Chapter 5 Phototransistors for Lightwave Communications

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the use of phototransistors for lightwave systems and photonic circuit applications. The basic operating characteristics of a bipolar phototransistor are described and the optical gain and the common-base and common-emitter current gains are determined from the current transport equations. The chapter derives a model for the noise characteristics of the heterojunction phototransistor (HPT) to project the sensitivity of an optical receiver with an HPT in the front end. The chapter concludes with a discussion on bipolar phototransistors and a review of work on novel structures and the integration of HPTs with other electrooptic components. A description of the operating characteristics of phototransistors with field-effect transistor-like structures is presented along with the results that have been obtained so far.

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