Observation of switching energy dependence on illuminating beam area in the VSTEP optoelectronic switch

Author

Beyzavi, K. ; Linke, R.A. ; Devlin, G.E. ; Ogura, I. ; Numai, T. ; Kasahara, K.

Author_Institution

NEC Res. Inst., Princeton, NJ, USA

Volume

6

Issue

2

fYear

1994

Firstpage

227

Lastpage

230

Abstract

We have observed a strong dependence of the optical switching energy of a p-n-p-n VSTEP device on the area of the illuminated spot. We explain the area dependence in terms of a long diffusion time (/spl sim/1 μs) required for the photo-generated holes to reach a uniform distribution in the depleted p-layer and report results of a carrier diffusion calculation which supports this conclusion. This effect reduces the required optical switching energy by as much as a factor of five for the devices measured.

Keywords

light emitting diodes; optical bistability; optical switches; phototransistors; semiconductor device models; semiconductor switches; thyristors; 1 mus; AlGaAs-GaAs; LED type device; VSTEP optoelectronic switch; area dependence; carrier diffusion calculation; depleted p-layer; heterojunction bipolar transistor; illuminated spot area; illuminating beam area; long diffusion time; p-n-p-n VSTEP device; photo-generated holes; switching energy dependence; thyristor action; Energy measurement; Lighting; Optical devices; Optical interconnections; Optical receivers; Optical switches; Pulse measurements; Repeaters; Stimulated emission; Time measurement;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1041-1135

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/68.275434

Filename

275434