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A Primer on Photodiodes: The Dominant Technology for Light Detection Applications
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A Primer on Photodiodes: The Dominant Technology for Light Detection Applications
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From Advanced Photonix, Inc.®
The purpose of any photodetector is to convert electro-magnetic radiation into an electronic signal – ideally one that is proportional to incident light intensity. Because they are compact, versatile and can be produced economically in high volume, PIN photodiodes have become the detector of choice in applications from biomedical instrumentation to telecommunications. This article reviews basic photodiode theory of operation and briefly examines some important recent developments in the technology.
Photodiodes are fabricated from semiconductors – the most popular are silicon (Si) or gallium arsenide (GaAs), and others include InSb, InAs, PbSe. These materials absorb light over a characteristic wavelength range: 250 nm – 1100 nm for silicon, 800 nm – 2.0 microns for GaAs. When a photon of light is absorbed, it excites an electron and produces a single pair of charge carriers, an electron and a hole, where a hole is simply the absence of an electron in the semiconductor lattice. Current passes through a semiconductor by the opposite movement of such charge carriers. The trick in a photodiode is to collect the photon-induced charge carriers (as current or voltage) at the electrodes, before they have a chance to recombine. This is achieved by utilizing a pn or p-i-n diode junction structure – hence the term PIN photodiode.
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Photodiodes are used for the detection of optical power (UV, Visible, and IR) and for the conversion of optical power to electrical power.
PIN diodes are three-layer semiconductor diodes consisting of an intrinsic layer separating heavily doped P and N layers. The charge stored in the intrinsic layer in conjunction with other diode parameters determines the resistance of the diode at RF and microwave frequencies.
Fiber optic receivers are instruments that convert light into electrical signals. They contain a photodiode semiconductor, signal conditioning circuitry, and an amplifier.
Photosensor modules are compact light detectors with built-in power supplies. They use photomultiplier tubes, avalanche photodiodes, PN photodiodes, or PIN photodiodes.
Optocouplers are capable of transferring an electrical signal between two circuits while isolating the circuits from each other.
Product Announcements
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Hamamatsu designs and manufactures a wide range of solid state detectors, imaging chips and light sources. The range of materials from which our products are made include Silicon (Si), Indium Gallium...
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Hamamatsu has a long history of manufacturing InGaAs and GaAs PIN photodiodes with built-in ampiflier to simplify circuit integration in the telecommunication and data communication markets.
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Melles Griot offers a wide selection of mounted silicon and PIN photodiodes, along with amplifiers, integrating spheres, and accessories, which can be assembled to meet specific laboratory...
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The TCS230 RGB color sensing programmable light-to-frequency converter combines configurable silicon photodiodes and a current-to-frequency converter on a single monolithic CMOS integrated circuit.
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The TCS230 programmable RGB color sensing light-to-frequency converter combines configurable silicon photodiodes and a current-to-frequency converter on a single monolithic CMOS integrated circuit.
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These UV, Gallium Nitride (GaN) and Silicon Carbide (SiC), sensors are intended for use in the spectral region of 200 nm to 400 nm where maximum quantum efficiency is required at these wavelengths.
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These specialized photodiodes have a narrow spectral response centered at 880 nm. Since the photodiode itself has a narrow spectral response, the device can be used without expensive band pass...
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EOT offers >9GHz amplified photodetectors for time domain and frequency response measurement for sub 1mw input powers.
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