Chapter 4: DETECTORS

Chapter 4
OPTICAL DETECTORS
(Reference: Optical Electronics in Modern Communications, A. Yariv, Oxford, 1977, Ch. 11.)

Photomultiplier Tube (PMT)

• Highly sensitive detector for light from near infrared  ultraviolet
• Can detect as little as 1019 Watt!
vacuum envelope

D1 D3 D5 D7

A
h
D2 D4 D6 D8
C

– HV
~2 KV

Voltage divider chain to bias dynodes

R chosen to have ~100V drop per dynode
Photocathode C:– absorbs photon  ejects electron
– work function  is the minimum energy needed to eject an electron
– the photon energy must exceed the work function h   to get photoelectrons
Dynodes D1-D8:Secondary electron emission. Electron from cathode accelerated by ~100 eV.
Impact into dynode surface causes ejection of multiple electrons,   5 .

For N dynodes, the total gain is then  N .

Photocathode quantum efficiency: QE  probability a photon will eject one electron
0  QE  1
Typical photocathode response
QE

30%
20%
10%
 (nm)
200 400 600 800 1000

Sensitivity:

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 Chapter 4: DETECTORS

For 10 dynodes,  = 5 G = 5 10  10 7 .
Take 2eV photons (620 nm), 1 picoW = 1012W = 1012J/s

With QE = 30% , Anode current is

Phototube dark current:1) random thermal excitation of electrons from photocathode

2) cosmic rays, ambient radioactivity

– Thermal excitation rate is proportional to , where  represents the cathode work func-
tion
so lower work function  IR sensitivity, but larger dark current
– For room temperature, typical cathode dark current, I cd , is  10 4 electrons/sec. Anode dark current
is then

– Dark current sets a lower limit to phototube sensitivity to low light levels. To distinguish a light sig-
nal above the background dark current, the photoelectric cathode current must exceed the dark cur-
rent. If I cd is  10 4 e/sec , then the sensitivity to light can be  3  10 4 photons/sec (assuming QE =
30%). 3  10 4 red photons/s  1014 W!
– Dark current can be reduced by cooling. Using thermoelectric cooling T  – 40C is easily obtained.
Assume a work function of  = 1.5 eV

I cd  260K  – 1.5  0.0225

- = e---------------------------- = e – 1.5  44.4 – 38.5  = e – 8.8  1.4  10 – 4
------------------------
I cd  300K  e –1.5  0.026
Dark current is reduced by this amount!  down to ~1 e/sec. Minimum detectable power become
< 1018 W!
Photon counting: PMT is so sensitive, we are really counting photons. Often, PMT circuits are
specifically optimized to do this.

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 Chapter 4: DETECTORS

Photon counting system:

amplifier/discriminator
anode pulse counter
PMT

C
R = 50

PMT output pulse

Vp
 p = 3-5 ns
p
transit time
discriminator dispersion
threshold
r t

2V discriminator output
is a digital pulse

t
– How big is the PMT output pulse from one photon? For G  10 7 , we get 10 7 electrons  10 –12 C . For
 p = 10 – 8 sec, I apk  10 – 4 A . For R = 50 , V p  5 mV .

– Discriminator eliminates electrical noise in < 1mV range. V p has a variation due to statistical nature
of gain process. Discriminator also eliminates this.
Shot noise: Photon arrival is always statistical. Generally it follows Poisson statistics. Then if the
photon arrival rate is N ph/sec , and we count for 1 sec, we get N on average. The standard devia-
tion will be found to be N . This means we have noise.

Ncounts N

sec
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Shot noise is universal for light detection. Even if photons are not explicitly counted, the shot
noise is a fundamental limit. It is most significant at low light levels, though, due to N depen-
dence.
Johnson noise: Random thermal noise in any resistor, R

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 Chapter 4: DETECTORS

4kT
I RMS = --------- B V RMS = 4kTRB
R

R ~ I RMS R B: bandwidth (Hz)

~ V RMS

Equivalent model of noise as either current or voltage source.

Channel Electron Multiplier (Channeltron)

Single monolithic device functions as a PMT:
A
Glass tube bent around curve. One end open as
a funnel shape. Coating acts as photocathode
and secondary electron emitter. Also, coating
h
1 has high, but not infinite electrical resistance.

2 electron cascade
– HV
1. Photon hits funnel portion
2. Electrons are accelerated into the bent tube by bias field
3. Secondary electron emission gives gain at each electron collision with wall
4. Must be operated in vacuum
5. Typical gain  10 4
6. More compact and rugged than PMT

Microchannel plate MCP – array of channeltrons

10-20m separation
each hole ~5-10m diameter

– each channel is a miniature channeltron

– gain ~103

Anode
h
A
gain ~106 HV ~1-2KV
HV

Dual Plate MCP Detector

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 Chapter 4: DETECTORS

MCP Image Intensifier

phosphor-coated plate

light
e
eye or video camera

HV

Single or Dual Plate MCP

– Electrons accelerated out of back of MCP into phosphor
– Phosphor QE ~50% photons/electrons
Image intensification

 Night vision goggles

Semiconductor Photodetectors
• Seimiconductor band structure

electrons doping
EC     
EF
EG
EF
EV
    
holes
n-type p-type
• Optical absorption across the bandgap
 If h  E G , an electron and hole (pair) is created
EC after photon absorption.
h In a suitable structure, the electron and the hole
EV can contribute to an electric current through the
 device.

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 Chapter 4: DETECTORS

• p-n Junction

N = ND – NA
ND

z
–NA

V bi equilibrium

z
EF

• Depletion approximation: Assumes carriers diffuse across junction and create regions that are totally
devoid of free carriers


– lp 0
z
ln

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 Chapter 4: DETECTORS

• Reverse bias
E

Under reverse bias, no current flows

because the barrier to diffusion increases.
Under forward bias, barrier to diffusion is
reduced.

depletion widths wider

Photodiode
Reverse bias condition: electron and hole created in the depletion region follow the electric field and sep-
arate.
h

 V
 

These carriers are pulled apart

 by the field.

The electric field exists only inside the depletion region. So the light absorption must also occur there to
create current.
Construction
thin electrode passes light
thin, heavily doped n+ layer

depletion region
lightly doped p-region

backside electrode
• Photodiodes can be used at longer wavelength than photomultiplier – E G  
• Typically fast response time < 10 nsec

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 Chapter 4: DETECTORS

• Compact, inexpensive

p-i-n photodiode
p i n

 NP

constant -field in the i-layer

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 Chapter 4: DETECTORS

Solar cells

(Reference: Solar electricity, 2nd edition, Tomas Markvart, ed., John Wiley, 2000)

silicon p-n juntion diode:

I0

Solar radiation -

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 Chapter 4: DETECTORS

AM 1.5 - on a clear day, the typical maximum solar irradiance is ~1kW/m2 or 100 mW/cm2, which
translates to ~4.4X1017 photons/cm2-sec.

In principle, when absorbed, this photon flux could produce a ‘generation current’ of

where N is the number of photons absorbed per second, and A is the area that is exposed to light. For
the entire solar spectrum, this corresponds to about 70mA/cm2. The band gap for crystalline silicon is
1.1 eV, so only the part of the spectrum shown above that is shaded in black can be absorbed. Thus,
for silicon, the maximum generation current is about 44 mA/cm2.
Direct vs. indirect gap

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 Chapter 4: DETECTORS

Some semiconductors are good absorbers, and absorb all above-bandgap light in a layer of a few
microns thick. These are called direct-bandgap semiconductors. In others, called indirect-gap semi-
conductors, which include crystalline silicon, the absorption process is weaker. In this case, a phonon
(a quantum of the lattice vibration) is necessary to conserve momentum in the light absorption pro-
cess. In silicon, a layer several hundred microns thick is required.

Solar cell structure

bus bar

fingers finger
anti-reflection
coating
p-type base n-type emitter

backside contact

The top contact structure typically consists of widely spaced thin metal strips to allow the light to pass
through, with a larger bus bar connecting them all to extract the current. An anti-reflection coating on
top of the cell can be used to minimize reflection loss from the top surface.

66 © Jeffrey Bokor, 2000, all rights reserved

 Chapter 4: DETECTORS

The light generation current in the diode is in the reverse direction, so we can write to total current as
the difference between the two:

The I-V characteristic now looks like this:

V
dark Voc open-circuit
Il voltage

Isc short-circuit
current
under illumination

Maximum power point

No power is generated under open or short circuit. The maximum power Pmax is produced by the
device at a point on the characteristic where the product IV is maximized. The position of the maxi-
mum power point represents the largest area of the rectangle shown in the figure below. The ‘fill fac-
tor’, FF is commonly defined by:

67 © Jeffrey Bokor, 2000, all rights reserved

 Chapter 4: DETECTORS

I Pmax
Im sc

V
Vm Voc

The efficiency of a solar cell, , is defined as Pmax produced by the cell under standard test condi-
tions, divided by the power of the radiation incident. Usually, the standard conditions are: irradiance
of 100 mW/cm2, standard reference AM1.5 spectrum and temperature of 25C.
Some common solar cell types
High quality crystalline silicon and gallium arsenide solar cells can achieve efficiencies approaching
25%, but are relatively expensive because the cost of growing and processing large single-crystal
wafers is high. The p-i-n structure is used for silicon cells in order to get an active light absorbing
layer that is over 100 microns thick.
Thin-film solar cells can be much cheaper, but are not as efficient (10-15%). A very common mate-
rial for thin-film cells is amorphous silicon. Silicon is a four-fold coordinated atom that is normally
tetrahedrally bonded to four neighboring silicon atoms. In crystalline silicon this tetrahedral structure
is continued over a large range, forming a well-ordered lattice (crystal). In amorphous silicon this
long range order is not present and the atoms form a continuous random network. Not all the atoms
within amorphous silicion are four-fold coordinated. Due to the disordered nature of the material
some atoms have a dangling bond. These dangling bonds are defects in the continuous random net-
work, which cause undesired (electrical) behaviour. The material can be passivated by hydrogen,
which bonds to the dangling bonds and neutralises this defect. Hydrogen passivated amorphous sili-
con has a sufficiently low amount of defects to be used within devices. Amorphous silicon can be
deposited over large areas using chemical vapor deposition methods.
Amorphous silicon (a-Si) becomes a direct-gap semiconductor with an band gap of about 1.75 eV.
Absorption is higher in a-Si compared to crystal silicon (c-Si), but p-i-n structures are generally still
used. The transport properties of a-Si are inferior to c-Si and so many carriers can recombine before
they reach the contacts, reducing the efficiency of the cell.

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 Chapter 4: DETECTORS

Solar cell efficiency progress

25

20
Efficiency (%)

15

10 crystalline Si
amorphous Si
nano TiO2
5 CIS/CIGS
CdTe

1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000

Year

Brief discussion of global solar energy

Total average global power consumption in 1990: 12 TW. Projected to grow to 28 TW by 2050.
1.2x105 TW of solar energy potential globally
Generating 2x101 TW with 10% efficient solar farms requires 2x102/1.2x105 = 0.16% of Globe =
8x1011 m2 (i.e., 8.8 % of U.S.A)
Generating 1.2x101 TW (1998 Global Primary Power) requires 1.2x102/1.2x105= 0.10% of Globe =
5x1011 m2 (i.e., 5.5% of U.S.A.)
U.S. Land Area: 9.1x1012 m2 (incl. Alaska)
Average solar irradiance: 200 W/m2
2000 U.S. Primary Power Consumption: =3.3 TW
1999 U.S. Electricity Consumption = 0.4 TW
Hence:
3.3x1012 W/(2x102 W/m2 x 10% Efficiency) = 1.6x1011 m2

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 Chapter 4: DETECTORS

Requires 1.6x1011 m2/ 9.1x1012 m2 = 1.7% of Land

7x107 detached single family homes in U.S.
˜2000 sq ft/roof = 44ft x 44 ft = 13 m x 13 m = 180 m2/home
= 1.2x1010 m2 total roof area
Hence can (only) supply 0.25 TW, or ˜1/10th of 2000 U.S. Primary Energy Consumption

3 TW

6 boxes at 3.3 TW each

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 Chapter 4: DETECTORS

Charge coupled device (CCD)

The basic CCD is composed of a linear array of MOS capacitors. It functions as an analog memory and
shift register. The operation is indicated in the diagram below:
L1
L2
L3

3 phase CCD
clocking
t1

t2

t3

In the fashion indicated, charge is transferred down the line. In the modern CCD image sensor, there is
one such CCD transfer line for each column of the array. During the image exposure, one phase in each
column is biased in deep depletion. Light passes through the gate electrodes, which are made thin enough
so that most of the light creates electron-hole pairs in the substrate, which are then collected under the
gates. To read out the array, each column is clocked down by one. At the bottom, there is one extra CCD
line oriented in the horizontal direction. The columns deposit their charge in this horizontal array, which
then clocks out to a charge sensitive amplifier and then off-chip. In turn, the array is read out one line at a
time in this fashion.

to readout amplifier

Spatial Light Modulator (SLM)

Electro-optic devices that can modulate certain properties of an optical wavefront: amplitude, intensity,
phase, or polarization

71 © Jeffrey Bokor, 2000, all rights reserved

 Chapter 4: DETECTORS

Liquid Crystal Display – Liquid Crystal Light Valve

By using two polarizers, twisted nematic liquid crystal and applied electric field, modulation of light
intensity can be achieved

Advantage of LCD Disadvantage

a) size and weight a) viewing angle

b) low power consumption b) high cost
c) color performance c) low temperature operation
d) low cost due to mass production

Liquid Crystal
crystals liquid vapor
 
Liquid Crystal

nematic Liquid Crystal semectic LC cholesteric LC

orientation
layers
orientation
Properties of LC
Dielectric anisotropy


 =   –  ||  0

 ||

Optical anisotropy (birefringence)

extraordinary (ne)
n = n e – n o  0
ordinary (no)

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 Chapter 4: DETECTORS

Twisted nematic Liquid Crystal ( 90 rotation)

polarizers

Super twisted nematic Liquid Crystal ( 180 - 270 rotation)

270 change of polarization

...
...
polarizer • •
909090

Electro-optic response of a TN LC cell

100% Tmax
90%
For normally-white case.
Relative  Normally-black is a mirror image of
T
normally white.

10%
Tmin
V90 V10
Voltage

– contrast ratio = T max  T min

– grayscale achieved with intermediate value of V .

73 © Jeffrey Bokor, 2000, all rights reserved

 Chapter 4: DETECTORS

Example:

Electro-optic response: Effect of twist

T
Non-linearity increases as increasing
twist  STN  TN  .

90
180
270
Voltage

– steep electro-optic response is needed for high-contrast passive-matrix displays  NO

CROSSTALK– advantage of using STN-LC.
Pixel – Smallest resolvable spatial information element
– May be subdivided to achieve color or gray scales
– Active area can be less than pixel area (~30%).

active area
You can calculate the pixel size
for a given display type and size.
pixel area

CGA 640  200(V)

VGA 640  480(V)
SVGA 800  600(V)
XGA 1024  768(V)
SXGA 1280  1024(V)
VXGA 1600  1280(V)

Pixel arrangement for color displays

Triad r Stripe r
g b rgb g
b

r g  human eyes pick up green more

Quad g b

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 Chapter 4: DETECTORS

Cross-section of LCD (typical)

Matrix Addressing Mode

Passive Matrix
Example: Earlier laptop display, PDAs

row electrode
– stripes of conductor on oppos-
ing glass plates
– pixels defined by intersection
of electrodes
column electrode

• Non-linearity requirement for PM LCD

– want to have high non-linearity to reduce cross-talk

• Discrimination ratio (D): , where L = luminance (transmitted)

• Pixel Contrast Ratio (PCR): , where M = number of display rows

–TN LCD:Low PCR and D

STN LCD:High PCR and D

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 Chapter 4: DETECTORS

Active Matrix
Example: Laptop display, desktop monitor
– array of pixel electrodes on one
glass plate
– switch at each pixel for isolation
–less crosstalk
– an active element is used as a
switch to store charge on LC
capacitor

– switching element = thin-film transistor (TFT)

Data m Data m+1 scan n
scan n scan n+1
CS
scan n+2
scan n+1
Data
CLC

CLC: liquid crystal capacitance

CS: storage capacitance

76 © Jeffrey Bokor, 2000, all rights reserved