DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS AND NANOTECHNOLOGY

SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

21PYB102J –Semiconductor Physics and Computational Methods

Module 2

Lecture 22

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 Photocurrent in pn junction diode (Photodiode)
What is a photodiode?
 Photodiode is a form of light-weight sensor that converts light energy into
electrical voltage or current. Photodiode is a type of semi conducting device
with PN junction. Between the p (positive) and n (negative) layers, an
intrinsic layer is present. The photodiode accepts light energy as input to
generate electric current.
 It is also called as photodetector, photosensor or light detector. Photodiode
operates in reverse bias condition i.e., the p- side of the photodiode is
connected to negative terminal of battery (or the power supply) and n- side
to the positive terminal of battery.
 Typical photodiode materials are Silicon, Germanium, Indium Gallium
Arsenide Phosphide and Indium gallium arsenide.
 Internally, a photodiode has optical filters, built in lens and a surface area.
When surface area of photodiode increases, it results in more response time.
Few photo diodes will look like Light Emitting Diode (LED). It has two
terminals as shown below. The smaller terminal acts as cathode and longer
terminal acts as anode.

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 Photocurrent in pn junction diode (Photodiode)
 In a photodiode, the incident optical signal generates electron-hole pairs that gives rise to a photo
current across PN junction.
 When a PN junction is illuminated with light of photon energy (E) greater than E g, photons are
absorbed in semiconductor and electron-hole pairs are generated both in n-region and p-region of
the junction.
 For the electron-hole pair to contribute towards current in external circuit, the generated electron and
holes must be separated before they recombine.
 Once electron-hole pairs are generated in the depletion layer, the electric field in the built-in-
potential or contact potential sweeps away the electron and holes in opposite directions.
 The photo generated minority carriers which are generated within one diffusion length from the
depletion layer edge, can also diffuse to the depletion region without recombining.

Symbol Circuit Thinfilm Device

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Photocurrent in pn junction diode (Photodiode)

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 Working principle of Photodiode

 Generally, when a light is made to illuminate the PN junction, covalent bonds are
ionized. This generates hole and electron pairs. Photocurrents are produced due to
generation of electron-hole pairs. Electron hole pairs are formed when photons of energy
more than 1.1eV hits the diode.
 When the photon enters the depletion region of diode, it hits the atom with high energy.
 This results in release of electron from atom structure. After the electron release, free
electrons and hole are produced.
 In general, an electron will have negative charge and holes will have a positive charge.
The depletion energy will have built in electric filed. Due to that electric filed, electron
hole pairs moves away from the junction.
 Hence, holes move to anode and electrons move to cathode to produce photo current.
The photon absorption intensity and photon energy are directly proportional to each
other. When energy of photons is less, the absorption will be more. This entire process is
known as Inner Photoelectric Effect.

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Energy band diagram of Photodiode

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 Photocurrent in Photodiode

The photocurrent generated in photodiode has three component:

1. Photo generated current in space-charge region
2. Photo generated current in n-region
3. Photo generated current in p-region

If G is the generation rate of excess carrier and A is diode area then photo current,
the excess carrier in depletion region quickly moved by electric field (electron to
n-region and holes to p-region).

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Photocurrent in Photodiode

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Smoke alarm

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DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

21PYB102J –Semiconductor Physics and Computational Methods

Module 2

Lecture 23

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 Optoelectronics Integrated Circuits

 Optoelectronic Integrated Circuits (OEICs) which involves monolithic

integration of optical devices (lasers, waveguides) and electronics
(transistors, modulators) devices.
 Optoelectronic Integrated Circuits (OEICs) have numerous applications in
different fields of applied science and engineering due to their advantages
such as high data transmission speed, improved reliability, small size, light
weight and potential low cost.
 Due to these advantages, it is now widely recognized that monolithic OEICs
will play an important role in the field of data processing and transmission.
 An OEIC consists of active and passive components, monolithically
integrated on the same substrate.
 The active components are those components which require the application
of voltage or the passage for current (i.e. they are the components which
must be integrated with electronic circuits).

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 Optoelectronics Integrated Circuits

 The passive components are those components which do not require electric
signals for their operation.
 Therefore, the active components are lasers, photo detectors, switches,
modulators etc., and the passive components are spectral filters, couplers,
multiplexers, de-multiplexers, lenses etc.

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 Optoelectronics Integrated Circuits

 Most optical elements should relate to electronic circuitry in an OEIC. It is

reasonable to expect that the progress in optoelectronic device technology
will follow that of silicon-based VLSI technology.
 However, the integration of several optical components on a single substrate
is still a technological challenges.
 Since the technology of monolithic integration of electronic components is
mature, now the task is to select a suitable material, structure and
technology, which can address the challenges, faced by this new technology
and can meet the demands of communication and computing systems.

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Optoelectronics Integrated Circuits

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 Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED)

 A type of LED where emissive electroluminescent layer is a film of organic

compound which emit light in response to an electric current.

Structure of OLED:

 A simple OLED is made of six different layers. On the top and bottom layers
of protective glass or plastic. The top layer is called seal and the bottom
layer is substrate. In between seal and substrate, a negative terminal
(cathode) and positive terminal (anode), and finally between cathode and
anode there are two layers made of organic molecules called emissive layer
which produces light and the conductive layer.

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 Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED)

1. Substrate – Clean glass / plastic

2. Anode – Positively charged (Indium Tin Oxide) which ejects holes
3. Organic layer –Emissive and Conductive layers –Polyaniline and
Polyfluorene
4. Cathode – Negatively charged which injects electrons
Conjugated polymers are having characteristics of LED and having energy
gap (Eg) same like semiconductors by doping with p-type/ n-type materials
used for light emission.

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 Components of OLED

Like an LED, an OLED is a solid-state semiconductor device that is 100

to 500 nanometers thick or about 200 times smaller than a human hair.
OLEDs can have either two layers or three layers of organic material; in
the latter design, the third layer helps transport electrons from the
cathode to the emissive layer.
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 How does OLED emit light?

OLEDs emit light in a similar manner to LEDs, through a process

called electro phosphorescence.
The process is as follows:

1. The battery or power supply of the device containing the OLED

applies a voltage across the OLED.
2. An electrical current flows from the cathode to the anode through the
organic layers (an electrical current is a flow of electrons). The
cathode gives electrons to the emissive layer of organic molecules.
The anode removes electrons from the conductive layer of organic
molecules. (This is the equivalent to giving electron holes to the
conductive layer.)

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How does OLED emit light?

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 How does OLED emit light?

3. At the boundary between the emissive and the conductive layers,

electrons find electron holes. When an electron finds an electron hole,
the electron fills the hole (it falls into an energy level of
the atom that's missing an electron). When this happens, the electron
gives up energy in the form of a photon of light.
4. The OLED emits light.
5. The color of the light depends on the type of organic molecule in the
emissive layer. Manufacturers place several types of organic films on
the same OLED to make color displays.
6. The intensity or brightness of the light depends on the amount of
electrical current applied: the more current, the brighter the light.

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 Types of OLEDs

 Passive-matrix OLED (PMOLED) – PMOLEDs have strips of cathode,

organic layers and strips of anode. The anode strips are arranged
perpendicular to the cathode strips. The intersections of the cathode and
anode make up the pixels where light is emitted. External circuitry applies
current to selected strips of anode and cathode, determining which pixels get
turned on and which pixels remain off. Again, the brightness of each pixel is
proportional to the amount of applied current.

 PMOLEDs are easy to make, but they consume more power than other types
of OLED, mainly due to the power needed for the external circuitry.
PMOLEDs are most efficient for text and icons and are best suited for small
screens (2- to 3-inch diagonal) such as those you find in cell phones,
Personal Digital Assistants ( PDAs) and MP3 players. Even with the
external circuitry, passive-matrix OLEDs consume less battery power than
the LCDs that currently power these devices.

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 Types of OLEDs

 Active-matrix OLED (AMOLED) – AMOLEDs have full layers of

cathode, organic molecules and anode, but the anode layer overlays a
thin film transistor (TFT) array that forms a matrix. The TFT array
itself is the circuitry that determines which pixels get turned on to
form an image.
 AMOLEDs consume less power than PMOLEDs because the TFT
array requires less power than external circuitry, so they are efficient
for large displays. AMOLEDs also have faster refresh rates suitable
for video. The best uses for AMOLEDs are computer monitors,
large-screen TVs and electronic signs or billboards.

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 Types of OLEDs

 Transparent OLED (TOLED) - Transparent OLEDs have only

transparent components (substrate, cathode and anode) and, when
turned off, are up to 85 percent as transparent as their substrate.
When a transparent OLED display is turned on, it allows light to pass
in both directions. A transparent OLED display can be either active-
or passive-matrix. This technology can be used for heads-up
displays.

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 Types of OLEDs

 Top-emitting OLED (TEOLED) - Top-emitting OLEDs have a

substrate that is either opaque or reflective. They are best suited to
active-matrix design. Manufacturers may use top-emitting OLED
displays in smart cards.

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 Types of OLEDs

 Foldable OLED (FOLED) - Foldable OLEDs have substrates made

of very flexible metallic foils or plastics. Foldable OLEDs are very
lightweight and durable. Their use in devices such as cell phones and
PDAs can reduce breakage, a major cause for return or repair.
Potentially, foldable OLED displays can be attached to fabrics to
create "smart" clothing, such as outdoor survival clothing with an
integrated computer chip, cell phone, GPS receiver and OLED
display sewn into it.
 White OLED (WOLED) - White OLEDs emit white light that is
brighter, more uniform and more energy efficient than that emitted
by fluorescent lights. White OLEDs also have the true-color qualities
of incandescent lighting. Because OLEDs can be made in large
sheets, they can replace fluorescent lights that are currently used in
homes and buildings. Their use could potentially reduce energy costs
for lighting.

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 Advantages of OLEDs
The LCD is currently the display of choice in small devices and is also popular
in large-screen TVs. Regular LEDs often form the digits on digital clocks and
other electronic devices. OLEDs offer many advantages over both LCDs and
LEDs:
1. The plastic, organic layers of an OLED are thinner, lighter and more
flexible than the crystalline layers in an LED or LCD.
2. OLEDs are brighter than LEDs. Because the organic layers of an OLED are
much thinner than the corresponding inorganic crystal layers of an LED, the
conductive and emissive layers of an OLED can be multi-layered. Also,
LEDs and LCDs require glass for support, and glass absorbs some light.
OLEDs do not require glass.
3. OLEDs do not require backlighting like LCDs and hence they consume
much less power than LCDs. This is especially important for battery-
operated devices such as cell phones.
4. OLEDs are easier to produce and can be made to larger sizes. Because
OLEDs are essentially plastics, they can be made into large, thin sheets.
5. OLEDs have large fields of view, about 170 degrees. OLEDs produce their
own light, so they have a much wider viewing range.
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 Disadvantages of OLEDs

OLED seems to be the perfect technology for all types of displays, but it also
has some problems:

1. Lifetime - While red and green OLED films have longer lifetimes (46,000
to 230,000 hours), blue organics currently have much shorter lifetimes.

2. Manufacturing - Manufacturing processes are expensive right now.

3. Water - Water can easily damage OLEDs

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 Applications of OLEDs

1. OLEDs are used in small-screen devices such as cell phones,

PDAs and digital cameras.

2. Because OLEDs refresh faster than LCDs -- almost 1,000 times

faster -- a device with an OLED display could change
information almost in real time.

3. Several companies have already built prototype computer

monitors and large-screen TVs that use OLED technology.

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