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Comparison of α particle detectors based on single-crystal diamond films grown in two types of gas atmospheres by microwave plasma-assisted chemical vapor deposition

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Abstract

Chemical vapor deposition (CVD)-grown diamond films have been developed as irradiation-resistant materials to replace or upgrade current detectors for use in extreme radiation environments. However, their sensitivity in practical applications has been inhibited by space charge stability issues caused by defects and impurities in pure diamond crystal materials. In this study, two high-quality CVD-grown single-crystal diamond (SCD) detectors with low content of nitrogen impurities were fabricated and characterized. The intrinsic properties of the SCD samples were characterized using Raman spectroscopy, stereomicroscopy, and X-ray diffraction with the rocking curve mode, cathode luminescence (CL), and infrared and ultraviolet-visible-near infrared spectroscopies. After packaging the detectors, the dark current and energy resolution under α particle irradiation were investigated. Dark currents of less than 5 pA at 100 V were obtained after annealing the electrodes, which is comparable with the optimal value previously reported. The detector that uses a diamond film with higher nitrogen content showed poor energy resolution, whereas the detector with more dislocations showed poor charge collection efficiency (CCE). This demonstrates that the nitrogen content in diamond has a significant effect on the energy resolution of detectors, while the dislocations in diamond largely contribute to the poor CCE of detectors.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Professor Zhi-gang Yang from Tsinghua University for setup of external circuit of diamond detector test and the signal collection systems, and suggestions on the energy resolution data analysis. This work was financially supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Beijing, China (No. 4192038), National Key Research and Development Program of China (Nos. 2016YFE0133200 and 2018YFB0406501), and European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Staff Exchange Scheme (No. 734578).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Advanced Materials and Technology, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China

    Yan-zhao Guo, Jin-long Liu, Yu-ting Zheng, Yun Zhao, Xiao-lu Yuan, Zi-hao Guo, Li-fu Hei, Liang-xian Chen, Jun-jun Wei & Cheng-ming Li

  2. Optical and Electronic Materials Unit, National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Ibaraki, 305-0044, Japan

    Jiang-wei Liu

  3. Key Laboratory of Microelectronic Device and Integration Technology, Institute of Microelectronics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100029, China

    Jian-peng Xing

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  1. Yan-zhao Guo
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  2. Jin-long Liu
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  3. Jiang-wei Liu
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Correspondence to Jin-long Liu.

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Guo, Yz., Liu, Jl., Liu, Jw. et al. Comparison of α particle detectors based on single-crystal diamond films grown in two types of gas atmospheres by microwave plasma-assisted chemical vapor deposition. Int J Miner Metall Mater 27, 703–712 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12613-019-1944-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12613-019-1944-0

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