Neutron detection performance of silicon carbide and diamond detectors with incomplete charge collection properties

Silicon carbide diodes for neutron detection

“…The C-rich results agree very well with a formation enthalpy of 4.8-5.0 eV as measured from samples grown under the same conditions [95,41]. The above figures are also consistent with an equilibrium concentration in the range 10 12 -10 13 cm −3 of V C defects at 1200 • C. This is the temperature below which the vacancy becomes immobile during sample cool down [60] and the concentration range corresponds to what is usually detected by DLTS [86,65] [29,34,96,23].…”

“…The most probable interactions involving a fast neutron (E n > 10 MeV) impinging a SiC crystal involve elastic and inelastic recoil scattering events, 12 C(n, n ) 12 C or 28 Si(n, n ) 28 Si [28,29], where some of the energy and momentum of the incident neutron is transferred to C and Si nuclei. If the hit is strong enough to knock out a crystalline atom from its site, the event can be recorded either as the permanent signa- ture of the point defect created, or as a heavy ion moving through the depleted region, creating electron-hole pairs along its wake.…”

SiC detectors: A review on the use of silicon carbide as radiation detection material

“…The most likely interactions for a fast neutron crossing a SiC detector are elastic and inelastic scattering 12 C(n,n′) 12 C. C and Si nuclei can be removed from their sites depending on the amount of energy transferred in the collision, and the event can then be observed as a permanent point defect or by collecting the e-h pairs created by the recoil atom in the depleted region. Other reactions that may occur with a lower probability include 12 C(n, n′)3α, 28 Si(n,p) 28 Al, (n, 2n), (n, pn), (n, nα), or reactions involving the detector's less abundant C and Si isotopes [110].…”

Experimental characterisation of diamond-based neutron spectrometer

“…The principle of neutron registration by diamond detector is based on the collection of the electron-hole pairs generated during the slowing down of the charged particles, created from the neutron reaction with carbon nuclei (including the elastic and inelastic scattering of neutrons). The main reactions of fast neutrons interaction with 12 C nuclei [10][11][12][13][14] are given in table 1. The last column shows the estimated energy from the reaction in diamond when registering the neutrons of 13.988 MeV.…”