PHOTODIODES – COMMUNICATIONS, BIO-SENSINGS, MEASUREMENTS AND HIGH-ENERGY PHYSICS Edited by Jin-Wei Shi Photodiodes – Communications, Bio-Sensings, Measurements and High-Energy Physics Edited by Jin-Wei Shi Published by InTech Janeza Trdine 9, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia Copyright © 2011 InTech All chapters are Open Access articles distributed under the Creative Commons Non Commercial Share Alike Attribution 3.0 license, which permits to copy, distribute, transmit, and adapt the work in any medium, so long as the original work is properly cited. After this work has been published by InTech, authors have the right to republish it, in whole or part, in any publication of which they are the author, and to make other personal use of the work. Any republication, referencing or personal use of the work must explicitly identify the original source. Statements and opinions expressed in the chapters are these of the individual contributors and not necessarily those of the editors or publisher. No responsibility is accepted for the accuracy of information contained in the published articles. The publisher assumes no responsibility for any damage or injury to persons or property arising out of the use of any materials, instructions, methods or ideas contained in the book. Publishing Process Manager Petra Zobic Technical Editor Teodora Smiljanic Cover Designer Jan Hyrat Image Copyright Roman Dementyev, 2011. Used under license from Shutterstock.com First published August, 2011 Printed in Croatia A free online edition of this book is available at www.intechopen.com Additional hard copies can be obtained from orders@intechweb.org Photodiodes – Communications, Bio-Sensings, Measurements and High-Energy Physics, Edited by Jin-Wei Shi p. cm. ISBN 978-953-307-277-7 free online editions of InTech Books and Journals can be found at www.intechopen.com Contents Preface IX Part 1 Photodiodes for High-Speed Data Communications 1 Chapter 1 Photodiodes with High Speed and Enhanced Wide Spectral Range 3 Meng-Chyi Wu and Chung-Hung Wu Chapter 2 Evaluation of Uni-Traveling Carrier Photodiode Performance at Low Temperatures and Applications to Superconducting Electronics 27 Hideo Suzuki Chapter 3 The Optimum Link Design Using a Linear PIN-PD for WiMAX RoF Communication 47 Koyu Chinen Chapter 4 Single Photon Detection Using Frequency Up-Conversion with Pulse Pumping 61 Lijun Ma, Oliver Slattery and Xiao Tang Part 2 Photodiode for High-Speed Measurement Application 77 Chapter 5 Low Scattering Photodiode-Modulated Probe for Microwave Near-Field Imaging 79 Hamidreza Memarzadeh-Tehran, Jean-Jacques Laurin and Raman Kashyap Chapter 6 Single Shot Diagnostics of Quasi-Continuously Pumped Picosecond Lasers Using Fast Photodiode and Digital Oscilloscope 105 Michal Jelínek, Václav Kubeček and Miroslav Čech Chapter 7 A Photodiode-Based, Low-Cost Telemetric- Lidar for the Continuous Monitoring of Urban Particulate Matter 119 Massimo Del Guasta, Massimo Baldi and Francesco Castagnoli VI Contents Part 3 Photodiodes for Biomedical Application 135 Chapter 8 The Photodiode Array: A Critical Cornerstone in Cardiac Optical Mapping 137 Herman D. Himel IV, Joseph Savarese and Nabil El-Sherif Chapter 9 Photodiode Array Detection in Clinical Applications; Quantitative Analyte Assay Advantages, Limitations and Disadvantages 161 Zarrin Es’haghi Part 4 Photodiode for UV-Light Detection 183 Chapter 10 UV Photodiodes Response to Non-Normal, Non-Colimated and Diffusive Sources of Irradiance 185 María-Paz Zorzano, Javier Martín-Soler and Javier Gómez-Elvira Chapter 11 Detection of VUV Light with Avalanche Photodiodes 207 Cristina M. B. Monteiro, Luís M. P. Fernandes and Joaquim M. F. dos Santos Part 5 Photodiodes for High-Energy Photon/Particle Detection 227 Chapter 12 Quantitative Measurements of X-Ray Intensity 229 Michael J. Haugh and Marilyn Schneider Chapter 13 The New Photo-Detectors for High Energy Physics and Nuclear Medicine 261 Nicola D’Ascenzo and Valeri Saveliev Preface The photodiode device structure, which has developed almost simultaneously with Si based p-n junctions, has had a dramatic impact on everyday life, especially in the field of communication and sensing. The last few decades have seen optical techniques come to dominate long-haul communication and photodiode technologies, serving as an energy transducer in the receiver end, which can convert optical data into electrical signals for further processing. In addition to communication, photodiodes have also found some killer applications in advanced high-speed image systems and will eventually replace traditional slow charge-coupled devices (CCD). This book describes different kinds of photodiodes and several interesting applications, such as for high-speed data communication, biomedical sensing, high- speed measurement, UV-light detection, and high energy physics. The discussed photodiodes cover an extremely wide optical wavelength regime, ranging from infrared light to X-ray, making the suitable for these different applications. Compared with most other published studies about photodiodes, the topics discussed in this book are more diversified and very special. Take the category of high-speed data communication for example; which covers the applications of photodiodes under very-low temperature operations such as for the optical interconnects used in ultra- high speed superconducting electronic circuits. This topic has rarely been discussed in relation to the use of photodiodes for fiber communication. Furthermore, in this category, we also discuss a unique high-speed single photon detection technique based on the use of the low-noise Si-based APD and the photon up-conversion technique, which could be important for the development of the next-generation of quantum communication. Overall, the aim of such book is to provide the reader with information about novel, unique, and practical examples of different photodiodes for several diversified applications without going into detail on complex device physics and math. This should be a very useful “tool-book” for engineers, students, and researchers in different academic fields who want to understand the most advanced photodiode applications. Jin-Wei Shi Ph.D. Associate Professor, National Central University, Taiwan [...].. .Part 1 Photodiodes for High- Speed Data Communications 1 Photodiodes with High Speed and Enhanced Wide Spectral Range Meng-Chyi Wu and Chung-Hung Wu Department of Electrical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 300, Taiwan 1 Introduction Typically, 0.85, 1. 3, and 1. 55 m are wavelengths of interest for fiberoptic communications Conventionally, photodetectors or photodiodes. .. around 5 × 10 20 cm-3 Photodiodes with High Speed and Enhanced Wide Spectral Range 7 Fig 2 Concentration profiles of spin-on Zn diffusion in undoped InP after 600ºC RTA for 25 sec in N2 ambient Fig 3 The diffusion depth measured by electrochemical C-V profiler The inset of Fig 3 shows the fabricated p-n junction structure 8 Photodiodes – Communications, Bio- Sensings, Measurements and High- Energy Physics... technique and for the applications to InP and GaSb materials We fabricated the InGaAs/InP and InGaP/GaAs p-i-n PDs by removing the window layer of the conventional InGaAs/InP and InGaP/GaAs PDs [10 ], [11 ] on the photosensitive surface These PDs exhibit a low capacitance, a low dark current, a high speed, and a high responsivity in the enhanced spectral range, which permits applications as PDs for the high- speed... poor selectivity, the etching time should be accurately controlled, otherwise the shallow p-n junction can be also removed and, as a consequence, no biasing field for generated carriers 10 Photodiodes – Communications, Bio- Sensings, Measurements and High- Energy Physics Third, for high efficiency in all the operating spectral range, device has an anti-reflection dielectric coating designed for the wavelengths... spectral range is usually limited to 0.9 -1. 65 m However, devices based on these structures, although has achieved a broad responsivity spectrum, require shallow SAD process, which is rather difficult to achieve satisfactory junction properties As a consequence, such devices 4 Photodiodes – Communications, Bio- Sensings, Measurements and High- Energy Physics (a) (b) Fig 1 Two conventional PD structures usually... layer has been doped high enough ( ~10 19 cm3) for high- speed applications The low capacitance indicates a well-controlled junction depth and a significantly reduced parasites, which results in a 0 .1- pF junction capacitance and a 0.2-pF parasitic capacitance, respectively The estimated frequency response deduced from the series resistance and the measured capacitance is about 10 .1 GHz Fig 5 Characteristics... impurities in the InGaAs/InP system Diffusion of Zn into semiconductor, such as n-type InP, InGaAs or InGaAsP, and Zn-doped InP epitaxial layers, is an important technique for forming p-n junctions in optoelectronic devices 6 Photodiodes – Communications, Bio- Sensings, Measurements and High- Energy Physics The most common low-cost technique for planar junction formation in InP/InGaAs PD manufacturing... system and zinc (Zn)–diffusion process was performed at 550℃ for 10 min Such a temperature and period produced a 10 17 cm-3 acceptor front at 1. 2-m deep below the surface Due to a rather slow diffusion of Zn in InGaAs (3 times slower than that in InP), the Zn protrusion depth into the InGaAs can be well controlled to be about 0 .1- 0.2 m, which was designed for reliability, wide spectral range, and high- speed... Measurements and High- Energy Physics 3 Fabrication of InGaAs/InP p-i-n photodiodes [10 ] The InP/InGaAs/InP p-i-n PD is constructed to be capable of speedily and efficiently detecting light signals of wavelengths ranging from 0.7 m to 1. 65 m This range covers all the wavelengths of interest nowadays in fiberoptic communications: 0.85 m, 1. 3 m, and 1. 55 m The InP/InGaAs/InP epitaxial device structure was grown... [1] To achieve a wider spectral range, structures with a thin InP cap (< 0.2 m) were utilized [2], [3] As the bandwidth demand goes higher, the coupling loss affects the Photodiodes with High Speed and Enhanced Wide Spectral Range 5 performance of the fiber-optic link more, due to a smaller period per bit For the receivers, to reduce the capacitance charging delay, the PD aperture shrinks as the bandwidth . PHOTODIODES – COMMUNICATIONS, BIO- SENSINGS, MEASUREMENTS AND HIGH- ENERGY PHYSICS Edited by Jin-Wei Shi Photodiodes – Communications, Bio- Sensings, Measurements. Contents Preface IX Part 1 Photodiodes for High- Speed Data Communications 1 Chapter 1 Photodiodes with High Speed and Enhanced Wide Spectral Range 3 Meng-Chyi Wu and Chung-Hung Wu Chapter. University, Taiwan Part 1 Photodiodes for High- Speed Data Communications 1 Photodiodes with High Speed and Enhanced Wide Spectral Range Meng-Chyi Wu and Chung-Hung Wu Department of Electrical