Akinobu Takeshita

Gated silicon drift detector fabricated from a low-cost silicon wafer.

Inexpensive high-resolution silicon (Si) X-ray detectors are required for on-site surveys of traces of hazardous elements in food and soil by measuring the energies and counts of X-ray fluorescence photons radially emitted from these elements. Gated silicon drift detectors (GSDDs) are much cheaper to fabricate than commercial silicon drift detectors (SDDs). However, previous GSDDs were fabricated from 10-kΩ·cm Si wafers, which are more expensive than 2-kΩ·cm Si wafers used in commercial SDDs. To fabricate cheaper portable X-ray fluorescence instruments, we investigate GSDDs formed from 2-kΩ·cm Si wafers. The thicknesses of commercial SDDs are up to 0.5 mm, which can detect photons with energies up to 27 keV, whereas we describe GSDDs that can detect photons with energies of up to 35 keV. We simulate the electric potential distributions in GSDDs with Si thicknesses of 0.5 and 1 mm at a single high reverse bias. GSDDs with one gate pattern using any resistivity Si wafer can work well for changing the reverse bias that is inversely proportional to the resistivity of the Si wafer.

Comparison of Conduction Mechanisms in Heavily Al-Doped 4H-SiC and Heavily Al- and N-Codoped 4H-SiC

The conduction mechanism in heavily Al-doped or heavily Al-and N-codoped p-type 4H-SiC epilayers was investigated. In both the singly-doped and codoped samples with an Al concentration (CAl) between 4x1019 and 2x1020 cm-3, band and nearest-neighbor hopping (NNH) conductions appeared in high and low temperature ranges, respectively. The codoping of N donors makes the NNH conduction dominant at temperatures higher than in the singly-doped samples. In both the singly-doped and codoped samples with CAl between 1x1019 and 4x1019 cm-3, an unexpected conduction appeared between the regions of the band and NNH conductions.

Possibility of gated silicon drift detector detecting hard x-ray

One of the authors has proposed a simple-structure silicon X-ray detector (gated silicon drift detector: GSDD), whose structure is much simpler than commercial silicon drift detectors (SDDs). SDDs contain multiple built-in metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) or implanted resistors, whose fabrication processes lower the yield rate of detectors, and also require at least two high-voltage sources. On the other hand, GSDDs do not contain built-in MOSFETs or implanted resistors. Moreover, GSDDs require only one high-voltage source. Therefore, GSDDs greatly reduce the cost of the X-ray detection system. We fabricated prototype GSDDs that contained 0.625-mm-thick Si substrates with an active area of 18 mm2, operated by Peltier cooling and a single voltage source. Its energy resolution at 5.9 keV from an 55Fe source was 145 eV at -38°C and -90°V. Thicker Si substrates are required to enhance its absorption of X-rays. To detect X-ray photons with energies up to 77 keV for X-ray absorbance higher than 15%, we simulate the electric potential distribution in GSDDs with Si thicknesses from 0.625 to 3.0 mm. We obtain an adequate electric potential distribution in the thicknesses of up to 3.0 mm, and the capacitance of the GSDD remains small and its X-ray count rate remain high. The high reverse bias required in the 3-mm-thick GSDD was a third of that in a 3-mm-thick pin diode.