Unit-3

Optical emission from semiconductors:

The p–n junction:

 A perfect semiconductor crystal containing no impurities or lattice defects is said to be

intrinsic.
 The energy band structure of an intrinsic semiconductor is illustrated in Figure 6.8(a) which
shows the valence and conduction bands separated by a forbidden energy gap or band gap E g,
the width of which varies for different semiconductor materials.
 Figure 6.8(a) shows the situation in the semiconductor at a temperature above absolute zero
where thermal excitation raises some electrons from the valence band into the conduction
band, leaving empty hole states in the valence band.
 These thermally excited electrons in the conduction band and the holes left in the valence
band allow conduction through the material, and are called carriers.
 For a semiconductor in thermal equilibrium the energy-level occupation is described by the
Fermi–Dirac distribution function (rather than the Boltzmann).
 Consequently, the probability P(E) that an electron gains sufficient thermal energy at an
absolute temperature T, such that it will be found occupying a particular energy level E, is
given by the Fermi–Dirac distribution

where K is Boltzmann’s constant and EF is known as the Fermi energy or Fermi level.
 The Fermi level is only a mathematical parameter but it gives an indication of the
distribution of carriers within the material. This is shown in Figure 6.8(b) for the intrinsic
semiconductor where the Fermi level is at the center of the bandgap, indicating that there is a
small probability of electrons occupying energy levels at the bottom of the conduction band and
a corresponding number of holes occupying energy levels at the top of the valence band.

To create an extrinsic semiconductor the material is doped with impurity atoms which create
either more free electrons (donor impurity) or holes (acceptor impurity). These two situations are
shown in Figure 6.9 where the donor impurities form energy levels just below the conduction
band while acceptor impurities form energy levels just above the valence band.

When donor impurities are added, thermally excited electrons from the donor levels are raised
into the conduction band to create an excess of negative charge carriers and the semiconductor is
said to be n-type, with the majority carriers being electrons. The Fermi level corresponding to
this carrier distribution is raised to a position above the center of the bandgap, as illustrated in
Figure 6.9(a). When acceptor impurities are added, as shown in Figure 6.9(b), thermally excited
electrons are raised from the valence band to the acceptor impurity levels leaving an excess of
positive charge carriers in the valence band and creating a p-type semiconductor where the
majority carriers are holes. In this case Fermi level is lowered below the center of the bandgap.

The p–n junction diode is formed by creating adjoining p- and n-type semiconductor layers in a
single crystal, as shown in Figure 6.10(a). A thin depletion region or layer is formed at the
junction through carrier recombination which effectively leaves it free of mobile charge carriers
(both electrons and holes). This establishes a potential barrier between the p- and n-type regions
which restricts the interdiffusion of majority carriers from their respective regions, as illustrated
in Figure 6.10(b). In the absence of an externally applied voltage no current flows as the
potential barrier prevents the net flow of carriers from one region to another. When the junction
is in this equilibrium state the Fermi level for the p- and n-type semiconductor is the same as
shown Figure 6.10(b).
 The width of the depletion region and thus the magnitude of the potential barrier is
dependent upon the carrier concentrations (doping) in the p- and n-type regions and any external
applied voltage.
When an external positive voltage is applied to the p-type region with respect to the n-
type, both the depletion region width and the resulting potential barrier are reduced and the diode
is said to be forward biased. Electrons from the n-type region and holes from the p-type region
can flow more readily across the junction into the opposite type region. These minority carriers
are effectively injected across the junction by the application of the external voltage and form a
current flow through the device as they continuously diffuse away from the interface. However,
this situation in suitable semiconductor materials allows carrier recombination with the emission-
of-light.
Spontaneous-emission:

The increased concentration of minority carriers in the opposite type region in the forward-
biased p–n diode leads to the recombination of carriers across the bandgap. This process is
shown in Figure 6.11 for a direct bandgap semiconductor material where the normally empty
electron states in the conduction band of the p-type material and the normally empty hole states
in the valence band of the n-type material are populated by injected carriers which recombine
across the bandgap. The energy released by this electron–hole recombination is approximately
equal to the bandgap energy Eg.
Carrier recombination

Direct and indirect bandgap semiconductors

In order to encourage electroluminescence it is necessary to select an appropriate semiconductor

material. The most useful materials for this purpose are direct bandgap semiconductors in which
electrons and holes on either side of the forbidden energy gap have the same value of crystal
momentum and thus direct recombination is possible. This process is illustrated in Figure 6.13(a)
with an energy–momentum diagram for a direct bandgap semiconductor. It may be observed that
the energy maximum of the valence band occurs at the same (or very nearly the same) value of
electron crystal momentum as the energy minimum of the conduction band. Hence when
electron–hole recombination occurs the momentum of the electron remains virtually constant
and the energy released, which corresponds to the bandgap energy Eg, may be emitted as light.
This direct transition of an electron across the energy gap provides an efficient mechanism for
photon emission and the average time that the minority carrier remains in a free state before
recombination (the minority carrier lifetime) is short (10 −8 to 10−10 s). Some commonly used
direct bandgap semiconductor materials are shown in Table 6.1

In indirect bandgap semiconductors, however, the maximum and minimum energies occur at
different values of crystal momentum (Figure 6.13(b)). For electron–hole recombination to take
place it is essential that the electron loses momentum such that it has a value of momentum
corresponding to the maximum energy of the valence band. The conservation of momentum
requires the emission or absorption of a third particle, a phonon.

Table 6.1 Some direct and indirect bandgap semiconductors with calculated

recombination coefficients
 Other radiative recombination processes:

 Major radiative recombination processes at 300 K other than band-to-band transitions are
shown in Figure 6.14. These are band to impurity center or impurity center to band, donor
level to acceptor level and recombination involving isoelectronic impurities.

Stimulated emission and lasing:

 Carrier population inversion is achieved in an intrinsic (undoped) semiconductor by the

injection of electrons into the conduction band of the material. This is illustrated in
Figure 6.15 where the electron energy and the corresponding filled states are shown.
 Figure 6.15(a) shows the situation at absolute zero when the conduction band contains no
electrons.
 Electrons injected into the material fill the lower energy states in the conduction band up
to the injection energy or the quasi-Fermi level for electrons.
 Since charge neutrality is conserved within the material, an equal density of holes is
created in the top of the valence band by the absence of electrons, as shown in Figure
6.15(b) .
 Incident photons with energy Eg but less than the separation energy of the quasi-Fermi
levels Eq = EFc − EFv cannot be absorbed because the necessary conduction band states are
occupied.
 However, these photons can induce a downward transition of an electron from the filled
conduction band states into the empty valence band states, thus stimulating the emission
of another photon.
 The basic condition for stimulated emission is therefore dependent on the quasi-Fermi
level separation energy as well as the bandgap energy and may be defined as:
EFc − EFv > hf > Eg …………. (6.22)
 However, it must be noted that we have described an ideal situation whereas at normal
operating temperatures the distribution of electrons and holes is less well defined but the
condition for stimulated emission is largely maintained.

1. Population inversion may be obtained at a p–n junction by heavy doping (degenerative

doping) of both the p- and n-type material.
2. Heavy p-type doping with acceptor impurities causes a lowering of the Fermi level or
boundary between the filled and empty states into the valence band.
3. Similarly, degenerative n-type doping causes the Fermi level to enter the conduction band
of the material.
4. Energy band diagrams of a degenerate p–n junction are shown in Figure 6.16. The
position of the Fermi level and the electron occupation (shading) with no applied bias are
shown in Figure 6.16(a). Since in this case the junction is in thermal equilibrium, the
Fermi energy has the same value throughout the material.
5. Figure 6.16(b) shows the p–n junction when a forward bias nearly equal to the bandgap
voltage is applied and hence there is direct conduction.
6. At high injection carrier density in such a junction there exists an active region near the
depletion layer that contains simultaneously degenerate populations of electrons and
holes (sometimes termed doubly degenerate).
7. For this region the condition for stimulated emission of Eq. (6.22) is satisfied for
electromagnetic radiation of frequency Eg/h < f < (EFc − EFv)/h.
 8. Therefore, any radiation of this frequency which is confined to the active region will be
amplified.
9. In general, the degenerative doping distinguishes a p–n junction which provides
stimulated emission from one which gives only spontaneous emission as in the case of
the LED.
10.

However, a further requirement of the junction diode is necessary to establish lasing. This
involves the provision of optical feedback to give laser oscillation. It may be achieved by the
formation of an optical cavity within the structure by polishing the end faces of the junction
diode to act as mirrors. Each end of the junction is polished or cleaved and the sides are
roughened to prevent any unwanted light emission and hence wasted population inversion.
An idealized optical output power against current characteristic (also called light output against
current characteristic) for a semiconductor laser is illustrated in Figure 6.17. It may be observed
that the device gives little light output in the region below the threshold current which
corresponds to spontaneous emission only within the structure. However, after the threshold
current density is reached, the light output increases substantially for small increases in current
through the device. This corresponds to the region of stimulated emission when the laser is
acting as an amplifier of light.

Semiconductor injection laser (also called the injection laser diode (ILD) or
simply the injection laser:

Stimulated emission by the recombination of the injected carriers is encouraged in the

semiconductor injection laser (also called the injection laser diode (ILD) or simply the injection
laser) by the provision of an optical cavity in the crystal structure in order to provide the
feedback of photons. This gives the injection laser several major advantages over other
semiconductor sources (e.g. LEDs) that may be used for optical communications. These are as
follows

Advantages:

1. High radiance due to the amplifying effect of stimulated emission. Injection lasers will
generally supply milliwatts of optical output power.
2. Narrow linewidth on the order of 1 nm (10 Å) or less which is useful in minimizing the
effects of material dispersion.
3. Modulation capabilities which at present extend up into the gigahertz range and will
undoubtedly be improved upon.
4. Relative temporal coherence which is considered essential to allow heterodyne (coherent)
detection in high-capacity systems, but at present is primarily of use in single-mode
systems.
5. Good spatial coherence which allows the output to be focused by a lens into a spot which
has a greater intensity than the dispersed unfocused emission. This permits efficient
 coupling of the optical output power into the fiber even for fibers with low numerical
aperture.

The basic structure of this homojunction device is shown in Figure 6.19, where the cleaved ends
of the crystal act as partial mirrors in order to encourage stimulated emission in the cavity when
electrons are injected into the p-type region.

Principle:

It is specifically fabricated p-n junction diode. This diode emits laser light when it is forward
biased. When a p-n junction diode is forward biased, the electrons from n – region and the holes
from the p- region cross the junction and recombine with each other. During the recombination
process, the light radiation (photons) is released from a certain specified direct band gap
semiconductor like Ga-As. This light radiation is known as recombination radiation. The photon
emitted during recombination stimulates other electrons and holes to recombine. As a result,
stimulated emission takes place which produces laser.

Figure shows the energy level diagram of semiconductor laser.

  When the PN junction is forward biased with large applied voltage, the electrons and
holes are injected into junction region in considerable concentration. The region around
the junction contains a large amount of electrons in the conduction band and a large
amount of holes in the valence band. If the population density is high, a condition of
population inversion is achieved. The electrons and holes recombine with each other and
this recombination’s produce radiation in the form of light. When the forward – biased
voltage is increased, more and more light photons are emitted and the light production
instantly becomes stronger. These photons will trigger a chain of stimulated
recombination resulting in the release of photons in phase. The photons moving at the
plane of the junction travels back and forth by reflection between two sides placed
parallel and opposite to each other and grow in strength. After gaining enough strength, it
gives out the laser beam of wavelength 8400 A . The wavelength of laser light is given by

Advantages:

 It is very small in dimension. The arrangement is simple and compact.

 It exhibits high efficiency.
 The laser output can be easily increased by controlling the junction current
 It is operated with lesser power than ruby and CO2 laser.
 It requires very little auxiliary equipment
 It can have a continuous wave output or pulsed output.

Disadvantages:

 These devices had a high threshold current density due to their lack of carrier
containment and proved inefficient light sources.
 The output is usually from 5 degree to 15 degree i.e., laser beam has large divergence.

Improved carrier containment and thus lower threshold current densities were achieved using
heterojunction structures

Applications:

 It is widely used in fiber optic communication

 It is used to heal the wounds by infrared radiation
 It is also used as a pain killer
 It is used in laser printers and CD writing and reading.
Heterojunctions

Introduction:

 A single p–n junction fabricated from a single-crystal semiconductor material is known

as a homojunction

 However, the radiative properties of a junction diode may be improved by the use of
heterojunctions.

 A heterojunction is an interface between two adjoining single crystal semiconductors

with different band gap energies

 Heterojunctions are classified into either an isotype (n–n or p–p) or an anisotype (p–n).
 The iso-type heterojunction provides a potential barrier within the structure which is
useful for the confinement of minority carriers to a small active region (carrier
confinement).
 Alternatively, anisotype heterojunctions with sufficiently large bandgap differences
improve the injection efficiency of either electrons or holes.
 Both types of heterojunction provide a dielectric step due to the different refractive
indices at either side of the junction. This may be used to provide radiation confinement
to the active region (i.e. the walls of an optical waveguide). The efficiency of the
confinement depends upon the magnitude of the step which is dictated by the difference
in bandgap energies and the wavelength of the radiation.

DOUBLE-HETEROJUNCTION INJECTION LASER

 When a double-heterojunction (DH) structure was implemented, the resulting carrier

and optical confinement reduced the threshold currents necessary for lasing by a factor
of around 100. Thus stimulated emission was obtained with relatively small threshold
currents (50 to 200 mA). The layer structure and an energy band diagram for a DH
injection laser are illustrated in Figure 6.18.
 A heterojunction is shown either side of the active layer for laser oscillation. The
forward bias is supplied by connecting a positive electrode of a supply to the p side of
the structure and a negative electrode to the n side.
 When a voltage which corresponds to the bandgap energy of the active layer is applied, a
large number of electrons (or holes) are injected into the active layer and laser oscillation
commences.

 These carriers are confined to the active layer by the energy barriers provided by the
heterojunctions which are placed within the diffusion length of the injected carriers.

 It may also be observed from Figure 6.18(c) that a refractive index step (usually a
difference of 5 to 10%) at the heterojunctions provides radiation containment to the
active layer.
 In effect the active layer forms the center of a dielectric waveguide which strongly
confines the electroluminescence within this region, as illustrated in Figure 6.18(c).
Stripe geometry

 The DH laser structure provides optical confinement in the vertical direction through the
refractive index step at the heterojunction interfaces, but lasing takes place across the
whole width of the device.

 This situation is illustrated in Figure 6.20 which shows the broad-area DH laser where the
sides of the cavity are simply formed by roughening the edges of the device in order to
reduce unwanted emission in these directions and limit the number of horizontal
transverse modes.

 However, the broad emission area creates several problems including difficult heat
sinking, lasing from multiple filaments in the relatively wide active area and unsuitable
light output geometry for efficient coupling to the cylindrical fibers.

 To overcome these problems while also reducing the required threshold current, laser
structures in which the active region does not extend to the edges of the device were
developed. A common technique involved the introduction of stripe geometry to the
structure to provide optical containment in the horizontal plane.
 The structure of a DH stripe contact laser is shown in Figure 6.21 where the major
current flow through the device and hence the active region is within the stripe.

Generally, the stripe is formed by the creation of high-resistance areas on either side by
techniques such as proton bombardment or oxide isolation.

 The stripe therefore acts as a guiding mechanism which overcomes the major problems of
the broad-area device.

 However, although the active area width is reduced the light output is still not particularly
well collimated due to isotropic emission from a small active region and diffraction
within the structure.

 The optical output and far-field emission pattern are also illustrated in Figure 6.21.

 The output beam divergence is typically 45° perpendicular to the plane of the junction
and 9° parallel to it. Nevertheless, this is a substantial improvement on the broad-area
laser.