Amorphous silicon position sensitive neutron detector

Conference · Sat Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 1992 · IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers); (United States)

OSTI ID:6969687

Mireshghi, A; Cho, G; Drewery, J; Jing, T; Kaplan, S N; Perez-Mendez, V; Wildermuth, D ^[1]

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1. Lawrence Berkeley Lab., CA (United States)

In this paper, the authors present an investigation of the possibility of using an a-Si:H diode, coated with an appropriate converter, as a position sensitive neutron detector. Our Monte Carlo simulation predicts that using a Gd film, 2 [mu]m thick, coated on a sufficiently thick amorphous silicon n-l-p diode, the authors can achieve a neutron detection efficiency of 25 percent. The experimental results presented give an average signal size of aoubt 12,000 e[sup [minus]] per neutron interaction, which is well above the noise and is in good agreement with the expected values. The authors can also fabricate pixel detectors with element size as small as 300 [mu]m and still register a count rate of 2200 events/sec in a typical neutron flux situation of about 10[sup 7] n/cm[sup 2]sec. The fact that these detectors are not sensitive to gamma rays, and show excellent radiation hardness, make them good candidates for applications such as neutron imaging, neutron crystallography and neutron scattering.

• OSTI ID: 6969687
• Report Number(s): CONF-911106--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers); (United States) Journal Volume: 39:4
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

440104* -- Radiation Instrumentation-- High Energy Physics Instrumentation
440200 -- Radiation Effects on Instrument Components
Instruments
or Electronic Systems
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
663610 -- Neutron Physics-- (1992-)
73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
AMORPHOUS STATE
CALCULATION METHODS
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
COHERENT SCATTERING
CRYSTALLOGRAPHY
DIFFRACTION
ELEMENTS
FABRICATION
FEASIBILITY STUDIES
FILMS
GADOLINIUM
HARDENING
MATERIALS TESTING
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
METALS
MONTE CARLO METHOD
NEUTRON DETECTORS
NEUTRON DIFFRACTION
NEUTRON FLUX
NONDESTRUCTIVE ANALYSIS
PHYSICAL RADIATION EFFECTS
PIXE ANALYSIS
POSITION SENSITIVE DETECTORS
RADIATION DETECTORS
RADIATION EFFECTS
RADIATION FLUX
RADIATION HARDENING
RARE EARTHS
SCATTERING
SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES
SEMICONDUCTOR DIODES
SEMIMETALS
SILICON
SUBSTRATES
TESTING
THIN FILMS
X-RAY EMISSION ANALYSIS