Self-powered 4 H-SiC charged particle detector with 1 cm2 sensitive area and 0.63% energy resolution

Abstract

Silicon carbide (SiC) detector, one of important charged particle detectors with good endurance in high-temperature and harsh-radiation environment, is highly demanded for high energy resolution and large sensitive area, but is hardly to acquire for decades. In this paper, a SiC charged particle detector was fabricated using high-quality homogenous epitaxial 4 H-SiC wafer with thickness of 150 μm and in vertical PIN diode structure; high-performance of low dark current (0.60 nA/cm2 within reverse bias of 600 V), large sensitive area (1 cm2) and high energy resolution (0.63%) were successfully achieved; furthermore, the detector was proven as self-powered charged particle detector for high charge collection efficiency of 95.96% and proper energy resolution at a bias voltage of 0 V. We envision that SiC charged particle detector would promote further development of radiation detection and charged particle spectrometer.