In the last two decades we have assisted to a rush towards finding a ³He-replacing technology capable of detecting neutrons emitted from fissile isotopes. The demand stems from applications like nuclear war-head screening or preventing illicit traffic of radiological materials. Semiconductor detectors stand among the strongest contenders, particularly those based on materials possessing a wide band gap like silicon carbide (SiC). We review the workings of SiC-based neutron detectors, along with several issues related to material properties, device fabrication and testing. The paper summarizes the experimental and theoretical work carried out within the E-SiCure project (Engineering Silicon Carbide for Border and Port Security), co-funded by the NATO Science for Peace and Security Programme. The main goal was the development of technologies to support the fabrication of radiation-hard silicon carbide detectors of special nuclear materials. Among the achievements, we have the development of successful Schottky barrier based detectors and the identification of the main carrier life-time-limiting defects in the SiC active areas, either already present in pristine devices or introduced upon exposure to radiation fields. The physical processes involved in neutron detection are described. Material properties as well as issues related to epitaxial growth and device fabrication are addressed. The presence of defects in as-grown material, as well as those introduced by ionizing radiation are reported. We finally describe several experiments carried out at the Jozef Stefan Institute TRIGA Mark II reactor (Ljubljana, Slovenia), where a set of SiC-based neutron detectors were tested, some of which being equipped with a thermal neutron converter layer. We show that despite the existence of large room for improvement, Schottky barrier diodes based on state-of-the-art $4H$-SiC are closing the gap between gas- and semiconductor-based detectors regarding their sensitivity.

在过去的二十年中，我们一直致力于寻找一种³ He替代技术，该技术能够检测裂变同位素发出的中子。需求源于核弹头筛查或防止放射性物质非法运输等应用。半导体探测器是最强大的竞争者之一，尤其是那些基于具有宽带隙的材料（例如碳化硅（SiC））的探测器。我们回顾了基于SiC的中子探测器的工作原理，以及与材料特性，设备制造和测试有关的若干问题。本文总结了在E-SiCure项目（用于边界和港口安全的工程碳化硅）中进行的实验和理论工作），由北约和平与安全科学计划共同资助。主要目标是开发技术，以支持制造特殊核材料的辐射坚硬碳化硅探测器。在这些成就中，我们开发了成功的基于肖特基势垒的探测器，并确定了SiC有源区内主要载流子使用寿命的缺陷，这些缺陷要么已经存在于原始设备中，要么在暴露于辐射场时引入。描述了涉及中子检测的物理过程。解决了材料特性以及与外延生长和器件制造相关的问题。据报道，在已生长的材料中以及由电离辐射引入的缺陷中都存在缺陷。最后，我们描述了在约瑟夫·斯特凡研究所TRIGA Mark II反应堆（斯洛文尼亚卢布尔雅那）进行的几个实验，在该实验中测试了一组基于SiC的中子探测器，其中一些探测器装有热中子转换器层。我们表明，尽管存在很大的改进空间，但基于最新技术的肖特基势垒二极管$4H$就其灵敏度而言，-SiC正在缩小气体探测器和半导体探测器之间的差距。