thus, R and R

Sudhish N George ( Assistant ProfessorDepartment ofOptical


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Communication Engineering National Institute
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2016
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Optical Detectors
Reponsivity against wavelength characteristics

For a particular material, as the wavelength of the incident photon


becomes longer the photon energy eventually is less than the energy required to excite an electron from the valance band to the
conduction band and at this point the responsivity falls to zero.

Sudhish N George ( Assistant ProfessorDepartment ofOptical


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Optical Detectors

Problem
When 31011 photons each with a wavelength of 0.85m are incident on
a photodiode, on average 1.2 1011 electrons are collected at the terminals of the device. Determine the quantum efficiency and the responsivity
of the photodiode at 0.85m.

Answer
= 0.4 and R = 0.274AW 1

Sudhish N George ( Assistant ProfessorDepartment ofOptical


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Optical Detectors
Long-wavelength cutoff
It is essential when considering the intrinsic absorption process that the
energy of incident photons be greater than or equal to the bandgap energy Eg of the material used to fabricate the photodetector, i.e.
hc
Eg

hc

Eg
Thus the threshold for detection, commonly known as the long-wavelength
cutoff point c , is,
hc
Eg
allows the calculation of the longest wavelength of light to give photodetection for the various semiconductor materials used in the fabrication
of detectors.
c =

Sudhish N George ( Assistant ProfessorDepartment ofOptical


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Optical Detectors

Problem
GaAs has a bandgap energy of 1.43eV at 300K . Determine the wavelength above which an intrinsic photo-detector fabricated from this material will cease to operate.

Answer
c = 0.867m

Sudhish N George ( Assistant ProfessorDepartment ofOptical


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Optical Detectors
p n Photodiodes

The width of the depletion region is therefore dependent upon the doping
concentrations for a given applied reverse bias (i.e. the lower the doping,
the wider the depletion region).
In the depletion region, the carrier pairs separate and drift under the influence of the electric field, whereas outside this region the hole diffuses
towards the depletion region in order to be collected.

Sudhish N George ( Assistant ProfessorDepartment ofOptical


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Optical Detectors
p n Photodiodes

The diffusion process is very slow compared with drift and thus limits the
response of the photodiode
Depletion region is made as long as possible by decreasing the doping in
the n-type material.

Sudhish N George ( Assistant ProfessorDepartment ofOptical


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Communication Engineering National Institute
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Optical Detectors
p i n Photodiodes
In order to allow operation at longer wavelengths where the light penetrates more deeply into the semiconductor material, a wider depletion
region is necessary.
To achieve this the ntype material is doped so lightly that it can be considered intrinsic and to make a low resistance contact a highly doped
ntype (n+ ) layer is added which creates a pin (or PIN) structure.

Sudhish N George ( Assistant ProfessorDepartment ofOptical


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Optical Detectors
Noise
The overall sensitivity of a photodiode results from the random current
and voltage fluctuations which occur at the device output terminals in
both the presence and absence of an incident optical signal.
The photodiode dark current corresponds to the level of the output photocurrent when there is no intended optical signal present.
The inherent dark current can be minimized through the use of highquality, defect-free material.
The surface currents can be minimized by careful fabrication and
surface passivation.
The detector average current I always exhibits a random fluctuation about
its mean value as a result of the statistical nature of the quantum detection
process and is known as shot noise.

Sudhish N George ( Assistant ProfessorDepartment ofOptical


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Optical Detectors
Noise
In shot noise, the mean square current variation is proportional to I and
the photodiode received bandwidth B.
Thus, rms value of shot current is given as,
p
isrms = 2eBI
Various figures of merit have traditionally been employed to assess the
noise performance of optical detectors are,
1
2
3

noise equivalent power (NEP)


detectivity (D)
specific detectivity (D )

Sudhish N George ( Assistant ProfessorDepartment ofOptical


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Communication Engineering National Institute
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Optical Detectors
Noise
The NEP is defined as the incident optical power, at a particular wavelength or with a specified spectral content, required to produce a photodetector current equal to the rms noise current within a unit bandwidth.
The incident optical power Po is given as,
Po =

Ip hf
Ip hc
=
e
e

Put photocurrent Ip is equal to the rms shot noise current.


Ip = (2eIB)1/2
Moreover, the photodiode average current I may be represented by
(Ip + Id ) where Id is the dark current within the device.

Sudhish N George ( Assistant ProfessorDepartment ofOptical


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Communication Engineering National Institute
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Optical Detectors
Noise
1/2

Hence, Ip = [2e(Ip + Id )B]


When Ip  Id , then:

Ip ' 2eB
Substituting into Eq. for Po and putting B = 1Hz gives the NEP as:
NEP = Po '

2hc

When Ip  Id , then:
Ip ' [2eId B]1/2
Substituting into Eq. for Po and putting B = 1Hz gives the NEP as:
NEP = Po '

hc(2eId )1/2
e

Sudhish N George ( Assistant ProfessorDepartment ofOptical


Electronics
Fiber &Communication
Communication Engineering National Institute
March 4,
of 2016
Technology,
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Optical Detectors
The detectivity D is defined as the inverse of the NEP. Thus:
D=

1
NEP

Considering a photodiode receiving monochromatic radiation with the


dark current as its dominant noise source, then,
D = D =

e
hc(2eId )1/2

The specific detectivity D is a parameter which incorporates the area of


the photodetector A in order to take account of the effect of this factor on
the amplitude of the device dark current.
D = DA1/2 =

e
hc(2eId /A)1/2

The specific detectivity over a bandwidth B would be equal to D(AB)1/2 .

Sudhish N George ( Assistant ProfessorDepartment ofOptical


Electronics
Fiber &Communication
Communication Engineering National Institute
March 4,
of 2016
Technology,
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Optical Detectors

Problem
A germanium p i n photodiode with active dimensions of 100 50m
has a quantum efficiency of 55% when operating at a wavelength of
1.3m. The measured dark current at this wavelength is 8nA. Calculate the noise equivalent power and specific detectivity for the device. It
may be assumed that dark current is the dominant noise source.

Ans: NEP = 8.78 1014 W and D = 8.1 108 mHz 1/2 W 1

Sudhish N George ( Assistant ProfessorDepartment ofOptical


Electronics
Fiber &Communication
Communication Engineering National Institute
March 4,
of 2016
Technology,
20 Calicut
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