6.

0 Introduction

Light detectors convert optical signal to electrical signal

semiconductor photodiode is the most common detector

LED - light energy emitted during electron-hole recombination

Photodiode - opposite - light striking photodiode creates electron
flow

Light I

1
 OPTICAL DETECTORS

Photodetector
An photodetector is used at the front end of every optical receiver to generate a
photocurrent proportional to the incident light intensity.
The characteristics of photodetectors which are useful for fiber optic
communication are:
• High sensitivity at the operating wavelength
• Sufficient bandwidth or speed of response to accommodate the information rate
• Very low noise
• Low power consumption and low operating voltage
• Less sensitive to changes in ambient temperature and in operating voltage
• Compatibility with the fiber parameters
• Small size
• Low cost
• High reliability

Photodiodes are the primary type used in optical communication systems.

There are two types of photodiodes commonly used: PIN (P-type, intrinsic, N-
type) diodes and avalanche photodiodes (APDs).

2
 6.1 Important Photodetector Parameters

Responsivity - ratio of current output to light input

 varies with wavelength
 theoretical maximum resposivity: 1.05A/W at 1300nm
 typical responsivity: 0.8 - 0.9 A/W at 1300nm
 formula for theoretical maximum responsivity (quantum efficiency = 100%)

n⋅λ
R=
1240
where:
R = theoretical maximum responitivity in Amps/Watt
η = quantum efficiency
λ = wavelength in nanometers

R = ηeλ
hc
e=1.6e-19, h=6.63e-34, c=3e8 3
 6.1 Important Photodetector Parameters

Quantum Efficiency -
ratio of primary
electron-hole pairs
created by incident
photons to the
photons incident
on the diode material

Figure 6.1 Typical Spectral Response of

Various Detector Materials
(Illustration courtesy of Force, Inc.)

4
 6.1 Important Photodetector Parameters

Capacitance of a detector
 dependent upon the active area
of the device and the reverse
voltage across the device.
 A smaller active diameter
makes it harder to align the
fiber to the detector.
 Also, only the center should
be illuminated
 photodiode response is slow
at the edges
 edge jitter

Figure 6.2 Capacitance versus Reverse

Voltage
(Illustration courtesy of Force, Inc.)

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 6.2 Response Time

Time needed for the photodiode to

respond to optical input and
Vout produce an external current

Dependent on
 photodiode capacitance
90%  load resistance
 design of photodiode
10%

Measured between 10% and 90%
of amplitude
Time

Rise Fall
Time Time

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 6.2 Response Time

Approximate -3 dB frequency formula: 1

f −3dB =
where: 2πRC
R = Impedance that the detector operates into
C = Capacitance of the detector

Rise or fall time formula:
τ = 2.2 RC

Formula for τ and f-3dB

0.35
τ=
f −3dB

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 6.2 Response Time

Dark Current
 Current that flows in the absence of light because of the intrinsic resistance of the detector and
the applied reverse voltage
 Very temperature sensitive - may double every 5°C to 10°C
 Contributes to detector noise

Edge Effect
 Only the center of detector provides fast response
 Outer regions exhibit edge effect
 Detector edge has higher responsivity – can cause problems in alignment, important to use square
wave (> 1 MHz) instead of continuous source
 Detector edge has slower response

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 6.2 Response Time

Linearity and Backreflection

 All PIN diodes are inherently linear
 Some applications, such as CATV links,
require that distortion be reduced to very
low levels
 Coupling the fiber at an angle to the detector
will produce low backreflections

Noise - any electrical or optical energy other
than the signal itself

Noise appears in all elements of a
communication system; however, it is usually Figure 6.4 Low Backreflection
most critical to the receiver Detector Alignment

Shot noise - occurs because the process of (Illustration courtesy of Force, Inc.)

creating a current is a discrete process

Thermal noise - arises from fluctuations in the
load resistance

Signal quality can be expressed as a signal-to-
noise ratio (SNR)

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 Semiconductor Photodiodes

 Generate current when they absorb photons. The

amount of current depends on ;

-Wavelength of the light and responsivity of the

photodiode

-Size of the photodiode active area relative to the

fiber core size

-Alignment of the fiber and photodiode

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 6.3 PIN Photodiode

A regular PN diode has a limited

depletion area which makes it
inefficient for converting light to
current

A PIN photodiode has a large
depletion area and current is more
easily generated

A lightly-doped intrinsic layer
separates the more heavily doped p-
type and n-type regions

PIN - Positive, Intrinsic, Negative

Figure 6.3a Pigtailed and Connectorized

PIN Photodiodes
(Illustration courtesy of Hewlett-Packard.)

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 OPTICAL DETECTORS
Physical Principles of Photodiodes
The simplest photodiode is a PN junction operated under reversed-bias.
Diode current,
I = I 0 [exp(qV kT ) − 1] − I op

Dark current photocurrent

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 6.3 PIN Photodiode

With no light, PIN Photodiodes

behave electrically like an
ordinary rectifier diode. If
forward biased, they conduct
large amounts of current.

Two Operating Modes
 Photovoltaic - no bias is
applied, logarithmic output.
(not used in real-world
applications)
 Photoconductive - a reverse
bias is applied. The output
current is very linear with the
light input power.

Figure 6.5 Cross-Section and Operation of

a PIN Photodiode
(Illustration courtesy of Force, Inc.)

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 6.4 IDP Detectors

IDP - Integrated
Detector/Preamplifier
 Noise can occur between the diode
and the first receiver stage
 A transimpedance amplifier
(current to voltage) is combined
with the detector in an integrated
circuit to reduce noise.
 Responsivity is measured in
Volts/Watt

Figure 6.5a. Fiber Optic "Light to Logic"

TM Receiver
(Illustration courtesy of Hewlett-Packard.)

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 6.5 Avalanche Photodiode

In APD’s , free electrons and holes

created by absorbed photons accelerate
and collide with neutral atoms and create
more free electron-hole pairs.

Collision Ionization, Photomultiplication

Typical multiplication ranges in the tens
and hundreds

Disadvantages
 High-voltage power supplies (20 - 300
volts)
 Temperature sensitive
 Less reliable Figure 6.5b Avalanche Photodiode Module
with Preamplifier IC

PIN detectors are usually used at lower (Illustration courtesy of Fujitsu)

data rates because they can almost match

the performance of an APD.

15
 Problems

Calculate the theoretical maximum responsivity of a detector at 1550nm.

Calculate the theoretical maximum responsivity of a detector at 820nm.

Calculate the -3dB frequency and rise time of a detector with a capacitance of 0.5pF
operating into an impedance of 50Ω.

Answers: 1.25 Amps/Watt, 0.661

Amps/Watt, 6.4 GHz

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 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 η
• 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).
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 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.
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 OPTICAL DETECTORS
Receiver sensivitiy comparison of P-I-N photodiode and APD devices at BER of 10-9.

InGaAs Si
λ = 1.55µm λ = 0.82µm

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.
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 Photodiode construction

Silicon photodiodes are constructed from single crystal silicon wafers similar to those
used in the manufacture of integrated circuits

The major difference is that photodiodes require higher purity silicon

20
 Photodiode Responsivity

Is a measure of the current produced per unit power received

Responsivity( A/W) = Current(A) / Power (W)

At specified bias voltage responsivity depends on the operating wavelength

21
 Quantum Efficiency (Q.E)

A photodiode's capability to convert light energy to electrical energy, expressed as a

percentage, is its Quantum Efficiency

The QE is related to the photodiode's responsivity over operating wavelength

22
 Responsivity vs Wavelength at 100% Q.E.

Operating wavelength (nm) Responsivity (A/W)

400 0.323

500 0.403

600 0.484

700 0.565

800 0.645

900 0.726

1000 0.806

1100 0.887

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 Temperature Effects

Increasing the operating temperature of a photodiode device results in two distinct

changes in operating characteristics
 a shift in the Quantum Efficiency (Q.E.) due to changes in the radiation absorption of the device
 exponential increases in the thermally excited electron-hole pairs resulting in increasing dark
current

24
QE/oC vs Operating Wavelength

25
Dark Current, Id vs Temperature

26
 Noise Equivalent Power (NEP)

The minimum incident power required on a photodiode to generate a photocurrent equal

to the total photodiode noise current

dependent on the bandwidth of the measuring system

Since the photodiode light power to current conversion depends on the radiation
wavelength, the NEP power is quoted at a particular wavelength

non-linear over the wavelength range

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 Photodiode Noise

noise generated by a silicon photodiode, operating under reverse bias, is a combination

of shot noise, due to dark leakage current, and Johnson noise due to the shunt
resistance of the device and the ambient temperature

Shot noise is the dominant component of the noise current of a reverse-biased
photodiode

If devices are operated in a photovoltaic mode with zero bias, the Johnson noise
dominates, as dark current approaches zero

operating in the zero bias mode the noise current is reduced such that the NEP, and
hence the minimum detectable signal, is reduced in spite of some loss of absolute
sensitivity

28
 Shot Noise

Proportional to the total dark current and system bandwidth

29
 Johnson noise, Ij

Johnson noise contribution is provided by the shunt resistance of the device, series
resistance and the load resistance

30
The equivalent circuit of a photodiode

31
PIN Photodiode Specification

32
APD Photodiode Specification

33
 DIRECT DETECTION RECEIVERS

An optical receiver consists of a photodetector, an amplifier, and signal processing

circuitry.
It first converting the optical energy emerging from the end of a fiber into an electric signal,
and then amplifying this signal to a large enough level so that it can be processed by signal
processing circuits for reducing the noise and improving the output pulse shape.

Noise sources and disturbances in the optical pulse detection mechanism

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 DIRECT DETECTION RECEIVERS
Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR)
The power signal-to-noise ratio at the output of an optical receiver is defined by
S Signal power from photocurrent
=
N Photodetector noise power+amplifier noise power
For both signal power and noise power are released at the same load resistance,
2
S I Ip = average photocurrent
= 2p
N inoise inoise = root mean square value of the noise
induced current
Noise Equivalent Power (NEP)
NEP is the minimum optical signal power that produces SNR = 1.
This is the optical power necessary to produce a photocurrent of the same magnitude
as total noise current.
NEP determines the weakest optical signal that can be detected in the presence of
noise.

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 DIRECT DETECTION RECEIVERS
Quantum Noise
•The detection of light by a photodiode is a discrete process - an electron-hole pair is
generated from the absorption of a photon.
•The photocurrent generated is dictated by the statistics of photon arrivals.
• When the detector is illuminated by an optical signal P0, the
ηP τ
average number of electron-hole pairs generated in a time τ is z m = reτ = 0
hf
•The actual number of electron-hole pairs z that are generated fluctuates from the
average according to the Poisson distribution, where the probability that z electrons
are generated in an interval τ is

z mz exp(− z m )
P( z ) =
z!
quantum noise - it is not
possible to predict exactly
how many electron-hole
pairs are generated by a
known optical power
incident on the detector.

36
 DIRECT DETECTION RECEIVERS
Digital Signaling Quantum Noise
• For an ideal receiver (Idark= 0, η=1 and able to detect an individual photon), the
probability of no electron-hole pairs (z = 0) being generated when an optical pulse
of energy E falls on the photodetector in the time interval τ is
P(0 1) = exp(− zm )
•This error probability represents the bit-error-rate of digital system, [ P(0/1)=10-9,
on the average, one error occurs for every billion pulses sent].
•The minimum optical power (or pulse energy) required to maintain a specific bit-
z hf
error-rate performance in a digital system is known as the quantum limit. Pmin = m
ητ
Analog Transmission Quantum Noise
•In analog optical receiver quantum limit manifests itself as a shot noise which has
Poisson statistics. The shot noise current is on the photocurrent Ip is given by
is2 = 2qBI p S Ip
2
Ip
•Neglecting other sources of noise the SNR at the receiver is = 2 =
N is 2qB
•The minimum incident optical power  S  2hfB ηP0 q ηP0
= =
necessary to achieve a specific S/N is Pmin =  N  η hf 2qB 2hfB
 
• In term of the absolute optical power requirements analog transmission compares
unfavorably with digital signaling.
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 DIRECT DETECTION RECEIVERS
Quantum / Shot Noise
•The detector average current Ip exhibits a random fluctuation about it mean value as a
result of the statistical nature of the quantum detection process.
•The number of electrons producing photocurrent will vary because of their random
absorption and recombination.
• Deviation of an instantaneous number of electrons from their average value is known
as shot noise and its current mean square value is is2 = 2qBI p

Dark Current Noise B = post-detection bandwidth

• A small leakage current flows from the device terminals when there is no optical power
incident on the photodiode.
• This current contribute to the random fluctuations about the average particle flow of the
photocurrent and manifests itself as shot noise.
• The mean square value of dark current noise is id2 = 2qBI d
Thermal Noise
• Electron motion due to temperature (external thermal energy) occurs in a random way.
• The number of electrons flowing through a given circuit at any instance is a random
variable.
• The mean square value of thermal-noise current in a resistor R,
4k TB kB = Boltzmann’s constant
it2 = B T = absolute temperature
R
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 DIRECT DETECTION RECEIVERS

Noise in a P-I-N Photodiode

• Three sources of noise: Quantum noise,
Dark current noise,
Noise due to background radiation
• The total shot noise, iTS = 2qB( I P + I d + I b )
2
Ib = background radiation
induced current
• For photodiode without internal gain, thermal noise from the detector load resistor
and from active elements in the amplifier tends to dominate.
Noise in an APD
• Due to avalanche multiplication gain in an APD, the amount of noise is higher than
that in a P-I-N photodiode
• An excess noise in the output photocurrent due to gain fluctuation
Quantum noise is2 = 2qBI p M 2 F ( M )
Dark current noise id2 = 2qBI d M 2 F ( M )
Background noise ib2 = 2qBI b M 2 F ( M )

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 DIRECT DETECTION RECEIVERS
Receiver Noise

The equivalent circuit for the front end of an optical fiber receiver, including the
effective input capacitance Ca and resistance Ra.

Noise sources within an amplifier can be represented by a series voltage noise

2
source va and a shunt current noise source ia2 .

The total noise associated with the amplifier is 2

iamp =
B
∫0 (i 2
a + v a2 Y
2
)df
where Y is the shunt admittance and f is frequency. i 2 may be reduced with
amp
low detector and amplifier capacitance.

40
 DIRECT DETECTION RECEIVERS
SNR of P-i-N Photodiode Receiver
The SNR at the output of the P-i-N photodiode receiver is
S I p2
=
N 2qB(I + I ) + 4k BTB + i 2
p d amp
RL
2
When the noise associated with the amplifier iamp is referred to the load resistance
RL the noise figure Fn of the amplifier may be obtained. This allows i 2 to be
amp
combined with the thermal noise it2 from the load resistance to give
4k BTBFn
it2 + iamp
2
=
RL
Then the SNR can be written as
S I p2
=
N 2qB( I + I ) + 4k BTBFn
p d
RL
The thermal noise contribution may be reduced by increasing the value of the load
resistor RL, however this will decrease the post detection bandwidth
1
B≤
2πRL (Cd + Ca )
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 DIRECT DETECTION RECEIVERS
SNR of APD Receiver
The total shot noise current multiplied through impact ionization is given by
2
iSA = 2qB( I P + I d )M 2+ x where F ( M ) = M x , x ~0.3 to 0.5 for Si APDs
x ~ 0.7 to 1.0 for Ge or III-VAPDs
The SNR at the output of the APD receiver is
S I 2p M 2 I 2p
= =
4 k TBF x 4k BTBF n
( p )
N 2qB I + I M 2+ x + B
d
n 2 (
qB I p + )
I d M +
RL RL M 2
For low M the combined thermal
and amplifier noise term dominates
and giving an improved SNR.
For large M the SNR decreases with
increasing M at the rate of Mx.
For the maximum SNR,
x
2qB ( I p + I d ) M op 2
−2
=
(4k BTBFn RL )M op x
and
2+ x 4k BTFn
M op =
(
xqRL I p + I d )
42
 Multiplication Factor
The multiplication factor M is a measure of the internal gain provided
by the APD.
It is define as:

where I is the total output current at the operating voltage and IP is

the initial or primary photocurrent.
The gain M, increases with the reverse bias voltage, Vd.

where n=constant and VBR is the breakdown voltage of the detector

which is usually around 20 to 500V.

43
 Bandwidth:
Maximum frequency or bit rate that a photodiode can detect.
Determined by the response time.
The response time limited by three factors.
1) The transit time of the carriers across the absorption region, τ=d/Vsat
2) The RC time constant incurred by the junction capacitance (Cj) of
the diode and its load. Cj =εA/d. ε is the permittivity of the
semiconductor and A is the active area of the photodiode.
3) The time taken by the carriers to perform the avalanche
multiplication process (for APD).
Vsat=saturation velocity

44
 Comparison between PIN and APD
Material Structure Risetime λ R Dark Current Gain
(µm) (A/W) (nA)

Silicon PIN 0.5 0.3-1.1 0.5 1 1

Germanium PIN 0.1 0.5-1.8 0.7 200 1

InGaAs PIN 0.3 0.9-1.7 0.6 10 1

Silicon APD 0.5 0.4-1.0 75 15 150

Germanium APD 1.0 1.0-1.6 35 700 50

InGaAs APD 0.25 1.0-1.7 12 100 20

45
 Selection Chart
CHOICES 0.6-0.8 µm 0.8-0.9 µm 1.2-1.7 µm

SOURCE LED LED LED LED(1.3µm)

LASER VCSEL VCSEL LD

FIBER GLASS 3 dB/km <1 dB/km

MM GRIN MM GRIN MM GRIN

SMF SMF

PLASTIC 160 dB/km

SI SI

DETECTOR MATERIAL Si Si InGaAs

Ge Ge Ge

PIN PIN PIN PIN

APD APD

46
 Summary on Photodiodes

PIN Photodiodes

 No internal gain
 Low bias voltage
 Highly linear
 Low dark current
 Most widely used

APD Photodiodes
 Internal gain(increased sensitivity)
 Best for high speed and highly sensitive receivers
 Strong temperature dependence
 High bias voltage
 costly

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