1. Fundamental limits to detection of low-energy ions using silicon solid-state detectors
- Author
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R. W. Harper, R. Korde, S. M. Ritzau, and Herbert O. Funsten
- Subjects
Materials science ,Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous) ,Silicon ,Passivation ,Physics::Instrumentation and Detectors ,Detector ,chemistry.chemical_element ,Electron ,Particle detector ,Ion ,Pulse (physics) ,Photodiode ,law.invention ,chemistry ,law ,Atomic physics - Abstract
Recent advances in solid-state detector (SSD) technology have demonstrated the detection of ions and electrons down to 1 keV. However, ions at keV energies lose a substantial amount of energy ΔN in a SSD through Coulombic interactions with target nuclei rather than through interactions that contribute to the SSD output pulse, whose magnitude is a measure of the ion’s incident energy. Because ΔN depends on the ion species, detector material, and interaction physics, it represents a fundamental limitation of the output pulse magnitude of the detector. Using 100% quantum collection efficiency silicon photodiodes with a thin (40–60 A) SiO2 passivation layer, we accurately quantify ΔN for incident 1–120 keV ions and, therefore, evaluate the detection limits of keV ions using silicon detectors.
- Published
- 2004
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