Radiation Resistance of Silicon Carbide Schottky Diode Detectors in D-T Fusion Neutron Detection. Issue 1 (December 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Liu, Linyue; Liu, Ao; Bai, Song; Lv, Ling; Jin, Peng; Ouyang, Xiaoping
• Is Part Of: Scientific reports. Volume 7:Issue 1(2017)
• Page Start: 1
• Page End: 8
• Publication Date: 2017-12
• Subjects: Natural history -- Research -- Periodicals; Biology -- Research -- Periodicals; Physical sciences -- Research -- Periodicals; Earth sciences -- Research -- Periodicals; Environmental sciences -- Research -- Periodicals; 502.85
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-13715-3
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2045-2322

Abstract

Abstract Silicon carbide (SiC) is a wide band-gap semiconductor material with many excellent properties, showing great potential in fusion neutron detection. The radiation resistance of 4H-SiC Schottky diode detectors was studied experimentally by carefully analyzing the detectors' properties before and after deuterium-tritium fusion neutron irradiation with the total fluence of 1.31 × 1014 n/cm2 and 7.29 × 1014 n/cm2 at room temperature. Significant degradation has been observed after neutron irradiation: reverse current increased greatly, over three to thirty fold; Schottky junction was broken down; significant lattice damage was observed at low temperature photoluminescence measurements; the peaks of alpha particle response spectra shifted to lower channels and became wider; the charge collection efficiency (CCE) decreased by about 7.0% and 22.5% at 300 V with neutron irradiation fluence of 1.31 × 1014 n/cm2 and 7.29 × 1014 n/cm2, respectively. Although the degradation exists, the SiC detectors successfully survive intense neutron radiation and show better radiation resistance than silicon detectors.