Characterization of room temperature AlGaAs soft X-ray mesa photodiodes

Results characterising a set of nine prototype Al0.8Ga0.2As p+–i–n+ mesa photodiodes (400 µm diameter, 1.7 µm i layer) are presented. The results show the performance of the devices as room temperature spectroscopic photon counting soft X-ray detectors. The responses of the photodiodes to illumination with an 55Fe radioisotope X-ray source were measured using a low noise charge sensitive preamplifier; the energy resolutions measured with the devices were consistent with each other and had a mean FWHM at 5.9 keV of 1.27 keV. The devices are the thickest (highest detection efficiency) AlGaAs X-ray spectroscopic mesa photodiodes reported in the literature to date. They also have better energy resolution than all previously reported non-avalanche AlGaAs X-ray detectors of the same area.