A Simplified Physics-based Quasi-static MSM Photodiode Model

This paper presents a novel large-signal model of a MSM photodiode. Based on a network synthesis approach, the complex analytical frequency response function which characterizes the generation of electron-hole-pairs and the drift of carriers in the depletion layer of the device is equivalently described by a simple lumped-element RLC network. The values of the elements depend on the transit time of the electrons and holes, which can be extracted from measurements. The residual electrical performance of the device is FET-like modelled using nonlinear current and charge sources (e.g. Kompa [1]). It will be demonstrated that the derived lumped-element large-signal model is very easy to implement and to use for transient response analysis in common commercial CAD software programs.