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It turns out that the voltage source varies with light intensity
in an approximately logarithmic fashion:
PHOTODETECTORS
The internal resistance of the cell also varies with light
intensity. At low intensity, the resistance may be thousands of
ohms, whereas at higher intensities it may drop to less than
50 ohms.
This circuit converts the cell short-circuit current into a
proportional voltage.
PHOTODETECTORS
Example
PHOTODETECTORS
PHOTODETECTORS
PHOTODETECTORS
Cell Characteristics The properties of photovoltaic cells
depend on the materials employed for the cell and the nature
of the doping used to provide the n and p layers.
Some cells are used only at low temperatures to prevent
thermal effects from obscuring radiation detection. The
silicon photovoltaic cell is probably the most common. Table
2 lists several types of cells and their typical specifications.
PHOTODETECTORS
Photodiode Detectors
The previous section showed one way that the pn junction of a
diode is sensitive to EM radiation, the photovoltaic effect. A pn diode
is sensitive to EM radiation in another way as well, which gives
rise to photodiodes as sensors.
The photodiode effect refers to the fact that photons impinging on
the pn junction also alter the reverse current-versus-voltage
characteristic of the diode. In particular, the reverse current will
be increased almost linearly with light intensity.
Thus, the photodiode is operated in the reverse-bias mode. Figure
a shows a basic reverse-bias connection of such a diode.
PHOTODETECTORS
PHOTODETECTORS
Photodiodes are very small and often use an internal lens to focus light
on the junction.