Substrates for Optoelectronic Device Fabrication

university wafer substrates

GaN Substrate for Optoelectronic Device Research

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Reference #95680 for specs and pricing.

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Indium Phosphide (InP) Substrates for Photonics Research

An optoelectronic device engineer requested the following quote:

Can I please get a quote for five 2” (or 50mm) [100] SI InP:Fe wafers.They have to be single-side polish, as they will be used as reflectance standards for an AR coating, so one side has to have a rough grade.   The thickness is not super critical, but the thicker the better and the wafers should all have the same thickness.  I see in the website stock some that are 450um thick, so something like that would be fine.

 Reference #149713 for specs and pricing.


 

 

What Substrates are Used to Fabricate Optoelectronic Devices

Optoelectronic devices are electronic devices that can detect, emit, and control light. There choice of substrate depends on the type of optoelectronic device being fabricated and the desired properties of the substrate. Some of the commonly used substrates for optoelectronic devices include:

  1. Silicon: Silicon is a widely used substrate for optoelectronic devices such as photodiodes and solar cells. Silicon wafers are readily available and have well-established fabrication techniques.

  2. Gallium Arsenide (GaAs): GaAs is a semiconductor material that is often used for high-speed optoelectronic devices such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs), laser diodes, and photodetectors.

  3. Indium Phosphide (InP): InP is a semiconductor material that is used for high-speed optoelectronic devices, particularly in telecommunications. InP-based devices have high efficiency and low noise.

  4. Sapphire: Sapphire is a popular substrate for LEDs and laser diodes due to its high thermal conductivity and excellent optical properties.

  5. Glass: Glass substrates are used for some types of optoelectronic devices, such as organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) and some types of solar cells.

  6. Polymer: Polymer substrates are used for flexible optoelectronic devices, such as flexible OLED displays.

  7. Diamond: Diamond is a relatively new substrate for optoelectronic devices, but it has the potential to enable high-power and high-temperature devices due to its excellent thermal conductivity and durability.

What Are Optoelectronic Devices?

Optoelectronics is a fast emerging technology field dealing with the application of electronic devices in sourcing, detection and control of light. It involves LEDs, laser diodes, optical fibers and photo diodes in various applications like telecommunications, X-ray machines, microwave photonic links, medical equipments and general science.

What is the working principle of optoelectronic devices?

The working principle of optoelectronics is that light interacts with electrons in semiconductor materials to cause them to change energy states. This results in a current or voltage that can be detected by a device such as a photodetector.

What are the basic semiconductor optoelectronic devices?

Semiconductor optoelectronic devices include light-emitting diodes (LEDs), laser diodes, and photodetector. They are simple instruments that enable electrical injection of electrons with excess potential energy for radiative emission of photons and reverse electrical drift of photo-generated electrons to generate a photocurrent.

What are the physics and engineering issues that define basic semiconductor optoelectronic devices?

A good starting point is to understand the energy band representation for electrons and holes in semiconductors, and how this relates to their electrical and optical properties. Understanding the behavior of p-n junctions and other barrier potentials in semiconductor structures is also discussed.

What are the main applications of optoelectronic devices?

Optoelectronic devices are an essential part of our everyday lives, and have made a tremendous impact on our world. They have transformed many industries, and are now playing an increasingly important role in our medical technology, military equipment, computing and communication systems, and imaging techniques.

Video: What is Optoelectronic Devices and Applications

What Are Optoelectronic Devices Used For?

Optoelectronics is a fast emerging technology field that involves using electronic devices to source, detect and control light. It can be used in a wide range of applications and products from military services to automatic access control systems, telecommunications, medical equipment and more.

Some examples of optoelectronic devices are light-emitting diodes (LEDs), solar cells, photodiodes and phototransistors. They are based on semiconductor junction electronics.

Photodiodes

Photodiodes are a class of Optoelectronic Devices that are used to measure and detect light. They are widely used in electronic devices such as camera light meters, bar code scanners and smoke detectors.

Photodetectors use light to energise electrons, which are then injected into the base and collector of a bipolar transistor (or phototransistor). This process produces a current flow that is amplified by the current gain of the transistor.

The current produced by the photodiode is called a photocurrent and can be measured to determine the amount of light absorbed. This is known as responsivity and can be defined as the ratio of a photocurrent to the energy of the photons that are absorbed by the diode, for a specific wavelength.

In general, the sensitivity of a photodiode is limited by its quantum efficiency which depends on the material & the thickness of the semiconductor layers. The material & the thicknesses can be controlled to optimize the sensitivity & quantum efficiency in different parts of the visible spectrum.

Photodiodes can be made from a wide range of semiconductor materials, including the silicon-based technology that is widely used in consumer electronics. However, some materials are better suited for high-speed photodiodes that have traveling wave properties. Indium gallium arsenide, for example, is a good choice because it has a direct band gap and can quickly collect photocarriers.

Solar Cells

Solar cells, also known as photovoltaic (PV) cells, convert sunlight directly into electricity. They were first developed by Bell Labs scientists in the 1950s and soon became useful for powering space satellites and small electronic devices. Today, PV cells are a cost-effective and increasingly important part of the electric grid.

Solar power is a renewable energy source that is available all year round, even during cloudy or rainy periods. It is based on the solar energy that is absorbed by a semiconducting material, such as silicon, which converts light to direct current (DC) electricity.

To make a solar cell, manufacturers start with a wafer of crystalline silicon that is doped to produce p-type or n-type semiconductor junctions at specific locations on the surface. This is done using surface diffusion and chemical vapor deposition processes.

Next, a thin, transparent coating of antireflection materials is applied to the surface. This reduces the amount of light that is lost through reflection, and increases the transmission of incoming light to the energy conversion layers below.

These layers are made from a range of different semiconducting materials that absorb the light at a variety of wavelengths and convert it to electricity. The efficiency of the solar cell depends on a number of factors, including reflectance, thermodynamic, and charge carrier separation efficiencies.

The overall solar cell efficiency is calculated as the product of these individual metrics. It is then used to estimate the energy that the cell will be able to provide when the sun's intensity is at its highest point during the day, and to calculate the amount of electricity that can be generated by a single solar panel.

Monocrystalline and polycrystalline silicon solar cells are the most common types of PV modules, though a few other types, such as thin-film and perovskite, are also available. Some PV technologies are more expensive to manufacture than others, but they offer significantly higher efficiencies.

Optical Fiber

Optical fibers are used in a variety of applications and are also an integral part of many buildings. For example, they can be used to transport light for decorative purposes or as a sensor that can detect changes in a building’s structural health.

Often, optical fibers are bundled into a cable and then connected to terminal equipment. This is usually accomplished by a connector, but it can also be done permanently by splicing the two ends together. The most common splicing method is arc fusion splicing, which uses an electric arc to melt the fiber ends together.

* Communication -- Optical fibers are much faster and more reliable than copper wire, and they can carry more data over longer distances than metallic conductors with equivalent signal-carrying capacity. This makes them ideal for computer networking and other local area network (LAN) applications.

They are also widely used for digital audio signals. The audio is transmitted through a single cable rather than multiple cables, which allows for greater bandwidth and higher quality of the signal. Similarly, they are often used for short-distance communications between devices such as TVs and telephones.

These types of applications are important because they can help solve a range of problems, from ensuring reliable connections to improving communication. Additionally, they can reduce costs and increase productivity by enabling businesses to connect more devices at once.

In addition to these important applications, optical fibers are also widely used in scientific research. For example, they are commonly used in physics experiments, as they can support long nonlinear interactions between the different components of an experiment. The nonlinearity of an optical fiber can also have a negative impact on the performance of an experiment, so measures are often required to minimize this effect.

Photovoltaic Cells

Solar cells are a type of optoelectronic device that converts the energy in sunlight into electricity. They are primarily used to generate power for homes, businesses and other applications that require an electrical supply. They also help to reduce the carbon footprint of electricity and can be a great way to combat climate change.

PV devices are made of a semiconductor material, such as silicon, that is specially treated to produce an electric field. When the light strikes the cell, electrons are knocked loose from atoms in the material and move toward the front of the device. When a connector, like a wire, joins the two surfaces, a current of electricity occurs between the positive and negative sides.

There are many different types of photovoltaic cells, each of which has its own advantages and disadvantages. For example, single-crystal silicon has a higher efficiency than polycrystalline silicon but is more expensive and harder to make.

Another type of photovoltaic cell, called thin-film technology, is much simpler and more inexpensive to manufacture. It uses thin layers of semiconductor materials, such as cadmium telluride or copper indium gallium diselenide, which are usually several micrometers thick.

The cells in a PV system are often grouped together to form a solar panel or array, which can be used for residential and commercial purposes. A standard solar panel for a rooftop residential installation typically has 60 or more cells linked together.

Compared with traditional energy sources, the use of PV cells is environmentally friendly, with virtually no pollution involved in production or transport. They also have a low cost of operation, which makes them a great choice for homeowners and businesses.

Photoresistors

Photoresistors are also known as light dependent resistors (LDR). They are passive devices that convert the amount of light they are exposed to into electrical energy. They are typically made from a high resistance semiconductor material, such as silicon or germanium, but can also be manufactured using other materials, like cadmium sulfide or cadmium selenide.

When light is irradiated on the LDR, the number of charge carriers that are generated in the device increases. The more charge carriers that are generated, the more electric current will flow through the device. This current will decrease the resistivity of the LDR because more electrons will be able to jump from the valence band to the conduction band.

Since the sensitivity of a photoresistor varies with the wavelength of the light that is being irradiated on it, different types of LDR are produced for specific purposes. Some are designed for certain ranges of wavelengths, while others are more sensitive to long wavelength light and can be used in applications that involve infrared or other low-frequency radiation.

The sensitivity of the photoresistor can vary according to the type of semiconductor material it is made from. Semiconductor material that is doped with impurities, such as cadmium sulfide, has a lower band gap than pure semiconductor material, so it requires more energy to excite the electrons in its valence band to the conduction band.

This is the reason why different LDRs react differently to varying wavelengths of light. Some LDRs, which are called intrinsic, will only trigger when light of a specific frequency is present. Other LDRs, which are called extrinsic, will trigger when light of a specific wavelength is present.

Video: Optoelectronic Device Introduction