Physics-Based Photodiode Model Enabling Consistent Opto-Electronic Circuit Simulation

The paper developed a photodiode (PD) model for circuit simulation considering, contrary to existing models, the transient carrier generation explicitly in the solution of the continuity equation. The developed model is compatible with conventional compact electrical device models and is demonstrated to enable accurate simulation of opto-electronic integrated circuits. The electric field distribution along the depth direction of the PD is found to cause a tail in the photo current, which has an adverse effect on optical response of PD and the performance of opto-electronic circuits. The developed opto-electronic circuit model is also applicable to predict how circuit performance is improved with respect to the improvement of photo diode characteristics

Introduction

Requirement for opto-electronic integrated circuit (OEIC) simulations is intensively increasing due to emerging applications such as camera-on-chip or optical interconnects [1], [2]. Consequently, accurate circuit simulation models for opto-electronic (OE) devices are in urgent demand. In this paper, we present a newly-developed accurate physics based model of the p-i-n photodiode (PD), which is used as a photodetector and transforms optical signals into electrical ones. The model called HiSIM-PD includes the optically excited photo current and the PD device feature solved in time domain, and provides accurate and flexible OEIC simulation.