Semiconductor Device
Fundamentals
Photodiode
Student: Hassan Sultana
May 2017
Introduction
A photodiode
is a p-n junction or pin
semiconductor device that
consumes light energy to generate
electric current. It is also sometimes
referred as photo-detector, photo-
sensor, or light detector.
.
Photodiodes are specially designed
to operate in reverse bias condition.
Reverse bias means that the p-side
of the photodiode is connected to
the negative terminal of the battery
and n-side is connected to the
positive terminal of the battery.
Photodiode
is very sensitive to light so
when light or photons falls on
the photodiode it easily converts
light into electric current. Solar
cell is also known as large area
photodiode because it converts
solar energy or light energy into
electric energy. However, solar
cell works only at bright light.
The construction and working of
photodiode is almost similar to
the normal p-n junction diode.
PIN (p-type, intrinsic and n-type)
structure is mostly used for
constructing the photodiode
instead of p-n (p-type and n-
type) junction structure because
PIN structure provide fast
response time. PIN photodiodes
are mostly used in high-speed
Photodiode symbol
The symbol of photodiode is similar
to the normal p-n junction diode
except that it contains arrows
striking the diode. The arrows
striking the diode represent light or
photons.
A photodiode has two terminals:
a cathode and an anode.
Objectives and limitations of
photodiode
Photodiode should be always
operated in reverse bias
condition.
Applied reverse bias voltage
should be low.
Generate low noise
High gain
High response speed
High sensitivity to light
Low sensitivity to
temperature
Low cost
Small size
Long lifetime
The difference between the
forward bias and the reverse
bias:
How photodiode works?
A normal p-n junction diode allows
a small amount of electric current
under reverse bias condition. To
increase the electric current under
reverse bias condition, we need to
generate more minority carriers.
The external reverse voltage
applied to the p-n junction diode
will supply energy to the minority
carriers but not increase the
population of minority carriers.
However, a small number of
minority carriers are generated due
to external reverse bias voltage.
The minority carriers generated at
n-side or p-side will recombine in
the same material before they cross
the junction. As a result, no electric
current flows due to these charge
carriers.
For example, the minority carriers generated in
the p-type material experience a repulsive force
from the external voltage and try to move
towards n-side. However, before crossing the
junction, the free electrons recombine with the
holes within the same material. As a result, no
electric current flows.
To overcome this problem , we need to apply
external energy directly to the depletion region to
generate more charge carriers.
A special type of diode called photodiode is
designed to generate more number of charge
carriers in depletion region. In photodiodes, we
use light or photons as the external energy to
generate charge carriers in depletion region.
When a semiconductor device is
reverse biased it should not conduct
any current, however, due to
increased barrier potential, the free
electrons on the p side are dragged
to the battery's positive terminal,
while holes on the n side are
dragged to the battery's negative
terminal.
Types of photodiodes:
The working operation of all types of
photodiodes is same. Different types of
photodiodes are developed based on
specific application. For example, PIN
photodiodes are developed to increase
the response speed. PIN photodiodes are
used where high response speed is
needed.
The different types of photodiodes are:
PN junction photodiode
PIN photodiode
Avalanche photodiode
PN junction photodiode
PN junction photodiodes are the first form of
photodiodes. They are the most widely used
photodiodes before the development of PIN
photodiodes. PN junction photodiode is also simply
referred as photodiode. Nowadays, PN junction
photodiodes are not widely used.
When external light energy is supplied to the p-n
junction photodiode, the valence electrons in the
depletion region gains energy.
If the light energy applied to the
photodiode is greater the band-gap of
semiconductor material, the valence
electrons gain enough energy and break
bonding with the parent atom.
The valence electron which breaks
bonding with the parent atom will
become free electron. Free electrons
moves freely from one place to another
place by carrying the electric current.
When the valence electron leave the
valence shell an empty space is created
in the valence shell at which valence
electron left.
free electrons move towards the n
region. When the free electrons
reaches n region, they are attracted
towards the positive terminals of
the battery. In the similar way, holes
move in opposite direction.
The strong depletion region electric field and
the external electric field increase the drift
velocity of the free electrons.
Because of this high drift velocity, the minority
carriers (free electrons and holes) generated in
the depletion region will cross the p-n junction
before they recombine with atoms. As a result,
the minority carrier current increases.
When no light is applied to the reverse bias
photodiode, it carries a small reverse current
due to external voltage. This small electric
current under the absence of light is called
dark current. It is denoted by I .
The total current through the photodiode is
the sum of the dark current (current that is
generated in the absence of light) and the
photocurrent, so the dark current must be
minimized to maximize the sensitivity of the
device.
Photovoltaic mode:
When used in zero bias or photovoltaic
mode, the flow of photocurrent out of the
device is restricted and a voltage builds up.
This mode exploits the photovoltaic effect,
which is the basis for solar cells a traditional
solar cell is just a large area photodiode.
Photoconductive mode :
This reduces the response time because
the additional reverse bias increases the
width of the depletion layer, which
decreases the junction's capacitance.
:The difference between these two mode
is that photoconductive detectors use the
increase in electrical conductivity resulting
from increases in the number of free carriers
generated when photons are absorbed
(generation of current), whereas
photovoltaic current is generated as a result
of the absorption of photons of a voltage
difference across a p-n junction (generation
of voltage).
In general, photoconductive detectors have
a higher frequency response, however they
also have a higher signal to noise ratio. We
recommend using photoconductive
Photodiode applications
The various applications of photodiodes
are
Compact disc players
Smoke detectors
Space applications
Photodiodes are used in medical
applications such as computed
tomography, instruments to
analyze samples, and pulse
oximeters.
Photodiodes are used for optical
communications.
Photodiodes are used to measure
extremely low light intensities.
Materials commonly used to produce
photodiodes include:
I-V characteristics of diode:
