Thin film detectors which incorporate semiconductor
materials other than silicon have the potential to build upon their
unique material properties and offer advantages such as faster
response times, operation at room temperature, and radiation
hardness. To explore the possibility, promising candidate materials
were selected, and particle tracking detectors were fabricated. An
indium phosphide detector with a metal-intrinsic-metal structure has
been fabricated for particle tracking. The detector was tested using
radioactive sources and a high energy proton beam at Fermi National
Accelerator Laboratory. In addition to its simplistic design and
fabrication process, the indium phosphide particle detector showed a
very fast response time of hundreds of picoseconds for the 120 GeV
protons, which are comparable to the ultra-fast silicon
detectors. This fast-timing response is attributed to the high
electron mobility of indium phosphide. Such material properties can
be leveraged to build novel detectors with superlative performance.