Microstructured semiconductor neutron detectors
Perforated semiconductor neutron detectors are compact diode detectors that operate at low power and can be fashioned to have high thermal neutron detection efficiency. Fabricated from high-purity Si wafers, the perforations are etched into the diode surface with ICP-RIE and backfilled with 6LiF neu...
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Published in | Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment Vol. 608; no. 1; pp. 125 - 131 |
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Main Authors | , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Elsevier B.V
01.09.2009
|
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Perforated semiconductor neutron detectors are compact diode detectors that operate at low power and can be fashioned to have high thermal neutron detection efficiency. Fabricated from high-purity Si wafers, the perforations are etched into the diode surface with ICP-RIE and backfilled with
6LiF neutron reactive material. The intrinsic thermal neutron detection efficiency depends upon many factors, including the perforation geometry, size, and depth. Devices were fabricated from high resistivity
10
k
Ω
cm n-type Si with conformal p-type shallow junction diffusions into the perforations, which demonstrate improved neutron detection performance over previous selectively diffused designs. A comparison was made to previous selectively diffused designs, and pulse height spectra show improved signal-to-noise ratio, higher neutron counting efficiency, and excellent gamma-ray discrimination. Devices with
20
(
average
)
μ
m
wide
100
μ
m
deep sinusoidal trenches yielded intrinsic thermal neutron detection efficiencies of
11.94
±
0.078
%. |
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ISSN: | 0168-9002 1872-9576 |
DOI: | 10.1016/j.nima.2009.06.031 |