2. Electrical measurements

2.1 Static measurements: voltage and current

Measuring the electrical characteristics of semiconductor transmitters is a good first approach to estimating component quality [6].

• When the emitting diode (LED or sub-threshold laser) is supplied with steady-state power from a DC generator, the total current flowing through the component is composed of :

  • a diffusion current, attributed to radiative recombination (curve I, figure 4 );

  • a non-radiative current, attributed to thermal recombination (or Schottky-Hall-Read) (curve II, figure