Considerations on the relationship between dosimetry metrics and experimental conditions

Analysts, experimenters, and facilities have fallen into some poor practices in reporting many dosimetry metrics. While the experienced dosimetrist often knows the caveats that apply for a given dosimetry application, without proper reporting critical information is often lost before the data is received by the dosimetrist. In addition, the newcomers to the application of dosimetry are not being educated in the importance of a variation in the irradiation conditions. This paper captures some of the cases where care must be taken in expressing the proper context for a dosimetry metric. Examples focus on the interpretation of the response of a diamond photoconducting detector and a silicon transistor and highlight some common mistakes and some not-so-clear misinterpretations that even the experienced person often makes in this field. A careful study of the underlying physics reveals the non-intuitive trends in some metrics. Suggestions are made on how the community can minimize the chance of a dosimetry-related misinterpretation. Index Terms--Bipolar transistors, dose, dosimetry, dpa, neutron detectors, silicon radiation detectors, uncertainty, 1-MeV(Si) damage.