Radiation hardness of three-dimensional polycrystalline diamond detectors

Abstract

The three-dimensional concept in particle detection is based on the fabrication of columnar electrodes perpendicular to the surface of a solid state radiation sensor. It permits to improve the radiation resistance characteristics of a material by lowering the necessary bias voltage and shortening the charge carrier path inside the material. If applied to a long-recognized exceptionally radiation-hard material like diamond, this concept promises to pave the way to the realization of detectors of unprecedented performances. We fabricated conventional and three-dimensional polycrystalline diamond detectors, and tested them before and after neutron damage up to 1.2 ×1016 cm−2, 1 MeV-equivalent neutron fluence. We found that the signal collected by the three-dimensional detectors is up to three times higher than that of the conventional planar ones, at the highest neutron damage ever experimented.

Study of cubic and hexagonal cell geometries of a 3D diamond detector with a proton micro-beam

“…Diamond detectors with conductive wires in the bulk, so called 3D diamond detectors, have been demonstrated to work as position sensitive, segmented detectors [1], and to exhibit superior radiation hardness compared to conventional planar diamond detectors [2]. In this study we examine the charge collection properties of a novel generation of 3D diamond detectors fabricated with a femto-second laser and aberration correcting optics.…”

Photoionization of monocrystalline CVD diamond irradiated with ultrashort intense laser pulse

“…In 3D detectors a shorter interelectrode distance results in a lower voltage bias required to collect the charge produced in the diamond thickness. Because of the reduced path of the charge carriers, the charge loss is minimized and the Charge Collection Efficiency (CCE) increased, as a consequence, 3D diamond detectors can be can be the radiation hardest sensors ever implemented 8 . Moreover, due to the high saturation velocity of carriers in diamond 9 , they are particularly interesting in subnanosecond timing applications.…”

Large single‐crystal diamond substrates for ionizing radiation detection

“…Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) diamond properties as a material suitable for the detection of ionizing radiations and particles are well known. In the last decades, several prototype detectors, based both on polycrystalline and single‐crystal diamond plates, achieved excellent performance in terms of radiation hardness and fast response, demonstrating that diamond could be a competitive alternative to ionization chambers, scintillators, or other semiconductor‐based devices used for detection of charged particles, neutrons, and X‐rays. In recent years, there is a growing interest in large active volume detectors in a wide range of scientific research fields, such as 2D dosimetry of X‐ray beams for radiotherapy , or beam loss monitoring in large particle accelerators , such as LHC (large hadron collider).…”