Silicon Detectors for Low Energy Particle Detection

• Published in: IEEE transactions on nuclear science Vol. 55; no. 2; pp. 797 - 801
• Main Authors: Tindall, C.S., Palaio, N.P., Ludewigt, B.A., Holland, S.E., Larson, D.E., Curtis, D.W., McBride, S.E., Moreau, T., Lin, R.P., Angelopoulos, V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.04.2008; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Aluminum; Chemical processes; Deposition; Detectors; Electron detectors; Electrons; Energy loss; Entrances; Envelope detectors; Instruments; Mechanical polishing; Missions; proton detectors; Silicon; Silicon diodes; silicon radiation detectors; solar radiation; Solid state circuits; Stray light; Telescopes
• ISSN: 0018-9499; 1558-1578
• DOI: 10.1109/TNS.2008.918527

Silicon detectors with very thin entrance contacts have been fabricated for use in the IMPACT SupraThermal Electron (STE) instrument on the STEREO mission and for the Solid State Telescopes on the THEMIS mission. The silicon diode detectors were fabricated using a 200 Aring thick phosphorous doped polysilicon layer that formed the thin entrance window. A 200 Aring thick aluminum layer was deposited on top of the polysilicon in order to reduce their response to stray light. Energy loss in the entrance contact was about 350 eV for electrons and about 2.3 keV for protons. The highest detector yield was obtained using a process in which the thick polysilicon gettering layer was removed by chemical etching rather than chemical mechanical polishing.