High sensitivity hexagonal boron nitride lateral neutron detectors

Maity, A.; Grenadier, S. J.; Li, J.; Lin, J. Y.; Jiang, H. X.

doi:10.1063/1.5098331

High sensitivity hexagonal boron nitride lateral neutron detectors

Journal Article · Mon Jun 03 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5098331· OSTI ID:1571783

Maity, A. ^[1]; Grenadier, S. J. ^[2]; ^[2]; ^[2]; ^[2]

Texas Tech Univ., Lubbock, TX (United States). Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering; Texas Tech University
Texas Tech Univ., Lubbock, TX (United States). Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) thermal neutron detectors have demonstrated the highest detection efficiency among all solid-state detectors (at 58% for a detection area of 1 mm² and 53% for a detection area of 9 mm²). However, scaling up the detector size of vertical h-BN detectors is challenging due to increased dark current, capacitance, and surface recombination with the increasing detection area. Here, we report the demonstration of a 29 mm² thermal neutron detector fabricated from a freestanding ¹⁰B enriched h-BN epilayer of 90 μm in thickness with a detection efficiency of 50% by employing a lateral device geometry. The lateral detector geometry takes advantage of the unique layered structure of h-BN which naturally provides higher in-plane carrier mobilities than those in the vertical direction. Moreover, due to the reduced area of metals in contact with the h-BN material, the detrimental effects associated with the surface recombination at the metal contacts and device capacitance were reduced, which resulted in improved charge collection efficiency and signal to noise ratios. Furthermore, this work laid the ground work for scaling up to large size neutron detectors based on h-BN.

Research Organization:: Texas Tech Univ., Lubbock, TX (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E)

Grant/Contract Number:: AR0000964; NA0002927

OSTI ID:: 1571783

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1524460

Journal Information:: Applied Physics Letters, Journal Name: Applied Physics Letters Journal Issue: 22 Vol. 114; ISSN 0003-6951

Publisher:: American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited By (2)

Lateral charge carrier transport properties of B-10 enriched hexagonal BN thick epilayers Grenadier, S.; Maity, A.; Li, J. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 115, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5097984	journal	August 2019
Anisotropic index of refraction and structural properties of hexagonal boron nitride epilayers probed by spectroscopic ellipsometry McKay, M. A.; Li, J.; Lin, J. Y. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 127, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5134908	journal	February 2020

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