Effects of surface recombination on the charge collection in h-BN neutron detectors
Abstract
Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) epilayers have been recognized as a promising material for applications in solid-state neutron detectors. However, the highest detection efficiency of 58% attained so far for 1 mm2 detectors fabricated from 50 μm thick B-10 enriched h-BN films still falls short of the expected theoretical value of 64%. This is due to the less than perfect charge collection efficiency. In this work, we have fabricated and analyzed the photocurrent-voltage characteristics of 11 h-BN neutron detectors. The dependence of the charge collection efficiency (ηc) on the charge carrier mobility-lifetime (μτ) product of the bulk trapping parameter reveals that ηc is nearly perfect at a bias voltage of 200 V if we neglect the effects of surface recombination. Our results have clearly demonstrated that the surface recombination of charge carriers is the dominant factor that prevents a further enhancement in the charge collection efficiency in our current detectors. The surface recombination field ES (=s/μ), defined as the ratio of the surface recombination velocity (s) to the carrier mobility (μ) of holes, was found to have a linear relationship with that of electrons and has a magnitude of the order of 104 V/cm. The present study indicates that it ismore »
- Authors:
-
- Texas Tech Univ., Lubbock, TX (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Texas Tech Univ., Lubbock, TX (United States); Nanophotonics Center (Texas Tech University)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1502865
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1571784
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AR0000964
- Resource Type:
- Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Applied Physics
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 125; Journal Issue: 10; Journal ID: ISSN 0021-8979
- Publisher:
- American Institute of Physics (AIP)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
Citation Formats
Lin, Jingyu, Jiang, Hongxing, Li, Jing, Maity, Avesek, and Grenadier, Sam J. Effects of surface recombination on the charge collection in h-BN neutron detectors. United States: N. p., 2019.
Web. doi:10.1063/1.5089138.
Lin, Jingyu, Jiang, Hongxing, Li, Jing, Maity, Avesek, & Grenadier, Sam J. Effects of surface recombination on the charge collection in h-BN neutron detectors. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5089138
Lin, Jingyu, Jiang, Hongxing, Li, Jing, Maity, Avesek, and Grenadier, Sam J. 2019.
"Effects of surface recombination on the charge collection in h-BN neutron detectors". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5089138. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1502865.
@article{osti_1502865,
title = {Effects of surface recombination on the charge collection in h-BN neutron detectors},
author = {Lin, Jingyu and Jiang, Hongxing and Li, Jing and Maity, Avesek and Grenadier, Sam J.},
abstractNote = {Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) epilayers have been recognized as a promising material for applications in solid-state neutron detectors. However, the highest detection efficiency of 58% attained so far for 1 mm2 detectors fabricated from 50 μm thick B-10 enriched h-BN films still falls short of the expected theoretical value of 64%. This is due to the less than perfect charge collection efficiency. In this work, we have fabricated and analyzed the photocurrent-voltage characteristics of 11 h-BN neutron detectors. The dependence of the charge collection efficiency (ηc) on the charge carrier mobility-lifetime (μτ) product of the bulk trapping parameter reveals that ηc is nearly perfect at a bias voltage of 200 V if we neglect the effects of surface recombination. Our results have clearly demonstrated that the surface recombination of charge carriers is the dominant factor that prevents a further enhancement in the charge collection efficiency in our current detectors. The surface recombination field ES (=s/μ), defined as the ratio of the surface recombination velocity (s) to the carrier mobility (μ) of holes, was found to have a linear relationship with that of electrons and has a magnitude of the order of 104 V/cm. The present study indicates that it is critical to reduce ES in h-BN in order to further push the charge collection and hence the total detection efficiency of h-BN neutron detectors to 100%},
doi = {10.1063/1.5089138},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1502865},
journal = {Journal of Applied Physics},
issn = {0021-8979},
number = 10,
volume = 125,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Mar 12 00:00:00 EDT 2019},
month = {Tue Mar 12 00:00:00 EDT 2019}
}
Web of Science
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