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arXiv · 1308.2886

Electron-Hole Pair Generation in SiC High-Temperature Alpha Particle Detectors

Timothy R. Garcia·Ashutosh Kumar·Benjamin T. Reinke·Thomas E. Blue·Wolfgang E. Windl
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Abstract

We demonstrate alpha-particle detection in an n-type 4H-SiC Schottky diode detector up to an unprecedented temperature of 500 {\deg}C using an Am-241 disc source. The measured spectra were used to calculate the electron-hole pair creation energy in 4H-SiC and its non-bandgap contribution, which are both found to decrease with increasing temperature. The full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the measured alpha-energy peaks was found to increase exponentially with temperature due to an exponential increase of leakage current. For our measurement system, above 300 {\deg}C, where the leakage current was 10-6 A, this increase exceeded the FWHM at room temperature.

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Timothy R. Garcia, Ashutosh Kumar, Benjamin T. Reinke, Thomas E. Blue, Wolfgang E. Windl. 2013-08-13. Electron-Hole Pair Generation in SiC High-Temperature Alpha Particle Detectors. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4824774

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