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

Abstract

Abstract-We demonstrate alpha-particle detection in an n-type 4H-SiC Schottky diode detector up to an unprecedented temperature of 500 °C using an Am-241 disc source. The measured spectra were used to calculate the electronhole pair creation energy in 4H-SiC and its non-bandgap contribution, which are both found to decrease with increasing temperature. The full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the measured alpha-energy peaks was found to increase exponentially with temperature due to an exponential increase of leakage current.For our measurement system, above 300 °C, where the leakage current was 10 -6 A, this increase exceeded the FWHM at room temperature.

Fast Neutron Detection With 4H-SiC Based Diode Detector up to 500 °C Ambient Temperature

“…This change in the energy value is less than it is predicted in the work of Garcia et al [6] where for the temperature range of 23 • C-400 • C, 2.7% change in the energy to create an electron-hole pair is prevised. From the fitted σ-value of the Gauss function a 38% increase in the full width at half maximum was established which was caused by the elevating leakage and thermal noises of the semiconductor diode at higher temperatures.…”

“…In the work the effect of the external temperature on the signal of the diodes, the different thermal noises and current values were carefully examined. Garcia et al [6] investigated the change in electron-hole pair generation energy as a function of the temperature with alpha particle irradiated SiC detectors, they explained the effect of the generation energy on peak broadening and energy shift in the recorded energy spectrum.…”

Heavy Ion Induced Degradation in SiC Schottky Diodes: Incident Angle and Energy Deposition Dependence

“…Note that the range of the Xe ions at 1217 MeV in SiC is about . For the average electronhole pair creation energy in SiC, a value of was used, which is an average between the recently published experimental values of [17] and [18]. For modeling the avalanche multiplication, an anisotropic impact ionization model that is especially developed and calibrated for 4H-SiC power devices [19] has been implemented in Silvaco TCAD tools, and was used in this work.…”

Alpha spectroscopy for in situ liquid radioisotope measurements in rectangular microchannels

“…Pyroprocessing is performed in a molten salt which is maintained at about 500°C, a temperature where Si and other common roomtemperature detectors will fail because Si behaves as a metal instead of a semiconductor due to its relatively low bandgap. We have recently shown that detectors made from 4H-SiC, a wide-bandgap semiconductor, can measure alpha particle energy spectra up to 500°C with a 3 mm diameter circular active area [4]. Detectors such as these may be able to survive in the nuclear fuel treatment facility tanks.…”