Opticat Diopes The Light-Emitting Diode (LED) ‘The symbol for an LED is shown in Figure 3-28. ‘The basic operation of the light-emitting diode (LED) is as follows, When the device is forward-biased, electrons cross the pm junction from the n-type material and recombine with holes in the p-type material. Recall from Chapter 1 that these free electrons are in the conduction band and at a higher energy than the holes in the valence band. The differ-ence in energy between the electrons and the holes corresponds to the energy of visible light, When recombination takes place, the recombining electrons release energy in the form of photons. The emitted light tends to be monochromatic (one color) that depends on the band gap (and other factors). A large exposed surface area on one layer of the semi-conductive ‘material permits the photons to be emitted as visible light. This process, called electroluminescence, is illustrated in Figure 3-29. Various impurities are added during the doping process to establish the wavelength of the emitted light. The ‘wavelength deter-mines the color of visible light. Some LEDs emit photons that are not part of the visible spectrum but have longer wavelengths and are in the infrared (IR) portion of the spectrum, LED Semiconductor Materials The semiconductor gallium arsenide (GaAs) was used in early LEDs and emits IR radiation, which is invisible, The first visible red LEDs were produced using gallium arsenide phosphide (GaAsP) on a Gaas substrate. The efficiency was increased using a gallium phosphide (GaP) substrate, resulting in brighter red LEDs and also allowing orange LEDs. Later, GaP was used as the light-emitter to achieve pale green light. By using a red and a green chip, LEDs were able to produce yellow light. The first super-bright red, yellow, and green LEDs were produced using gallium aluminum arsenide phosphide (GaAIAsP). By the early 1990s ultrabright LEDs using indium gallium aluminum phosphide (InGaAIP) were availabe in red, orange, yellow, and green FIGURE ‘Symbol for an LED. When forward biased, it emis light Figure 3-29 Light Electroluminescence in a forward gepeeeenoeaye biased LED. region gionBlue LEDS using silicon carbide (SiC) and ultabright blue LEDs made of gallium nitride (GaN) became available. High intensity LEDs that produce green and blue are also made using indium gallium nitride (InGaN). High-intensty white LEDs are formed using ultraright blue GaN coated with fluorescent phosphors that absorb the blue light and emit it as white light. LED Biasing “The forward voltage across an LED is considerably greater than for a sli- con diode. Typically, the maximum V¢ for LEDs is between 1.2 V and 3.2 V, depending on the material, Reverse breakdown for an LED is much less than for a silicon rectifier diode GV t0 10 V is typical). ‘The LED emits light in response to a sufficient forward current, as shown in Figure 3-30(a). The amount of power output translated into light is directly proportional to the for- ‘ward current, as indicated in Figure 3-30(b). An increase in Jz corresponds proportionally to aan increase in light output. The light output (both intensity and coler) is also dependent on temperature. Light intensity goes down with higher temperature as indicated inthe igure. 4 Fe Rover 3 iF I _ k {Il ql ls Forwacaet (oy Foart ised option (ben ght npr ves foward cues fortwo empentures A FiguRE 3-30 Basic operation ofan LED. Light Emission An LED emits light over a specified range of wavelengths as indicated by the spectral output curves in Figure 3-31. The curves in part (a) represent the light ‘output versus wavelength for typical visible LEDS, and the curve in part (b) is for atypical infrared LED. The wavelength (A) is expressed in nanometers (nm). The normalized output of the visible red LED peaks at 660 nm, the yellow at 590 nm, green at $40 nm, and blue at 460 nm, The output forthe infrared LED peaks at 940 nm. o as| os] qu qo Bor Fa § os] E as) Bos Zs Boa Fos dos oa Ba oa| on ou ORO te 500 SH SK GD God TOD THO O30 500920810 Bd ONT een om Asch om (ove (tats) To00Quantum Dots Quantum dots are a form of nanocrystals that are_made from semiconductor material such as silicon, germanium, cadmium sulfide, cadmium selenide, and indium phosphide. Quantum dots are only 1 nm to 12 om in diameter (a nm is one billionth of a meter). Billions of dots could fit on the head of a pin! Because of their small size, quantum effects arise due to the confinement of electrons and holes; as a result, material properties are very different than the normal material. One important property is that the band gap is depend-ent on the size of the dots. When excited from an extemal source, dots formed from semi-conductors emit light in the visible range as well as infrared and ‘ultraviolet, depending on their size, The higher-frequency blue light is emitted by smaller dots suspended in solution (larger band gap); red light is emitted from solutions with larger dots (smaller band gap), Although quantum dots are not diodes themselves, they can be used in construction of light-emitting diodes as well as display devices and a variety of other applications. As you know, LEDs work by generating a specific frequency (Color) of light, which is determined by the band gap. To produce white light, blue LEDs are coated with a phosphor that adds yellow light to the blue, forming white Quantum dots can be used to modify the basic color of LEDs by converting higher-energy photons (blue) to photons of lower energy. The result is a color that more closely approximates an incandescent bulb. Quantum dot filters can be designed to contain com-binations of colors, giving designers control of the spectrum. The important advantage of quantum dot technology is that it does not lose the incoming light; it merely absorbs the light and reradiates it ata different frequency. This enables control of color without giving up efficiency. By placing a quantum dot filter in front of a white LED, the spectrum can be made to look like that of an incandescent bulb. The resulting light is ‘more satisfactory for general illumination, while retaining the advantages of LEDs There are other promising applications, particularly in medical applications. Water-soluble quantum dots are used as a ‘biochemical luminescent marker for cellularimaging and medical esearch. Research is also being done on quantum dots as the basic device units for informa-tion processing by manipulating two energy levels within the quantum dot. The Photodiode ‘The photodiode isa device that operates in reverse bias, as shown in Figure 3-43(a), where Ils the reverse light current. The photodiode has a small transparent window that allows light to strike the pn junction, Some typical photodiodes are shown in Figure 3-43(b). An alternate photodiode symbol is shown in Figure 3~43(c) (@) Revesebias operation (‘Typical devices (6) Altera symbol ‘sing standard symbol A FIGURE 3-43, Photodiode. Recall that when reverse-biased, a rectifier diode has a very small reverse leakage current, The same is tre for a photodiode, The reverse-biased current is produced by thermally generated electron-hole pairs in the depletion region, which fare swept across the pn junction by the electric field ereated by the reverse voltage. In a rectifier diode, the reverse leakage ‘current increases with temperature due to an increase in the number of electron-hole pairs. ‘A photodiode differs from a rectifier diode in that when its pn junction is exposed to light, the reverse current increases with the light intensity. When there is no incident light, the reverse current, J, is almost negligible and is called the dark current. An increase in the amount of light intensity, expressed as irradiance (mW/em?), produces an increase in the reverse current, as shown by the graph in Figure 3—4(a.Revers cure) a Iadianee,E (0) eneral graph of revere coment vera iain AFIGURE 3-4 ‘Typical photodiode characteristics.