A Study on the Performance of a Silicon Photodiode Sensor for a Particle Dosimeter and Spectrometer

• Published in: Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 21; no. 23; p. 8029
• Main Authors: Kim, Bobae, Nam, Uk-Won, Kim, Sunghwan, Youn, Sukwon, Park, Won-Kee, Sohn, Jongdae, Kim, Hong Joo, Lee, Seh-Wook, Hwang, Junga, Ye, Sung-Joon, Jun, Insoo, Choi, Young-Jun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.12.2021; MDPI
• Subjects: Aerospace environments; Aluminum; Analog to digital conversion; Analog to digital converters; Batteries; Calibration; Communication; Cosmic rays; Digitization; Electronics; Energy; Fast neutrons; Gamma rays; Lunar surface; Microprocessors; Noise; Photodiodes; Proton beams; proton spectrometer; Radiation; radiation dosimeter; Receivers & amplifiers; Sensors; Signal processing; silicon photodiode sensor; Silicon wafers; Simulation; Space stations
• ISSN: 1424-8220; 1424-8220
• DOI: 10.3390/s21238029

A lunar vehicle radiation dosimeter (LVRAD) has been proposed for studying the radiation environment on the lunar surface and evaluating its impact on human health. The LVRAD payload comprises four systems: a particle dosimeter and spectrometer (PDS), a tissue-equivalent dosimeter, a fast neutron spectrometer, and an epithermal neutron spectrometer. A silicon photodiode sensor with compact readout electronics was proposed for the PDS. The PDS system aims to measure protons with 10–100 MeV of energy and assess dose in the lunar space environment. The manufactured silicon photodiode sensor has an effective area of 20 mm × 20 mm and thickness of 650 μm; the electronics consist of an amplifier, analog pulse processor, and a 12-bit analog-to-digital converter for signal readout. We studied the responses of silicon sensors which were manufactured with self-made electronics to gamma rays with a wide range of energies and proton beams.