Neutron detection performance of gallium nitride based semiconductors
| Autor: | Eric Burgett, Ian T. Ferguson, Nolan E. Hertel, Chuanle Zhou, Andrew G. Melton |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2019 |
| Předmět: |
Materials science
Physics::Instrumentation and Detectors Astrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena Nuclear Theory lcsh:Medicine Gallium nitride 02 engineering and technology Scintillator 01 natural sciences Article Condensed Matter::Materials Science chemistry.chemical_compound 0103 physical sciences Neutron detection Neutron lcsh:Science Nuclear Experiment 010302 applied physics Scintillation Multidisciplinary business.industry lcsh:R Doping 021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology Electrical and electronic engineering Neutron temperature Semiconductor chemistry Optical sensors Optoelectronics lcsh:Q 0210 nano-technology business |
| Zdroj: | Scientific Reports Scientific Reports, Vol 9, Iss 1, Pp 1-6 (2019) |
| ISSN: | 2045-2322 |
| DOI: | 10.1038/s41598-019-53664-7 |
| Popis: | Neutron detection is crucial for particle physics experiments, nuclear power, space and international security. Solid state neutron detectors are of great interest due to their superior mechanical robustness, smaller size and lower voltage operation compared to gas detectors. Gallium nitride (GaN), a mature wide bandgap optoelectronic and electronic semiconductor, is attracting research interest for neutron detection due to its radiation hardness and thermal stability. This work investigated thermal neutron scintillation detectors composed of GaN thin films with and without conversion layers or rare-earth doping. Intrinsic GaN-based neutron scintillators are demonstrated via the intrinsic 14N(n, p) reaction, which has a small thermal neutron cross-section at low neutron energies, but is comparable to other reactions at high neutron energies (>1 MeV). Gamma discrimination is shown to be possible with pulse-height in intrinsic GaN-based scintillation detectors. Additionally, GaN-based scintillation detector with a 6LiF neutron conversion layer and Gd-doped GaN detector are compared with intrinsic GaN detectors. These results indicate GaN scintillator is a suitable candidate neutron detector in high-flux applications. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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