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Notes Source Detector

This document discusses semiconductor optical sources and detectors. It describes the important parameters of sources like efficiency, power, wavelength, and cost. It explains the operation of semiconductor lasers and LEDs, discussing key differences like stimulated emission and linewidth. The document also covers semiconductor materials used for sources, direct and indirect bandgaps, and common III-V compounds. It provides examples of laser specifications and characteristics of semiconductor optical detectors like photodiodes.

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Zeeshan Rafique
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45 views

Notes Source Detector

This document discusses semiconductor optical sources and detectors. It describes the important parameters of sources like efficiency, power, wavelength, and cost. It explains the operation of semiconductor lasers and LEDs, discussing key differences like stimulated emission and linewidth. The document also covers semiconductor materials used for sources, direct and indirect bandgaps, and common III-V compounds. It provides examples of laser specifications and characteristics of semiconductor optical detectors like photodiodes.

Uploaded by

Zeeshan Rafique
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Semiconductor Optical Sources

Source Characteristics

Important Parameters
Electrical-optical conversion efficiency
Optical power
Wavelength
Wavelength distribution (called linewidth)
Cost
Semiconductor lasers
Compact
Good electrical-optical conversion efficiency
Low voltages
Los cost

Semiconductor Optoelectronics

Two energy bands


Conduction band (CB)
Valence band (VB)
Fundamental processes
Absorbed photon creates an electron-hole pair
Recombination of an electron and hole can emit a photon
Types of photon emission
Spontaneous emission
Random recombination of an electron-hole pair
Dominant emission for light emitting diodes (LED)
Stimulated emission
A photon excites another electron and hole to recombine
Emitted photon has similar wavelength, direction, and phase
Dominant emission for laser diodes

Basic Light Emission Processes

Pumping (creating more electron-hole pairs)


Electrically create electron-hole pairs
Optically create electron-hole pairs
Emission (recombination of electron-hole pairs)
Spontaneous emission
Simulated emission

Semiconductor Material

Semiconductor crystal is required


Type IV elements on Periodic Table
Silicon
Germanium
Combination of III-V materials
GaAs
InP
AlAs
GaP
InAs

Periodic Table of Elements

Direct and Indirect Materials

Relationship between energy and momentum for electrons and holes


Depends on the material
Electrons in the CB combine with holes in the VB
Photons have no momentum
Photon emission requires no momentum change
CB minimum needs to be directly over the VB maximum
Direct bandgap transition required
Only specific materials have a direct bandgap
6

Light Emission

The emission wavelength depends on


the energy band gap

E g E2 E1

hc
1.24
m

E g E g eV

Semiconductor compounds have


different
Energy band gaps
Atomic spacing (called lattice
constants)
Combine semiconductor compounds
Adjust the bandgap
Lattice constants (atomic spacing)
must be matched
Compound must be matched to a
substrate
Usually GaAs or InP

Direct and Indirect Materials

Only specific materials have a direct bandgap


Material determines the bandgap
Material

Element Group

Bandgap Energy
Eg (eV)

Bandgap wavelength
g (m)

Type

Ge

IV

0.66

1.88

Si

IV

1.11

1.15

AlP

III-V

2.45

0.52

AlAs

III-V

2.16

0.57

AlSb

III-V

1.58

0.75

GaP

III-V

2.26

0.55

GaAs

III-V

1.42

0.87

GaSb

III-V

0.73

1.70

InP

III-V

1.35

0.92

InAs

III-V

0.36

3.5

AnSb

III-V

0.17

7.3

Common Semiconductor Compounds

GaAs and AlAs have the same lattice constants


These compounds are used to grow a ternary compound that is lattice
matched to a GaAs substrate (Al1-xGaxAs)
0.87 < < 0.63 (m)

Quaternary compound GaxIn1-xAsyP1-y is lattice matched to InP if y=2.2x


1.0 < < 1.65 (m)

Optical telecommunication laser compounds


In0.72Ga0.28As0.62P0.38 (=1300nm)
In0.58Ga0.42As0.9P0.1 (=1550nm)

10

Optical Sources

Two main types of optical sources


Light emitting diode (LED)
Large wavelength content
Incoherent
Limited directionality
Laser diode (LD)
Small wavelength content
Highly coherent
Directional

11

Light Emitting Diodes (LED)

Spontaneous emission dominates


Random photon emission
Implications of random emission
Broad spectrum (~30nm)
Broad far field emission pattern
Dome used to extract more of the light
Critical angle is between semiconductor and
plastic
Angle between plastic and air is near normal
Normal reflection is reduced
Dome makes LED more directional

12

Laser Diode

Stimulated emission dominates


Narrower spectrum
More directional
Requires high optical power density in the gain region
High photon flux attained by creating an optical cavity
Optical Feedback: Part of the optical power is reflected back into the
cavity
End mirrors
Lasing requires net positive gain
Gain > Loss
Cavity gain
Depends on external pumping
Applying current to a semiconductor pn junction
Cavity loss
Material absorption
Scatter
End face reflectivity
13

Lasing

Gain > Loss


Gain
Gain increases with supplied current
Threshold condition: when gain exceeds loss
Loss
Light that leaves the cavity
Amount of optical feedback
Scattering loss
Confinement loss
Amount of power actually guided in the gain region

14

Optical Feedback

Easiest method: cleaved end faces


End faces must be parallel
Uses Fresnel reflection

n 1
R

n 1

For GaAs (n=3.6) R=0.32


Lasing condition requires the net cavity gain to be one
R1 R2 exp g L 1

g: distributed medium gain


: distributed loss
R1 and R2 are the end facet reflectivities
15

Cleaved Cavity Laser

The cavity can be produced by cleaving the end faces of the semiconductor
heterojunction
This laser is called a Fabry-Perot laser diode (FP-LD)
Semiconductor-air interface produces a reflection coefficient at normal
incidence of

For GaAs this reflection coefficient is

3.6 1
R

3
.
6

0.32

Threshold condition is where the gain equals the internal and external loss

n2 n1

R
n2 n1

1
ln r1 r2
L

Longer length laser has a lower gain threshold

16

Phase Condition

The waves must add in phase as given by

2 L z 2 m

Resulting in modes given by

2Ln
m

Where m is an integer and n is the refractive index of the cavity

17

Longitudinal Modes

18

Longitudinal Modes

The optical cavity excites various longitudinal modes


Modes with gain above the cavity loss have the potential to lase
Gain distribution depends on the spontaneous emission band
Wavelength width of the individual longitudinal modes depends on the
reflectivity of the end faces
Wavelength separation of the modes depends on the length of the cavity

19

Mode Separation

Wavelength of the various modes

m
2Ln

The wavelength separation of the modes is

1
1

m
m

m m 1 2 L n

2Ln
2
2
m
2Ln

A longer cavity
Increases the number of modes
Decrease the threshold gain

There is a trade-off with the length of the laser cavity

20

Cleaved Cavity Laser Example

A laser has a length of L=500m and has a gain of

1550
g 1090 1500 exp

10

Solving this for wavelength gives


(1550-5.65) nm < < (1550+5.65) nm

The supported modes are calculated based on the constructed interference


condition
2Ln

The minimum and maximum orders are


mmin=2249
mmax=2267

The number of modes is 18


With a wavelength separation of =0.69nm

21

Single Longitudinal Mode Lasers

Multimode laser have a large wavelength content


A large wavelength content decrease the performance of the optical link
Methods used to produce single longitudinal mode lasers
Cleaved-coupled-cavity (C3) laser
Distributed feedback laser (DFB) laser

22

Cleaved Coupled Cavity (C3) Laser

Longitudinal modes are required to satisfy the phase condition for both
cavities

23

2Ln 2Dn

m1
m2

Periodic Reflector Lasers

Periodic structure (grating) couples between forward and backward


propagating waves

2n

For =1550 nm, =220 nm

Distributed feedback (DFB) laser


Grating distributed over entire
active region

Distributed Bragg reflector (DBR)


laser
Grating replaces mirror at end
face

24

Laser Wavelength Linewidth

25

Summary of Source Characteristics

Laser type
FP laser: Less expensive, larger linewidth
DFB: More expensive, smaller linewidth
Optical characteristics
Optical wavelength
Optical linewidth
Optical power
Electrical characteristics
Electrical power consumption
Required voltage
Required current

26

Example Laser Specifications

Let look at an example specification sheet


Phasebridge Wideband Integrated Laser
Transmitter Module
Laser + External Modulator
Specifications
Wavelength: 1548 nm < < 1562 nm
Average power: 5 < Pt < 9 mW
Threshold current Ith=40mA
TEC cooler
Line width: 10 MHz
We need to convert from f to

c
f

=0.008 nm

27

f
f

Semiconductor Optical Detectors

28

Semiconductor Optical Detectors

Inverse device with semiconductor lasers


Source: convert electric current to optical power
Detector: convert optical power to electrical current
Use pin structures similar to lasers
Electrical power is proportional to i2
Electrical power is proportional to optical power squared
Called square law device
Important characteristics
Modulation bandwidth (response speed)
Optical conversion efficiency
Noise
Area

29

pin Photodiode

p-n junction has a space charge


region at the interface of the two
material types
This region is depleted of most
carriers
A photon generates an electronhole pair in this region that moves
rapidly at the drift velocity by the
electric field
Intrinsic layer is introduced
Increase the space charge
region

30

I-V Characteristic of Reversed Biased pin

Photocurrent increases with incident optical power


Dark current, Id: current with no incident optical power

31

Light Absorption

Dominant interaction
Photon absorbed
Electron is excited to CB
Hole left in the VB
Depends on the energy band gap
(similar to lasers)
Absorption ( requires the photon
energy to be smaller than the
material band gap

hc
Eg

hc
1.24
m

E g E g eV

32

Quantum Efficiency

Probability that photon generates an electron-hole pair


Absorption requires
Photon gets into the depletion region
Be absorbed
Reflection off of the surface

Photon absorbed before it gets to the depletion region

1 R

e l

Photon gets absorbed in the depletion region

1 e d
Fraction of incident photons that are absorbed
1 R e l 1 e d

33

Detector Responsivity

Each absorbed photon generates an electron hole pair


Iph = (Number of absorbed photons) * (charge of electron)

Rate of incident photons depends on


Incident optical power Pinc
Energy of the photon Ephoton= hf

Generated current

I ph Pinc

q
hf

Detector responsivity
Current generated per unit optical power

AW
hf
1.24

in units of m

34

Responsivity

Depends on quantum efficiency , and photon energy

AW
hf
1.24

35

Avalanche Photodiode (APD)

36

Minimum Detectable Power

Important detector Specifications


Responsivity
Noise Equivalent noise power in or noise
equivalent power NEP
Often grouped into minimum detectable
power Pmin at a specific data rate
Pmin scales with data rate

Common InGaAs pin photodetector


Pmin=-22 dBm @B=2.5 Gbps, BER=10-10

Common InGaAs APD


Pmin=-32 dBm @B=2.5 Gbps, BER=10-10
Limited to around B=2.5 Gbps

37

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