DIAMOND X-RAY DETECTOR

A NOVEL DIAMOND DETECTOR FOR USE IN THE SOFT X-RAY TO THE VACUUM ULTRAVIOLET IS PROPOSED. THIS X-RAY DETECTOR IS BASED ON THE USE OF A DIAMOND FILM AS THE ACTIVE DETECTOR ELEMENT DUE TO DIAMOND'S HIGH INTRINSIC RESISTIVITY (LOW DARK CURRENT), LARGE CARRIER MOBILITIES, HIGH SATURATEDCARRIER DRIFT VELOCITY AND RADIATION AND CHEMICAL CORROSION RESISTANT CHARACTERISTICS. BECAUSE OF THESE CHARACTERISTICS, DIAMOND IS AN IDEAL CANDIDATE FOR USE AS ANEXTREMELY FAST X-RAY OR PARTICLE DETECTOR. RECENT ADVANCES AT ATM IN DIAMOND FILM GROWTH HAVE MADE IT POSSIBLE TO REPRODUCIBLY SYNTHESIZE HIGH RESISTIVITY MONOLITHIC DIAMOND FILMS THAT CAN BE USED FOR DETECTOR EVALUATION. THE PHASE IPROGRAM WILL DETERMINE THE FEASIBILITY OF THE USE OF DIAMOND FILMS AS A SOLID STATE IONIZATION CHAMBER FOR THE DETECTION OF IONIZING RADIATION AND THE RELATIONSHIP OF FILM GROWTH CONDITIONS TO DETECTOR PERFORMANCE. THE RESPONSE OF DIAMOND FILMS TO IONIZING RADIATION WILL BE MEASURED AND THE EFFECTS OF VARIOUS FILM GROWTH CONDITIONS WILL BE IDENTIFIED. THE EFFECTS OF THE SCHOTTKY BARRIER AND INJECTING METAL CONTACTS ON DETECTOR PERFORMANCE WILL ALSO BE EVALUATED, AND THE DIAMOND FILM RESULTS WILL BE ANALYZED WITHIN THE EXISTING FRAMEWORK OF THE UNDERSTANDING OF SOLID STATE SEMICONDUCTOR RADIATION DETECTORS AND COMPARED TO THE PERFORMANCE OF SI, GE AND INP DETECTORS AS WELL AS TO NATURAL DIAMONDS. PHASE II WILL EXTEND THE PHASEI PROGRAM TO INCLUDE FABRICATION AND TESTING OF PROTOTYPE DIAMOND FILM BULK DETECTOR DEVICES.