Electronic – Suggestions to interface a photodiode in the MHz range

operational-amplifierphotodiodesamplingsensor

The task at hand is to read the variations of incoming light at speeds up to 1 MHz, with some dynamic range capability (10-1000lx with 1% accuracy would suffice).

This is to be used in a device which measures lighting quality (flicker detection in light sources and backlights). Light flicker is usually in the kHz range, but we've measured an office CFL lighting that has some small 100 kHz "ripple". I take it that in order to analyze a 100 kHz signal to at least some degree, a 1 MHz sampling rate or more would be needed.

I have questions on both the analogue and the digital part of this 🙂

The analogue part of the question is how to interface the photodiode (SFH213). I've read that a transimpedance amplifier is the suggested path, but I need a programmable gain TIA to cater for the dynamic range. Making a TIA for a fixed gain seems doable, and there are even ICs for that, but I haven't found any programmable-gain TIA ICs (or I haven't searched well enough). Would it be a good idea to use a fixed TIA gain, tuned to the 1000lx illumination range, and then follow that with a good programmable voltage-gain amplifier to cover the 100lx and 10lx ranges? (Other ideas come to mind, but are probably stupid, e.g. a logarithmic amplifier there).

The digital part of the question is how to sample the resulting signal at 1 MHz. I've selected a dsPIC33FJ16GS502, which boasts a 4 MHz ADC sample rate. Is this actually attainable? Analyzing the signal on-the-fly would be of course impossible at 1 MHz, but I can use a sample-store-analyze approach there.

Best Answer

I cannot speak to the digital question, but the analog is pretty straightforward. You should use a TIA with a 1000 lux sensitivity, about 8 kohm / full scale volt. Use about a 5 volt bias, and expect a photodiode capacitance of 4 or 5 pF. I'd suggest that you don't need a PGA, rather, use a pair of x10 amplifiers in series and an analog mux to select the active channel. Be aware that selecting the appropriate channel will not be trivial in some cases, especially where there is a lot of AC on the signal. All amplifiers need to be selected with fast overload recovery in mind, or incorporate clamps. Fortunately, your currents are so low that a decent clamp should be straightforward. Log amps are in principle a good idea except that it's hard to make a good log amp that is also fast. The other problem with log amps is that it's very difficult to produce the sort of precision you want over large dynamic range.

ETA In response to a request, here's a TIA using an AD8651 and +/- 3.3 volts -

schematic

simulate this circuit – Schematic created using CircuitLab

The AD8651 is available for less than $4 in onesies.

One thing to be careful about is the value of the feedback compensation capacitor. With the values shown, and an assumed total input capacitance of 6 pF (4 pF for the diode, 2 pF for the IC) my simulation gives settling time for a full-scale step (3 volts for 130 uA) of less than 300 nsec. However, this is quite sensitive to the value of the capacitor, and so is sensitive to layout considerations. A very compact layout is a must - which means that breadboards are absolutely verboten. Good decoupling of the +3.3 supply at the op amp is also a must - this is a 50 MHz op amp.