Fast semiconductor radiation detectors operated in current mode provide a valuable diagnostic in pulsed power applications. Si detectors are common due to the availability of high-quality materials and mature fabrication processes, but they offer low absorption for hard x-rays above ∼10 keV. GaAs can provide increased hard x-ray absorption for the same detector volume due to a higher atomic number. GaAs photodiodes have been produced from epitaxial material grown at Sandia National Laboratories and fabricated at Sandia’s microfabrication facility. These detectors have significantly higher hard x-ray absorption (>10× at 15 keV) and nearly identical temporal impulse response to similarly sized Si detectors of 0.5 ns full-width half maximum.
Looker, Quinn, Wood, Michael G., Lake, Patrick W., Kim, Jin K., & Serkland, Darwin K. (2019). GaAs x-ray detectors with sub-nanosecond temporal response. Review of Scientific Instruments, 90(11). https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5127294
Looker, Quinn, Wood, Michael G., Lake, Patrick W., et al., "GaAs x-ray detectors with sub-nanosecond temporal response," Review of Scientific Instruments 90, no. 11 (2019), https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5127294
@article{osti_1574066,
author = {Looker, Quinn and Wood, Michael G. and Lake, Patrick W. and Kim, Jin K. and Serkland, Darwin K.},
title = {GaAs x-ray detectors with sub-nanosecond temporal response},
annote = {Fast semiconductor radiation detectors operated in current mode provide a valuable diagnostic in pulsed power applications. Si detectors are common due to the availability of high-quality materials and mature fabrication processes, but they offer low absorption for hard x-rays above ∼10 keV. GaAs can provide increased hard x-ray absorption for the same detector volume due to a higher atomic number. GaAs photodiodes have been produced from epitaxial material grown at Sandia National Laboratories and fabricated at Sandia’s microfabrication facility. These detectors have significantly higher hard x-ray absorption (>10× at 15 keV) and nearly identical temporal impulse response to similarly sized Si detectors of 0.5 ns full-width half maximum.},
doi = {10.1063/1.5127294},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1574066},
journal = {Review of Scientific Instruments},
issn = {ISSN 0034-6748},
number = {11},
volume = {90},
place = {United States},
publisher = {American Institute of Physics},
year = {2019},
month = {11}}
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