Performance evaluation of new large-area avalanche photodiodes for scintillation spectroscopy

Technical Report · Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1991

OSTI ID:5402062

James, K M; Masterson, M J ^[1]; Farrell, R ^[2]

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1. EG and G Energy Measurements, Inc., Goleta, CA (United States)
2. Radiation Monitoring Devices, Inc., Watertown, MA (United States)

Avalanche photodiodes (APD's) appear promising for certain applications as a solid state replacement for the photomultiplier tube. The increase in leakage current and capacitance noise with device active area has in the past kept the size of commercially available devices to < 1 mm{sup 2}. Recent advances in fabrication technology have, however, resulted in relatively low-noise devices of up to 1 inch in diameter. We have recently evaluated the performance as scintillation spectroscopy detectors of two commercial large-area avalanche photodiodes. These APD's exhibit exceptional performance: at 662 KeV a 1-inch-diameter device coupled to a CsI(Tl) scintillator and operating at room temperature yielded 6.9% resolution and a 1-cm device coupled to CsI(Tl) and cooled to 260 K gave 4.4% resolution, which is believed to be the best resolution ever recorded for a scintillation spectrometer. 10 refs., 9 figs.

• Research Organization: EG and G Energy Measurements, Inc., Goleta, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC08-88NV10617
• OSTI ID: 5402062
• Report Number(s): EGG-10617-2102; ON: DE91017400
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
PHOTODIODES
PERFORMANCE TESTING
CESIUM 137
ENERGY RESOLUTION
GALLIUM
PHOTODETECTORS
SCINTILLATION COUNTING
SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO
SPECTROSCOPY
ALKALI METAL ISOTOPES
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CESIUM ISOTOPES
COUNTING TECHNIQUES
ELEMENTS
INTERMEDIATE MASS NUCLEI
ISOTOPES
METALS
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
RADIOISOTOPES
RESOLUTION
SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES
SEMICONDUCTOR DIODES
TESTING
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440101 - Radiation Instrumentation- General Detectors or Monitors &amp; Radiometric Instruments