An advanced SiC nuclear radiation detector

This paper reports low noise, high charge collection efficiency, resolution, room temperature, self-biased operation of 3-8 /spl mu/m thick, epitaxially grown, SiC Schottky and pn junction diode detectors fabricated on n+ 4H-SiC substrates. These devices are also shown, for the first time, to have a linear gamma ray response. The thin active region used not only eliminates the problems with material purity, but also allows the device to be tailored for specific applications. For instance, the gamma ray sensitivity of detectors for reactor control applications, can be minimized because the gamma ray signal (produced over the entire volume of a bulk detector) is limited by the thin active region whereas the neutron-induced charged-particle signal (produced near the surface) is not. Finally, the high resolution of these devices (comparable to silicon detectors) enables discrimination between neutron, gamma ray and fission fragment spectra and should prove useful in other nuclear radiation detection applications.