Temperature dependence of silicon photodiode quantum efficiency: theoretical and experimental results

The temperature dependence of photodiodes quantum efficiency for different processes (deep diffused and ion implanted) and resistivities (10 and 100 (Omega) .cm) were measured. To better predict their behavior, a comparison was made with a simple uni-dimensional p-n junction model. This includes band-gap, depletion region width, diffusion constants, mobilities, intrinsic carrier concentration, absorption coefficient, and refractive index temperature functions. The surface recombination length of the minority carriers and the concentration of recombination centers were fitted to the experimental data.