The fast neutron response of 4H silicon carbide semiconductor radiation detectors

Ruddy, F.H.; Dulloo, A.R.; Seidel, John G.; Das, Mrinal K.; Ryu, Sei‐Hyung; Agarwal, A.K.

doi:10.1109/tns.2006.875151

Cited by 79 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Silicon is the workhorse for information technologies and photovoltaic photon harvesting, while SiC is a promising material for high power, high temperature and high frequency applications, because of its extreme thermal and chemical stability together with the large electron saturation velocity and mobility [3,4] and SiC has applications in light-emitting diodes [2][3][4], temperature sensors [5] and as neutron detectors [6,7]. The most stable of about 100 different SiC polytypes, the hexagonal 6H-SiC containing six SiC pairs per unit cell with the stacking sequence ABCACB [8] is the subject of this study.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermal evolution of the band edges of 6H-SiC: X-ray methods compared to the optical band gap

Miedema

Beye

Schiwietz

et al. 2014

Journal of Electron Spectroscopy and Related Phenomena

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The band gap of semiconductors like silicon and silicon carbide (SiC) is the key for their device properties. In this research, the band gap of 6H-SiC and its temperature dependence were analyzed with silicon 2p x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), x-ray emission spectroscopy (XES) and resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) allowing for a separate analysis of the conduction-band minimum (CBM) and valence-band maximum (VBM) components of the band gap. The temperature-dependent asymmetric band gap shrinking of 6H-SiC was determined with a valence-band slope of +2.45x10 -4 eV/K and a conduction-band slope of -1.334x10 -4 eV/K. The apparent asymmetry, e.g., that two thirds of the band-gap shrinking with increasing temperature is due to the VBM evolution in 6H-SiC, is similar to the asymmetry obtained for pure silicon before. The overall band gap temperature-dependence determined with XAS and non-resonant XES is compared to temperature-dependent optical studies. The core-excitonic binding energy appearing in the Si 2p XAS is extracted as the main difference. In addition, the energy loss of the onset of the first band in RIXS yields to values similar to the optical band gap over the tested temperature range.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermal evolution of the band edges of 6H-SiC: X-ray methods compared to the optical band gap

Miedema

Beye

Schiwietz

et al. 2014

Journal of Electron Spectroscopy and Related Phenomena

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“…Ruddy et al [11] for a CVD SiC Schottky Diodes irradiated with a 241 AmBe source, with a similar shaped spectrum obtained. Fig.…”

Section: ) Electrical Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 53%

“…Neutron elastic scattering is possible with neutrons of all energies however other neutron induced reactions are also possible depending on the neutron energy and reaction threshold energy e.g. the peak in count rate at ~ 2 MeV is attributed to the 28 Si (n,n') 28 Si 2+ and 28 Si(n,n')gs reactions [11]. The distinctive features seen in the simulated pure bulk SiC detector are not observed in sample A2475-1.…”

Section: ) Electrical Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Electrical Characteristics and Fast Neutron Response of Semi-Insulating Bulk Silicon Carbide

Bryant

Lohstroh

Sellin

2013

IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci.

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Abstract-The electrical characteristics and fast neutron response of a High Temperature Chemical Vapour Deposition (HTCVD) grown semi-insulating bulk SiC wafer has been measured. Current -Voltage measurements demonstrated a low leakage current in the region of 10 -10 to 10 -12 A with a bulk resistivity of at least 10 12 -10 13 Ω.cm. Alpha particle spectroscopy measurements demonstrated an electron charge collection efficiency of up to 90% with reasonable reproducibility of the acquired spectra. Evidence of (incident particle) rate dependent polarisation was seen following a constant applied bias combined with alpha irradiation over a period of time (order of tens of minutes). The ability of the wafer to detect fast neutrons was demonstrated and a comparison drawn with the MCNPX simulated response of a bulk SiC device. Comparing the MCNPX simulated response of a bulk SiC device to that of a silicon device suggests a superior ability to detect fast neutrons with an intrinsic efficiency 1.7 times that of silicon.

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“…In the response of the SiC detector some peaks is observed in the energy range from 7 to 10 MeV which are absent for the diamond and can be explained by the contribution from the multiple branches of the 28 Si(n,α) 25 Mg reaction observed by F.H. Ruddy et al [10] for a SiC detector. The main difference between the two responses is the higher count rate with the diamond-based detector than with the SiCbased one.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 83%

“…Concerning the SiC-based detectors the capability to measure the 14 MeV neutron spectrum with the well resolved (~2.13%, full width at half maximum FWHM=192 keV) 12 C(n,α) 9 Be peak was demonstrated by F.H. Ruddy et al [10]. The peak due to the 28 Si(n,α)…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison between Silicon-Carbide and diamond for fast neutron detection at room temperature

et al. 2018

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Abstract-Neutron radiation detector for nuclear reactor applications plays an important role in getting information about the actual neutron yield and reactor environment. Such detector must be able to operate at high temperature (up to 600° C) and high neutron flux levels. It is worth nothing that a detector for industrial environment applications must have fast and stable response over considerable long period of use as well as high energy resolution. Silicon Carbide is one of the most attractive materials for neutron detection. Thanks to its outstanding properties, such as high displacement threshold energy (20-35 eV), wide band gap energy (3.27 eV) and high thermal conductivity (4.9 W/cm K), SiC can operate in harsh environment (high temperature, high pressure and high radiation level) without additional cooling system. Our previous analyses reveal that SiC detectors, under irradiation and at elevated temperature, respond to neutrons showing consistent counting rates as function of external reverse bias voltages and radiation intensity. The counting-rate of the thermal neutroninduced peak increases with the area of the detector, and appears to be linear with respect to the reactor power. Diamond is another semi-conductor considered as one of most promising materials for radiation detection. Diamond possesses several advantages in comparison to other semiconductors such as a wider band gap (5.5 eV), higher threshold displacement energy (40-50 eV) and thermal conductivity (22 W/cm K), which leads to low leakage current values and make it more radiation resistant that its competitors. A comparison is proposed between these two semiconductors for the ability and efficiency to detect fast neutrons. For this purpose the deuterium-tritium neutron generator of Technical University of Dresden with 14 MeV neutron output of 10 10 n s -1 is used. In the present work, we interpret the first measurements and results with both 4H-SiC and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) diamond detectors irradiated with 14 MeV neutrons at room temperature.Index Terms-4H-SiC, neutron detector, SiC neutron detector, Diamond neutron detector, fast neutron detection

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The fast neutron response of 4H silicon carbide semiconductor radiation detectors

Cited by 79 publications

References 25 publications

Thermal evolution of the band edges of 6H-SiC: X-ray methods compared to the optical band gap

Thermal evolution of the band edges of 6H-SiC: X-ray methods compared to the optical band gap

Electrical Characteristics and Fast Neutron Response of Semi-Insulating Bulk Silicon Carbide

Comparison between Silicon-Carbide and diamond for fast neutron detection at room temperature

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