p-n JUNCTIONS AS SOLID BODY IONIZATION CHAMBERS

Journal Article · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1960 · Helvetica Physica Acta (Switzerland)

OSTI ID:4081455

Baldinger, E; Czaja, W; Farooqi, A Z

An analogy was drawn between a gas ionization chamber and a solid-body ionization chamber to determine if an accurate knowledge of the applicability of semiconductors as ionization chambers could be obtained. The magnitude of the charge collected as a function of the bias voltage U applied to the diode is influenced by the variation of the junction capacity with U, the variation of the recombination loss with U, and the variation of the track length in the "active volume" as a result of the broadering of the space charge zone with U. For a clarification of these effects a silicon p-s-n diode was used as a detector for polonium alpha radiation. The results showed that the diode capacity varied approximately as U/sup -1/>s. It was experimentally shown that the principal influence in the "saturation phenomenon" observed can be traced back to the variation of the diode capacity with the voltage U. The recombination loss is small, and the track length varies only slightly in the counter volume. Corresponding results were obtained for Au-Ge diodes. (J.S.R.)

• Research Organization: Universitat, Basel, Switzerland
• NSA Number: NSA-15-011224
• OSTI ID: 4081455
• Journal Information: Helvetica Physica Acta (Switzerland), Journal Name: Helvetica Physica Acta (Switzerland) Vol. Vol: 33; ISSN HPACA
• Country of Publication: Country unknown/Code not available
• Language: German

Related Subjects

ALPHA DETECTION
DIODES
ENGINEERING AND EQUIPMENT
GASES
GERMANIUM
GOLD
IONIZATION CHAMBERS
JOINTS
POLONIUM
QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS
SEMICONDUCTORS
SILICON
SOLIDS