6:1 aspect ratio silicon pillar based thermal neutron detector filled with {sup 10}B

Journal Article · Mon Sep 29 00:00:00 EDT 2008 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2985817· OSTI ID:21175634

Nikolic, R J; Conway, A M; Reinhardt, C E; Graff, R T; Wang, T F ^[1]; Deo, N; Cheung, C L ^[2]

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1. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550 (United States)
2. Department of Chemistry and Nebraska Centre for Materials and Nanoscience, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska 68588 (United States)

Current helium-3 tube based thermal neutron detectors have shortcomings in achieving simultaneously high efficiency and low voltage while maintaining adequate fieldability performance. By using a three-dimensional silicon p-i-n diode pillar array filled with boron-10 these constraints can be overcome. The fabricated pillar structured detector reported here is composed of 2 {mu}m diameter silicon pillars with a 4 {mu}m pitch and height of 12 {mu}m. A thermal neutron detection efficiency of 7.3+/-0.6% and a neutron-to-gamma discrimination of 10{sup 5} at 2 V reverse bias were measured for this detector. When scaled to larger aspect ratio, a high efficiency device is possible.

• OSTI ID: 21175634
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 93, Issue 13; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.2985817; (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
ASPECT RATIO
BORON 10
ELECTRIC POTENTIAL
HELIUM 3
NEUTRON DETECTION
SI SEMICONDUCTOR DETECTORS
SILICON
THERMAL NEUTRONS