Design and response testing of Boron-Diffused silicon carbide neutron detectors for Dosimetry and Monitoring applications

Abstract

A high-sensitivity boron-diffused silicon carbide (4H-SiC) p-n diode has been designed and fabricated using vapor-phase epitaxy. Boron-10 (10B) is diffused into nitrogen-doped n- SiC, forming the p+ layer, and thermal neutrons are detected through the ionization produced in the detector by 10B(n,a) 7Li reactions. These detectors have been tested with thermalized neutrons from an isotopic californium-252 (252Cf) source and have been shown to provide a robust pulse-height spectrum, which is easily separable from the anticipated gamma-ray response. The detectors are expected to be useful for neutron and gamma-ray fluence rate measurements in high gamma-ray fields for extended times at temperatures up to 700C.