Detection of β-particles, conversion electrons and γ-rays with silicon planar detectors

• Published in: Applied radiation and isotopes Vol. 45; no. 4; pp. 453 - 459
• Main Authors: Vapirev, E.I., Sueva, D., Spassov, V., Chikov, N., Ivanov, I.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.04.1994
• ISSN: 0969-8043; 1872-9800
• DOI: 10.1016/0969-8043(94)90111-2

The performance of n- and p-type silicon detectors manufactured by a recently developed planar technology for the detection of β-particles, conversion electrons and γ-rays is reported. Two structures are tested: an ion implanted detector with p +-n-n + structure and a diffusion detector with n +-p-p + structure. The experiments show that planar detectors can be used for high energy electron counting, for γ-ray detection and for identification of low energy β-sources. The phenomenon of total absorption of high energy conversion electrons in thin silicon detectors is observed and explained. It is demonstrated that the peaks of total absorption can be used for the estimation of the thickness of the depleted region of the detector.