Lioliou, G and Barnett, A M (2016) Gallium Arsenide detectors for X-ray and electron (beta particle) spectroscopy. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, 836. pp. 37-45. ISSN 0168-9002

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Abstract

Results characterizing GaAs p+-i-n+ mesa photodiodes with a 10 µm i layer for their spectral response under illumination of X-rays and beta particles are presented. A total of 22 devices, having diameters of 200 µm and 400 µm, were electrically characterized at room temperature. All devices showed comparable characteristics with a measured leakage current ranging from 4 nA/cm2 to 67 nA/cm2 at an internal electric field of 50 kV/cm. Their unintentionally doped i layers were found to be almost fully depleted at 0 V due to their low doping density. 55Fe X-ray spectra were obtained using one 200 µm diameter device and one 400 µm diameter device. The best energy resolution (FWHM at 5.9 keV) achieved was 625 eV using the 200 µm and 740 eV using the 400 µm diameter device, respectively. Noise analysis showed that the limiting factor for the energy resolution of the system was the dielectric noise; if this noise was eliminated by better design of the front end of the readout electronics, the achievable resolution would be 250 eV. 63Ni beta particle spectra obtained using the 200 µm diameter device showed the potential utility of these detectors for electron and beta particle detection. The development of semiconductor electron spectrometers is important particularly for space plasma physics; such devices may find use in future space missions to study the plasma environment of Jupiter and Europa and the predicted electron impact excitation of water vapor plumes from Europa hypothesized as a result of recent Hubble Space Telescope (HST) UV observations.

Item Type:	Article
Schools and Departments:	School of Engineering and Informatics > Engineering and Design
Subjects:	Q Science > QB Astronomy Q Science > QC Physics
Related URLs:	Publisher
Depositing User:	Grammatiki Lioliou
Date Deposited:	12 Sep 2016 09:29
Last Modified:	07 Mar 2017 18:10
URI:	http://srodev.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/63208

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