SILICON SEMICONDUCTOR NEUTRON DOSIMETER

Technical Report · Fri Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1962

OSTI ID:4784247

Endres, G W.R.; Bramson, P E; Medcalf, A W

Silicon diodes are being studied for use as fast neutron personnel dosimeters at Hanford. The dosimeters are made of 400 ohm-cm resistivity silicon cemented with silver paste between two small nickel contacts. The diodes are approximately 1/8 inch in diameter with several different base thicknesses. The change in the forward resistance due to fast neutron damage was studied as a func tion of the diode thickness. The 0.075-inch thick diodes showed greater damage per unit dose than 0.100, 0.065, 0.050, and 0.030-inch diodes. The forward resistance changes approximately lineally with fast neutron dose. Accumulated neutron dose up to 100 rads was studied. . A fast neutron (average energy 2 Mev) dose detection limit of about 500 mrads was observed with 0.075-inch diodes. The diodes showed no detectable change in forward resistance with a dose to 500 r of radium-gamma radiation. The energy response of the diodes over the range of 0.200 to 17.0 Mev was measured for a given dose of monoenergetic neutrons. Some annealing of the neutron damage was evident in the first half-hour after irradiation, however, after the first hour the damage appears to be permanent for diodes maintained at room temperature. (auth)

• Research Organization: General Electric Co. Hanford Atomic Products Operation, Richland, Wash.
• DOE Contract Number: AT(45-1)-1350
• NSA Number: NSA-16-030581
• OSTI ID: 4784247
• Report Number(s): HW-SA-2624
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

DOSEMETERS
ELECTRIC CONDUCTIVITY
ENERGY
ENGINEERING AND EQUIPMENT
FAST NEUTRONS
GAMMA RADIATION
MONOCHROMATORS
NEUTRON DETECTION
NEUTRONS
NICKEL
PERSONNEL
RADIATION DOSES
RADIUM
SEMICONDUCTORS
SILICON
SILVER
TEMPERATURE
THICKNESS