Comimark 5Pcs BPW34 Silicon PIN Photodiode DIP-2

We're using these to validate laser diodes from China. Works great!

Great product, price and fast shipping.

Very nice gain on these. I am using it to convert light to sound, so I need sensitivity in low light like listening to the strobes on aircraft.

Not sure if these are real Vishay products, but they work in my application.

These seem to work well, at first glance. They are shipped all together wrapped up in a simple piece of tissue (photo), which does cause them to stay together and not rattle around in the baggie while in route, but it also means that they are rubbing against each other, which in turn causes the glass surfaces to get badly scratched (photo). This is not good considering it's a light-dependent component! Any distortion or damage to the surface will affect it's efficiency and/or reliability. I would recommend double checking for functionality before return window closes.

Super sensitive! These appear to be PIN photodiodes, that can be used in either ‘forward voltage generation’ or ‘reverse- voltage conduction’ modes. They are extremely sensitive to low-light, and with the proper application of a high-gain, low-noise amplifier could approach near photo-multiplier tubes sensitivity levels. In a dimly lit room, I saw as much as 200+mV, and with a high-powered LED flashlight, saw 550mV. Also, was able to easily see the LED backlight of a Fluke 289, as it indirectly illuminated the same room! So, you’ll probably be creating ways to reduce their sensitivity, when used for most activities. Now the negative: As another reviewer noted, the cover glass looks to be contaminated; he said fingerprints, it looks like dust on the ones I got. The contamination is definitely internal, as observed under a microscope, along with attempts to clean the lens. This is pretty inexcusable, and leads me to think these are cosmetic seconds. The contamination, does not appear to affect performance, but begs the question of ultimate longevity. If you need primes, Mouser has these for the same price, but with added shipping costs. For me, I feel they are good enough, and certainly worth the money for a wideband (light-wavelength) very high sensitivity detector…

I can't say these are genuine Vishay BPW34 Silicon PIN Photodiodes since the silicon itself is 3 mm x 3 mm, 5 mm x 5 mm including the plastic casing and pins. So, I can't trust the Vishay datasheet to match the characteristic of these little guys, but at least they work, at an affordable price. There does appear to be fingerprints on the inside of the plastic though, which can't be cleaned off by brushing the outside of the diode with a microfiber cloth.

Good sensitivity