Photodiode

Prepared By,
Nitul Kalita
M.Sc 4th Sem. (ECT), Gauhati University
 What is a Diode?
• A diode is a two-terminal semiconductor device that allows current to flow in only
one direction while blocking it in the opposite direction.

Fig 1: Symbol of a diode

• The anode consists of p-type semiconducting material (Eg, Si doped with B) & the
cathode consists of n-type semiconductive material (Eg, Si doped with P).

What is a diode? Slide 2

 What is a Photodiode?

• Photodiodes are the types of diodes that convert light energy to electrical energy
(Current or Voltage). It works opposite to an LED (converts electrical to light energy).
• It is used to detect the intensity of light.
• Photodiodes work on reverse bias condition.

Fig 2: Symbol of a photodiode

Theory Slide 3
 • Photodiodes are designed to be highly sensitive to incident light and is commonly
used in optical sensing applications.
P W N
o o ooo o oo
o o ooo o oo - - + +
o o ooo o oo
o o ooo o oo
- - + +
oo ooo o oo - - + +
o o ooo o oo
o o ooo o oo - - + +
o o ooo o oo
o o ooo o oo - - + +
o o ooo o oo

- +

V R
Fig 3: Structure of a Photodiode (Photoconductive mode)

• We know that the P side contains holes and the n side contains electrons and in
between them the region that has no holes and the electron contains the space
charge called the depletion region.

Theory Slide 4
 • The depletion region acts like a barrier for the holes and electrons so that these do
not diffuse with each other.
• For example, if the holes try to enter the side it gets repealed and vice versa.
• In Fig 3, the valence band is filled with electrons and the conduction band is empty.
That means there will be no conduction.

CB (Empty)

VB (Filled)

Fig 4: Energy band diagram for fig 3

• The depletion region plays a crucial role in light detection. Photons that strike the
region generate electron-hole pairs, leading to a measurable current.

Theory Slide 5
 Working Principle

• When we shine a light or the diode is exposed to a light source, and if the incident
light has a sufficient amount of energy i.e., more energy than the bandgap, then
some of the electrons from VB can absorb that and jump into the CB.

ℎ𝑣
CB (Free electron)
o o ooo o oo
o o ooo o oo - - + +
o o ooo o oo - - + +
- -
o o ooo o oo
oo ooo o oo + +
o o ooo o oo
o o ooo o oo
- - + +
o o ooo o oo
o o ooo o oo
- - + + o VB (Hole)
o o ooo o oo

Fig 5: Generation of Electron hole pair after incident photon

Working principle Slide 6

 • If the light is incident outside the depletion region, the electron and hole will
recombine and nothing will happen.
• But when it is incident to the depletion region, before they have a chance to
recombine the electrons will get attracted by the +ve charge and repealed by the -ve
charge. As a result, the movement of electrons will be -

Holes - - + + Electron
s

- - + +
Fig 6: Movement of electron and holes towards terminals

• Now we have current, as holes are moving towards the -ve terminal and electrons are
moving towards the +ve terminal. This will give us a current towards left. Current will
increase as the no. of incident photons increases (Brightness Detection).

Working principle Slide 7

 Construction

• The PN junction of the diode is placed inside

a glass material.
• This is done in order to allow the light
energy to pass through it.
• As only the junction is exposed to radiation,
thus the other portion of the glass material
is painted black or is metalized.
• The overall unit is very small in dimension
Fig 7: Construction of a photodiodes
nearly about 2.5mm.

Construction Slide 8
 Why Reverse Biasing
• If we forward bias the depletion region, the depletion region becomes narrower & if
the depletion region is narrow the electron-hole pair formed will have less chance
to form in the depletion region. As a result, most of the photons will become useless.
as they will not be contributing to the current.
• For this reason, we reverse the diode. So we have a large depletion region and lot of
photons can contribute to the current.
• In FB, as the depletion region is narrower, the electrons and holes will also start
diffusing and will cause current that will mess up because we want to generate
current only due to the external light (as we are detecting the light).

Why reverse biasing Slide 9

 Reverse Bias Forward Bias

• Diode current (Rsat) range is in µA • Diode current range in mA (10^-9).

(10^-6).
• The photocurrent range is in µA.
• The photocurrent range is in µA.
• So, the photocurrent of a few µA
• Thus we can easily identify the won't create any effect on the
change in diode current after diode current.
photocurrent generation.

Why reverse biasing Slide 10

 V-I Characteristics
• Looking at this V-I curve, the current generated is
independent of the voltage. Because the current
generated depends here on incident light and has
nothing to do with the voltage.
• Even if we increase the voltage the no. of electron
hole pairs formed will be the same.
• The dark current is generated when there is no light
and is due to the thermal background radiation and
Fig 8: V-I curve of a photodiodes
increases with an increase in temperature.

VI Characteristics of photodiode Slide 11

 Types of photodiodes

PN JUNCTION Photodiode PIN Avalence Photodiode Schottky Photodiode

Photodiode

Types of Photodiode Slide 12

 Amplification of Photodiodes
• Photodiodes generate a very small current (in the range of nanoamperes to
microamperes) when exposed to light. This current is often too weak for direct
processing or measurement, so amplification is necessary to enhance the signal
strength.

• These are some more reasons to amplify the photodiode response:

i) Improves signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)
ii) Enhancing detection sensitivity
iii) Integration with electronic circuits.

Amplification of Photodiodes Slide 13

 • This is a circuit that amplifies the photodiode response.

Fig 9: Circuit to amplify the photodiode responses

Amplification of Photodiodes Slide 14

 • When no incident light the amplified output voltage is minium.
• As we turned on the laser, the intensity of light is measured using Lux meter.
• As we keep on increasing the number of transparent sheets the intensity of light
decreases accordingly. The output amplified voltage is decreased. Showing a linear
characteristics between output voltage and intensities.

Fig 10: Observation table and graph of intensity vs output voltages

Amplification of Photodiodes Slide 15

 Advantages, Disadvantages &
Applications of Photodiodes
• Advantages: High sensitivity, High speed of operation

• Disadvantages: Bad temperature sensitivity, Dark current increases with increase in

temperature, External biasing is required, Amplification is required as output is
small.

• Applications: Light sensing & detection, Optical communications, CT Scan, Pulse

Oximeter (Medical applications), Security surveillance, Smoke detectors.

Advantages, Disadvantages & Applications of Photodiodes Slide 16