Transient Response of Surface Barrier Detectors as a Function of Fission Fragment Energy

The transient response of silicon surface barrier detectors to fission fragments of Cf252 was observed over a range of incident fragment energies from 13.6 to 90 MeV. From these observations the effect of the plasma formed by the incident particle on the charge collection time was determined. The time to disperse the plasma, tp, was calculated as a function of incident particle energy, Eo, and applied field, E. It was found that tp ¿ Eo1/m where 2 ¿ m ¿ 3 and tp ¿ E-1. A simple model gave reasonable agreement with the experiments and indicated that the plasma is dispersed by field-enhanced diffusion.