Extraction of the Parameters from I-V Data for Nonideal Photodetectors: A Comparative Study

Parameters that characterize semiconductor devices are often determined with difficulty, and their values very frequently depend on the method used for measurements and analysis. The extraction of diode parameters from the obtained I-V measurements could be complicated by their dependence on the voltage and the presence of series resistance. Therefore, an interpretation of the experimental I-V data must be very carefully made. In this paper, some methods for obtaining diode parameters such as saturation current, ideality factor and series resistance are presented. An evaluation of these methods based on their application for the extraction of the relevant parameters of photodiodes is also performed. Some of the methods that produce reliable and reproducible results are evaluated based on the experimentally obtained results, and in the view of the complexity of the used methods and their limitations.