Development of a silicon carbide radiation detector

Abstract

The radiation detection properties of semiconductor detectors made of 4H silicon carbide were evaluated. Both Schottky and p-n junction devices were tested. Exposure to alpha particles from a 238Pu source led to robust signals from the detectors. The resolution of the Schottky S i c detector was 5.8% (FWHM) at an energy of 294 keV, while that of the p-n junction was 6.6% (EWHM) at 260 keV.No effect of temperature in the range of 22 to 89 "C was observed on the characteristics of the Pu alpha-induced signal from the S i c detector. In addition, testing in a gamma field of 10,000 rad-Si h" showed that the alpha-induced signal was separable from the gamma signal. 238

Electron-hole pair generation in SiC high-temperature alpha particle detectors

“…Charge carrier recombination was not included in the model for ε4H-SiC given by equation (6). If recombination played a dominant role in charge carrier collection, then the terms in equation (8) would increase.…”

“…4H-SiC is one of the most obvious candidate materials for high temperature solid-state detector applications because of its large band gap, reported radiation hardness 4 , high charge carrier mobility 5 , and successful demonstration as a room-temperature alpha particle detector 4,6 . However, alpha-particle detection in silicon carbide has only been reported to date for temperatures below 89 o C for Schottky 6 and 375 o C for pn-type diode detectors 4 . In both cases the depletion width was thinner than the range of the alpha particles, resulting in incomplete charge collection.…”

Improvements in Realizing 4H-SiC Thermal Neutron Detectors

“…On the other hand larger-area SiC Schottky (20 mm 2 ) neutron detectors have been tested [14] based on the 100 m external 6 LiF-based NCL. The neutron response was clearly resolvable from that of gamma, ensuring the reliability of using SiC-based detectors in environments where gamma-rays may exist [4,15]. Additionally another neutron detectors were realized [16,17] based on evaporation of 6 LiF and 10 B 2 O 3 onto the Au metal contact.…”

“…As an alternative to the conventional semiconductors, wide band gap semiconductors, such as silicon carbide (SiC) devices, have been developed for alpha particle [4][5][6] or x-ray detectors [7][8][9], and as radiation detectors in harsh environments [10,11]. This development is motivated by the wide band gap, high radiation resistance and high thermal conductivity of the SiC material.…”

On the Integration of a Readout System Dedicated for Neutron Discrimination in Harsh Environment

“…Radiation detectors dedicated for safe operation under harsh environments (nuclear reactors) that are based on semi-conductor materials have received considerable attention in recent years due to their compact size and their fast charge collection time in comparison with other types of detectors (gas filled) [1][2][3]. Crossing a semi-conductor detector (p-n junction for example), a particle delivered by a source of radiation will generate a number of electron-hole pairs proportional to its own energy [4].…”