Personal Neutron Detector Based on Cadmium Telluride

In this Phase II SBIR project, Lithium Innovations, in partnership with Lucintech Inc, will build on the success of its innovative thin-film neutron detector developed and tested in Phase I. The detector is based on the use of a metallic lithium-6 sensitizer layer paired with a thin-film CdS/CdTe heterojunction to detect the alpha and triton charged particles produced by the n + Li-6 reaction. This patent-pending detector has high sensitivity to thermal neutrons and extremely low sensitivity to gamma rays; it is light weight, robust, impervious to pressure variations, not susceptible to microphonics, operates at low voltage, and is scalable to large areas. In Phase I, Lithium Innovations has confirmed low-noise operation of these detectors with area greater than 5 sq.cm. and gamma rejection of greater than one million. In Phase II our team will extend its Phase I success to develop a portable neutron detector package in a small, hand-held configuration with neutron sensitivity of approximately 10 counts/(neutron/sq.cm.). The advances made in Phase I from DNDO have fully leveraged the combined technology of Lithium Innovations for handling and processing isotopically enriched Li-6 and the technology of Lucintech Inc for fabricating monolithically integrated thin-film solar modules. This innovative technology will be demonstrated to deliver a new generation of neutron detectors that will revolutionize the field of thermal neutron detection, monitoring, and imaging.