Experimental Analysis of Two Measurement Techniques to Characterize Photodiode Linearity

Abstract—As photodiodes become more linear, accurately characterizing their linearity becomes very challenging. We compare the IMD3 results from a standard two tone measurement to those from a more complex three tone measurement technique. A Ge n-i-p waveguide photodetector on Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) substrate is used for the comparison. Additionally, we analyze, via simulation, the limitations of the measurement system in determining the distortion of highly linear photodiodes. I