Compton imager using room temperature silicon detectors

Abstract

We have been developing a multi-layer Compton Gamma Ray Imager using position-sensitive, intrinsic silicon detectors. Advantages of this approach include room temperature operation, reduced Doppler broadening, and use of conventional silicon fabrication technologies. We have obtained results on the imaging performance of a multi-layer instrument where each layer consists of a 2×2 array of double-sided strip detectors. Each detector is 63 mm×63 mm×2 mm thick and has 64 strips providing a strip pitch of approximately 0.9 mm. The detectors were fabricated by SINTEF ICT (Oslo Norway) from 100 mm diameter wafers. The use of large arrays of silicon detectors appears especially advantageous for applications that require excellent sensitivity, spectral resolution and imaging such as gamma ray astrophysics, detection of special nuclear materials, and medical imaging. The multiple Compton interactions (three or more) in the low- Z silicon enable the energy and direction of the incident gamma ray to be determined without full deposition of the incident gamma-ray energy in the detector. The performance of large volume instruments for various applications are presented, including an instrument under consideration for NASA's Advanced Compton Telescope (ACT) mission and applications to Homeland Security. Technology developments that could further extend the sensitivity and performance of silicon Compton Imagers are presented, including the use of low-energy (few hundred keV) electron tracking within novel silicon detectors and the potential for a wafer-bonding approach to produce thicker, position-sensitive silicon detectors with an associated reduction of required electronics and instrument cost.