Preliminary results of feasibility of self-calibration of silicon pn photodiodes at room temperature using temperature sensors

8 pags., 7 figs., 3 tabs.-- Parts of this work have been presented at XI Reunión Nacional de Óptica in Self-calibration of silicon photodiodes internal quantum efficiency by using temperature sensors, 2015.Predictable quantum efficient detectors (PQEDs), based on photoelectric effect in silicon semiconductor, have proved their potential as optical radiant power primary standard. At present, simulations for semiconductor devices are the common method to predict the response of a PQED. As an alternative, this work investigates the feasibility of an experimental technique, the self-calibration of silicon photodiodes at room temperature by means of temperature sensors. A device which compares two physics principles by optical power, working both as a photodetector and a radiometer based on electrical substitution, was made. The device allows for measuring the current generated under irradiation (in photocurrent mode) and the heating of the system, induced by a laser or forward biasing, to determine the optical power (in thermal mode). The feasibility study consists of testing the equivalence between both modes and establishing the suitable range of optical power. The range of optimum optical power level, where both modes run in the linear domain at the present configuration, is from 300 μW up to 1 mW. Within this range, the optical power experimental uncertainty is lower than 1%.This work has been supported by the European Commission through the project SIB57-NEWSTAR under the European Metrology Research Programme (EMRP). The EMRP is jointly funded by the EMRP participating countries within EURAMET and the European Union. The authors of CSIC acknowledge support from the Comunidad de Madrid and the European Union under program SINFOTON-CM (S2013/MIT-2790).Peer Reviewe