SILICON DETECTORS FOR SOFT X-RAY BIOLOGICAL STUDIES

PHOTONS IN THE SOFT X-RAY AND VACUUM ULTRAVIOLET (XUV) SPECTRAL RANGE ARE BEING USED PRESENTLY IN SEVERAL BIOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS, SUCH AS SPECTROSCOPY, IMAGING, DIACHROMATIC ABSORPTION RADIOGRAPHY, AND PHOTOBIOLOGY AND FOR THERAPEUTICAL PURPOSE. DETECTORS AVAILABLE PRESENTLY FOR THESE APPLICATIONS HAVE ONE PROBLEM OR ANOTHER. THE AIM OF THIS RESEARCH IS TO DEVELOP SILICON DETECTORS EXHIBITING STABLE, 100 PERCENT QUANTUM EFFICIENCY IN THE SOFT X-RAY REGION. WE WILL ADOPT A TECHNOLOGY COMPATIBLE WITH THE HIGH-VOLUME INTEGRATED CIRCUIT MANUFACTURING PROCESS TO FABRICATE THESE DETECTORS. AS A RESULT, THESE DETECTORS WOULD HAVE CONSIDERABLE COST ADVANTAGE OVER PRESENTLY AVAILABLE DEVICES. DURING PHASE I, SUCCESSFUL FABRICATION OF THREE KINDS OF SILICON DETECTORS FOR DOSIMETRY, POSITION SENSING AND ENERGY MEASUREMENT APPLICATIONS WILL BE DEMONSTRATED. THE DEVELOPED TECHNOLOGY WILL BE ADVANCED DURING PAHSE II FOR THE FABRICATION OF ONE AND TWO-DIMENSIONAL ARRAYS FOR SPECTROSCOPY AND IMAGING OF BIOLOGICAL OBJECTS IN THE SOFT X-RAY REGION.