Radiation Damage Resistance of Reverse Electrode GE Coaxial Detectors

Author

Pehl, Richard H. ; Madden, Norman W. ; Elliott, Jack H. ; Raudorf, Thomas W. ; Trammell, Rex C. ; Darken, Lawrence S., Jr.

Author_Institution

Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, U.S.A.

Volume

26

Issue

1

fYear

1979

Firstpage

321

Lastpage

323

Abstract

Two high-purity germanium coaxial detectors, having opposite electrode configurations from one another, but fabricated from the same germanium crystal, were irradiated simultaneously with fast neutrons from an unmoderated 252Cf source. Both detectors were 42 mm diam. The detector having the conventional electrode configuration was about 28 times more sensitive to radiation damage than was the detector having the p+ contact on the coaxial periphery. These results prove that germanium coaxial detectors having the conventional electrode configuration should not be used in any situation subject to significant radiation damage. This conclusion was anticipated because the defects produced by neutron and proton irradiation of germanium act predominantly as hole traps.

Keywords

Coaxial components; Crystalline materials; Electrodes; Gamma ray detection; Gamma ray detectors; Germanium; Laboratories; Neutrons; Protons; Radiation detectors;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Nuclear Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9499

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TNS.1979.4329652

Filename

4329652