Quaternary compound semiconductor Cd0.9Zn0.1Te1-xSex (CZTS) is emerging as the next generation room-temperature detector for radiation spectroscopy and imaging. CZTS is grown by inclusion of Se in small amount (2-3 at. %) in the CdZnTe (CZT) matrix during the crystal growth. Travelling heater method (THM) and Bridgman method (BM) grown CZTS ingots have shown high degree of axial and radial compositional homogeneity leading to crystal growth yield higher than 90% unforeseen in CZT. While the conventional growth methods produce large volume detector grade crystals, the achievable growth rate is typically low – 1-2 mm/day for THM and 1-2 mm/hr for BM. Vertical gradient freeze (VGF) method is an alternative growth method that can deliver much higher growth rates while maintaining the electronic quality of the crystals. We report an electron drift mobility of 1245 cm^2/V/s, measured in a VGF-grown Cd0.9Zn0.1Te0.97Se0.03 (CZTS) single crystal using a time-of-flight alpha spectroscopic method, which is 1.5 times higher than that reported for state-of-the-art CZTS crystals. A mobility-lifetime (μτ) product of ~1x10^-3 cm^2/V was calculated using a single polarity Hecht plot. Photo-induced deep level transient spectroscopy (PICTS) revealed the presence of several charge trapping centers in the temperature scan range 80 - 450 K. The study correlates the effect of the trap parameters on the performance of room-temperature gamma-ray detectors grown using the VGF method.
Ni/Y2O3/4H-SiC metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) structure has been realized on 20 μm thick 4H-SiC epitaxial layers by depositing 40 nm thick Y2O3 layers through pulsed laser deposition and using nickel as the gate contact. 4H-SiC based MOS structures with thin oxide layers are being considered as novel detector structures for ionizing radiation. Y2O3 being a wide bandgap (5.5 eV) and high-𝑘 dielectric (𝑘 = 14-16) is beneficial to lower the junction leakage current and increasing the bias voltage limit. The current-voltage (I-V) characteristics recorded for the fabricated MOS devices revealed excellent rectification properties and a very low leakage current density of 80 pA/cm2 at a gate bias of -500 V. The Mott-Schottky plot obtained from high frequency (1 MHz) capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurement revealed a linear trend as observed in Ni/4H-SiC Schottky barrier detectors. A built-in potential of ≈2.0 V has been calculated from the C-V characteristics. The radiation detection properties of the MOS detectors have been assessed through pulse height spectroscopy using a 241Am alpha particle source. The detectors revealed a well-defined peak in the pulse height spectrum with an energy resolution of 1.6% and a charge collection efficiency (CCE) of 82% at 0 V applied bias (self-biased mode) for the 5486 keV alpha particles. The energy resolution and the charge collection efficiency were seen to improve further with increased gate bias. A CCE of 1.0 and an energy resolution of 0.4% has been observed when the MOS detector was biased at -50 V. A very long hole diffusion length of 56 μm has been calculated using a drift-diffusion model and the variation of experimentally obtained CCE with bias voltage. Such long hole diffusion length and the high built-in potential has led to the highefficiency detection performance in self-biased mode. Capacitance-mode deep level transient spectroscopy revealed the presence of deep level trap centers commonly observed in 4H-SiC epilayers with trap concentrations similar to that has been observed in our previous devices.
We report the implementation of a deep convolutional neural network to train a high-resolution room-temperature CdZnTeSe based gamma ray spectrometer for accurate and precise determination of gamma ray energies for radioisotope identification. The prototype learned spectrometer consists of a NI PCI 5122 fast digitizer connected to a pre-amplifier to recognize spectral features in a sequence of data. We used simulated preamplifier pulses that resemble actual data for various gamma photon energies to train a CNN on the equivalent of 90 seconds worth of data and validated it on 10 seconds worth of simulated data.
Thick 4H-SiC epitaxial layers are essential for high-resolution detection of x- and gamma-rays in harsh environment. In this work, we have fabricated high-resolution Ni/n-4H-SiC Schottky barrier radiation detectors on 250 μm epitaxial layers, the highest thickness ever reported. Capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements showed a low-carrier concentration of ≈2 × 1014 cm-3 which based on simulations of the electric field allow the detectors to be fully depleted without break down. Current-voltage (I-V) characteristics displayed low leakage currents of < 1 nA up to − 800 V. To predict how the leakage current will grow at the large biases needed to fully deplete the detectors (at ~ 10 kV), the barrier lowering was evaluated from the detectors’ ln J/Em vs. E1/2m plots. Several detectors displayed scaling factors ≈ 2 or greater suggesting that leakage current should remain low even at extreme bias. Pulse height spectrometry using 5486 keV alpha particles showed a resolution of < 0.5 % full width half maximum (FWHM). From the charge collection efficiency vs. applied bias characteristics, the minority carrier diffusion length was found to be >10 μm. Both the long minority carrier diffusion length and high resolution were correlated to the low concentration of lifetime killing defects Z1/2 and EH6/7 (both associated with different charge states of carbon vacancy) found in the detector’s DLTS spectra
Silicon carbide (SiC) is the only wide-bandgap semiconductor to possess native oxide layer thus favoring efficient fabrication of metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) devices. 4H-SiC MOS structure has recently been demonstrated as improved radiation detector compared to the conventional Schottky barrier architecture. We report the fabrication of vertical Au/SiO2/n-4H-SiC MOS capacitors for radiation detection, by dry-oxidation of 20 μm thick n-type 4H-SiC epitaxial layer in air at 1000°C. Charge-carrier traps (defects) are known to limit the performance of semiconductor devices. In order to characterize the defects, capacitance mode deep level transient spectroscopy (C-DLTS) was carried out. Apart from regular electron-traps e.g., Ti-impurity and Z1/2 sites, we have also observed the carbon-interstitial related hole traps HK3. While studying defect centers in these devices using a filling pulse peaking to 0 V from a quiescent reverse gate voltage VG = -4 V, we observed a robust positive peak centered around 650 K. Positive peaks in C-DLTS scan indicates minority-carrier trapping, although above-mentioned type of filling pulses does not populate minority-carrier trap centers normally. The activation energy of the observed trap, most likely a carbon vacancy (HK3), was calculated to be 1.27 eV above the valence band edge.
Radiation detectors in planar configuration has been fabricated using CVD grown single crystalline diamond detectors. The detectors exhibited high energy-resolution for both electrons and holes transport. The performance of the diamond detectors was found to be asymmetric with respect to the bias polarity. The optimized charge collection efficiency values and the electronic noise analysis suggested the performance of the detectors is limited by the presence of electrically active defects such as nitrogen impurity. Density functional theory-based defect calculations has been performed to determine the location within the bandgap of the plausible defects that might interfere with the charge transport.
We report on the fabrication and characterization of a high-resolution Schottky barrier radiation detector for high temperature (HT) applications using high quality 150 𝜇m thick n-4H-SiC epitaxial layers with an ultra-low micropipe density of ≤0.1 cm-2. To evaluate the depletion region parameters of the detector, it was first characterized temperature- dependent capacitance voltage (C-V-T) measurements which showed barrier heights Φ𝐵 ranging from 2.09 to 2.24 eV and a carrier concentration of ~2 x 1014 cm-3 at room temperature (RT) which linearly increased at a rate of 9.65 x 1010 cm-3/K. From the depletion region simulation studies, it was shown that the change in doping concentration with temperature (T) can increase the needed bias to fully capture charged particles by up to 9V for 241Am and over 30V for a higher energy particles from 213Po. To examine the barrier properties and leakage currents of the detectors, we have systematically characterized temperature-dependent current - voltage measurements (I-V-T). The forward bias characteristics showed two linear regions - a low voltage region corresponding to a Shockley-Read-Hall (SRH) recombination center at 𝐸𝐶 − 0.93 eV and an upper region which corresponded to the barrier height of 2.02 eV. The reverse bias leakage currents were measured to be ~6 pA at ~65V at 300K implying a high signal to noise ratio (SNR) at RT and exhibited a current of less than 1 nA until 500K suggesting that detector should be operable with high SNR at ~200 oC. The Arrhenius plot of the reverse I-V-T showed an activation energy of 0.11 eV up to 400K and then 0.73 eV for 450K to 600K suggesting that most of the excess current at HT is derived from deep level state Z1/2 recombination center. Deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) results showed low defect concentrations of ~1011 cm-3 confirming that charge loss from trapping is negligible. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations suggested that the measured trap levels corresponded primarily to carbon (C) vacancies while the level at 0.93 eV corresponded to Si vacancies near the surface. The pulse height spectra (PHS) of the detector showed an excellent RT energy resolution of 0.55% FWHM at 5486 keV alpha particles after gaussian correction owed gamma response at 59.54 keV.
CdxZn1-xTe1-ySey (CZTS) is an emerging wide bandgap semiconductor material for the applications of high-resolution room-temperature x-ray and gamma-ray detectors. Large volume Cd0.9Zn0.1Te1-ySey single crystal ingots were grown by vertical Bridgman technique with composition 𝑦 = 0.02, 0.03, 0.05, and 0.07. Several planar detectors were fabricated on single grain cut out from the grown ingots and characterized. Current-voltage (I-V) measurements revealed very low leakage current (≤ 1 nA) at an operating bias voltage of ≥ 100 V and a bulk resistivity of ~1010 Ω-cm. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results showed sharp diffraction peaks, which confirmed a highly crystalline structure of the grown crystals. Energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDX) showed uniform elemental distribution over a large area and confirmed the stoichiometry of the samples. While all the detectors showed response to alpha particles, the detector with composition 𝑦 = 0.03 showed very good 137Cs (662 keV) gamma response. The drift mobility and mobility-lifetime product in all the samples of those compositions were calculated for both electrons and holes. Pulse height spectroscopy using 137Cs on the fabricated detectors showed fully resolved 662 keV gamma peaks with an energy resolution of ~2%. A one-to-one correlation between the space charge limited current (SCLC) flow and radiation detection properties was found to exist in these crystals. An anomalous current flow mechanism, falling outside the comprehension of SCLC flow mechanism, has been observed in the rest of the samples. The anomalous behavior has been attributed to the presence of electron traps.
The surface leakage current of high-resolution 4H-SiC epitaxial layer Schottky barrier detectors has been improved significantly after surface passivations of 4H-SiC epitaxial layers. Thin (nanometer range) layers of silicon dioxide (SiO2) and silicon nitride (Si3N4) were deposited on 4H-SiC epitaxial layers using plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) on 20 m thick n-type 4H-SiC epitaxial layers followed by the fabrication of large area (~12 mm2) Schottky barrier radiation detectors. The fabricated detectors have been characterized through current-voltage (I-V), capacitance-voltage (C-V), and alpha pulse height spectroscopy measurements; the results were compared with that of detectors fabricated without surface passivations. Improved energy resolution of ~ 0.4% for 5486 keV alpha particles was observed after passivation, and it was found that the performance of these detectors were limited by the presence of macroscopic and microscopic crystal defects affecting the charge transport properties adversely. Capacitance mode deep level transient studies (DLTS) revealed the presence of a titanium impurity related shallow level defects (Ec-0.19 eV), and two deep level defects identified as Z1/2 and Ci1 located at Ec-0.62 and ~ Ec-1.40 eV respectively.
In the present work high-resolution alpha particle detectors have been fabricated on high quality 20 μm thick n-type
4H-SiC epitaxial layers. Schottky barrier detectors have been fabricated by depositing 10 nm thick nickel contacts
on the Si face of the epilayers. The detectors were characterized using current-voltage (I-V), capacitance-voltage (CV),
alpha spectroscopic measurements, and deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS). I-V measurements revealed a
barrier height of ~1.6 eV, diode ideality factor of 1.09, and leakage current of the order of 14 pA at an operating bias
of 110 V. C-V measurements revealed low effective doping concentrations of 3.1 × 1014 cm-3 in the epilayers. A micropipe density lower than 1 cm-2 was evaluated in the epilayers. Pulse-height spectroscopy exhibited energy resolution as high as 0.37 % for 5.48 MeV alpha particles with a detector active area of 11 mm2. A diffusion length of ~13.2 μm for holes has been determined in these detectors following a calculation based on a drift-diffusion
model. Detailed electronic noise analysis in terms of equivalent noise charge (ENC) was carried out to study the
effect of various noise components that contribute to the total electronic noise in the detection system. The noise
analysis revealed that the white series noise due to the detector capacitance has substantial effect on the detector’s
overall performance. DLTS measurements have revealed the presence of at least four majority (electron) carrier trap
levels that can act as recombination/generation or trapping centers.
Synthesized amorphous selenium (a-Se) alloy materials have been characterized for room temperature high-energy
nuclear radiation detector and x-ray detection applications. The alloy composition has been optimized to ensure good
charge transport properties and detector performance. The synthesis of a-Se (As, Cl) alloys has been carried out by
thoroughly mixing zone-refined (ZR) Se (~7N) with previously synthesized a-Se(As) and a-Se(Cl) master alloys (MS).
The synthesized alloys have been characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD), glow discharge mass spectroscopy (GDMS),
differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and current-voltage (I-V)
characteristics measurements. Raman spectroscopy demonstrated that the a-Se(As) master alloy samples were in
metastable monoclinic Se8 states, in which seven vibrational modes are located at 40(41), 59(60), 77, 110, 133, 227(228)
and 251(252) cm-1. However, a-Se(Cl) master alloy samples are in stable form of trigonal structure of Se8 ring, in which two modes at 142 and 234 cm-1 were found. Both Raman and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) exhibited that a
small amount of tellurium (Te) existed in a-Se (As, Cl) master alloy samples. DSC measurements showed that a-Se (Cl)
MS and a-Se (As) MS samples have one melting point, located at ~219.6°C, whereas a-Se-As (0.52%)-Cl and Se-
As(10.2%)-Cl(60 ppm) both possess two melting points, located at 221 and 220.3°C respectively. The a-Se alloy plate
detectors have been fabricated and tested and the results showed high dark resistivity (1012 - 1013 Ω-cm) with good
charge transport properties and cost-effective large-area scalability.
The spectroscopic performance of two Frisch collar CdZnTe (CZT) detectors with different dimensions has been tested and evaluated after exposing to high energy gamma rays. The dimensions of one of the detectors, detector A, were 4.2×6.2×6.5 mm3 and that of detector B were 3.0×4.0×9.0 mm3. Detector grade CZT crystals were grown from zone refined Cd, Zn, and Te (~7N) precursor materials, using the tellurium solvent method. Detectors with virtual Frisch grid configuration were fabricated from these crystals. I-V measurements revealed low leakage currents at room-temperature, ~ 11 nA at 1100V for detector A and 14.5 nA at 1800V for detector B. For the spectroscopic measurements, the detectors were irradiated using a 137Cs source. Detector A showed an impressive energy resolution of 1.4% and detector B showed an energy resolution of ~5.9 % for 662 keV from Cs-137 radioisotope. A digital technique based biparametric correlation study showed that the performance of detector B was limited by the operating bias voltage. Further, a digital correction scheme has been described and was applied to recover the effect of charge (electron) – loss.
We present results of structural, electrical, and defect characterization of 4H-SiC epitaxial layers and bulk crystals and show performance of the radiation detectors fabricated from these materials. The crystal quality was evaluated by x-ray diffraction (XRD) rocking curve measurements, electron beam induced current (EBIC) imaging, and defect delineating etching in conjunction with optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Studies of the electrically active intrinsic defects and impurities were conducted using thermally stimulated current (TSC) measurements in a wide temperature range of 94 - 750K. The results are correlated with the capability of bulk crystals and epitaxial layers for the detection of α-particles, low to high energy x-rays and gamma rays. High barrier rectifying Schottky diodes have been fabricated and tested. The epitaxial 4H-SiC radiation detectors exhibited low leakage current (< 1 nA) at ~ 200 V operating voltage up to 200 C. The soft x-ray responsivity measurements performed at the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) at Brookhaven National Lab (BNL) showed significantly improved characteristics compared to commercially-available SiC UV photodiode detectors.
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