This thesis is focused on study of charge transport in semiconducting radiation detectors. Theoretical calculations of current waveforms based on continuity equation and drift-diffusion equation are done. Useful approximations of current waveforms for detector with shallow electron trap are discussed. Monte Carlo simulation of the current waveforms is proposed and applied to fit experimental current waveforms measured using laser-induced transient current technique and for evaluation of charge transport parameters of the detector such as electric field profile, trapping and detrapping time of traps, drift mobility and other parameters. Detectors prepared from semi-insulating GaAs and CdZnTe single crystals are tested using electrical, spectroscopic and optical characterization techniques.

Doctor of Philosophy / Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering / Douglas S. McGregor / There is a need for compact, rugged neutron detectors for a variety of applications including national security and oil well logging. A solid form neutron detector would have a higher efficiency than present day gas filled ³He and ¹⁰BF ₃ detectors, which are standards currently used in the industry today. A sub-branch of the III-V semiconductors is the filled tetrahedral compounds, known as Nowotny-Juza compounds (A[superscript I]B[superscript II]C[superscript V]). These materials are desirable for their cubic crystal structure and semiconducting electrical properties. Originally studied for photonic applications, Nowotny-Juza compounds have not been fully developed and characterized. Nowotny-Juza compounds are being studied as neutron detection materials here, and the following work is a study of LiZnP and LiZnAs material development and device characterization. Precursor binaries and ternary materials of LiZnAs and LiZnP were synthesized in-house in vacuum sealed quartz ampoules with a crucible lining. Synthesized powders were characterized by x-ray diffraction, where lattice constants of 5.751 ± .001 Å and 5.939 ± .002 Å for LiZnP and LiZnAs, respectively, were determined. A static vacuum sublimation in quartz was performed to help purify the synthesized ternary material. The resulting material from the sublimation process showed characteristics of a higher purity ternary compound. Bulk crystalline samples were grown from the purified material. Ingots up to 9.0 mm in diameter and 13.0 mm in length were harvested. Individual samples were characterized for crystallinity on a Bruker AXS Inc. D2 CRYSO, energy dispersive x-ray diffractometer, and a Bruker AXS D8 DISCOVER, high-resolution x-ray diffractometer with a 0.004° beam divergence. High-resolution XRD measurements indicated reasonable out-of-plane and in-plane ordering of LiZnP and LiZnAs crystals. Devices were fabricated from the LiZnP and LiZnAs crystals. Resistivity of devices were determined within the range of 10⁶ – 10¹¹ Ω cm. Charge carrier mobility and mean free drift time products were characterized for electrons at 8.0 x 10⁻⁴ cm² V⁻¹ ± 4.8% and 9.1 x 10⁻⁴ cm² V⁻¹ ± 4.4% for LiZnP and LiZnAs respectively. Sensitivity to 337 nm laser light (3.68 eV photons) was observed, where an absorption coefficient of 0.147 mm⁻¹ was determined for LiZnAs devices. Thermal neutron sensitivity was evaluated with unpurified and purified LiZnP and LiZnAs devices. Sensitivity was observed, however material quality and crystalline quality significantly hindered device performance.

Study of electric field in radiation detectors by Pockels effect (Master Thesis) by Michael Hakl Abstract Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) is a convenient candidate for room tem- perature detection of X-ray and gama radiation due to 1.5 eV band- gap energy and high atomic mass. Since CdTe has the highest linear electro-optical coefficient among II-VI compounds, the detector rep- resents a Pockels cell. Transmittance of the crystal is modulated by the internal electric field. Processing of infrared camera photographs results in an electric field profile between biasing electrodes. The elec- tric field in semi-insulting CdTe is influenced with deep level traps causing charge polarization under the electrodes. Occupation of traps is dependent on metal-semiconductor interface. Relation of charge accumulation and band bending for gold and indium contacts was studied. Repolarization/depolarization induced by additional illumi- nation with sub/above bandgap excitation laser was observed and ex- ploited for determination of the deep level energy. Results obtained by the Pockels-effect method were supported with luminescence measure- ments. Correlation between the occurrence of deep levels and surface point defects was discovered. Keywords: Pockels electro-optical effect, Cadmium Telluride ra- diation detector, Electric field, Schottky...

The main goal of this Master’s thesis is to describe relationship between low frequency noise spectral characteristics of Cadmium-Telluride radiation detectors depending on applied voltage and detectors reaction to illumination of various wavelengths. Also, the reaction and influence of higher operating temperatures were investigated. The noise measurements shown that the dominant noise type at low frequencies is the 1/f noise. Several samples with different resistivity were tested. By comparing results, we are able to estimate the quality of detectors and their sensibility to illumination and higher operating temperatures. We have found that all the studied CdTe detectors are sensitive to one particular wavelength of 548nm. Resulting data were processed by EasyPlot program that provided graphical representation of spectral noise characteristics. All measured characteristics of tested samples are compared and it’s estimated the similarity between the samples.

Depuis quelques années, il y a un intérêt de la communauté en dosimétrie d'actualiser les protocoles de dosimétrie des faisceaux larges tels que le TG-51 (AAPM) et le TRS-398 (IAEA) aux champs non standard qui requièrent un facteur de correction additionnel. Or, ces facteurs de correction sont difficiles à déterminer précisément dans un temps acceptable. Pour les petits champs, ces facteurs augmentent rapidement avec la taille de champ tandis que pour les champs d'IMRT, les incertitudes de positionnement du détecteur rendent une correction cas par cas impraticable. Dans cette étude, un critère théorique basé sur la fonction de réponse dosimétrique des détecteurs est développé pour déterminer dans quelles situations les dosimètres peuvent être utilisés sans correction. Les réponses de quatre chambres à ionisation, d'une chambre liquide, d'un détecteur au diamant, d'une diode, d'un détecteur à l'alanine et d'un détecteur à scintillation sont caractérisées à 6 MV et 25 MV. Plusieurs stratégies sont également suggérées pour diminuer/éliminer les facteurs de correction telles que de rapporter la dose absorbée à un volume et de modifier les matériaux non sensibles du détecteur pour pallier l'effet de densité massique. Une nouvelle méthode de compensation de la densité basée sur une fonction de perturbation est présentée. Finalement, les résultats démontrent que le détecteur à scintillation peut mesurer les champs non standard utilisés en clinique avec une correction inférieure à 1%. / In recent years, the radiation dosimetry community has shown a keen interest in extending broad beam dosimetry protocols such as AAPM's TG-51 and IAEA's TRS-398 to nonstandard fields which involve the use of an additional correction factor. Yet, these correction factors are difficult to determine precisely in a time frame that is acceptable. For small fields, these factors increase rapidly with field size, whereas for composite IMRT fields, detector positioning uncertainties render a case-by-case correction impractical. In this study, a theoretical criterion based on radiation detectors' dose response functions is used to determine in which situations a given dosimeter can be used without correction. The responses of four ionization chambers, a liquid-filled chamber, a diamond detector, an unshieded diode, an alanine dosimeter and a plastic scintillator detector are characterized at 6 MV and 25 MV. Several strategies are also suggested to reduce/eliminate correction factors such as reporting the absorbed dose to a volume and modifying the non-sensitive components of a detector to compensate for mass density effects. A new method of density compensation based on a perturbation function is presented. Finally, results show that the scintillator detector can measure nonstandard fields used in the clinic with corrections under 1%.

Depuis quelques années, il y a un intérêt de la communauté en dosimétrie d'actualiser les protocoles de dosimétrie des faisceaux larges tels que le TG-51 (AAPM) et le TRS-398 (IAEA) aux champs non standard qui requièrent un facteur de correction additionnel. Or, ces facteurs de correction sont difficiles à déterminer précisément dans un temps acceptable. Pour les petits champs, ces facteurs augmentent rapidement avec la taille de champ tandis que pour les champs d'IMRT, les incertitudes de positionnement du détecteur rendent une correction cas par cas impraticable. Dans cette étude, un critère théorique basé sur la fonction de réponse dosimétrique des détecteurs est développé pour déterminer dans quelles situations les dosimètres peuvent être utilisés sans correction. Les réponses de quatre chambres à ionisation, d'une chambre liquide, d'un détecteur au diamant, d'une diode, d'un détecteur à l'alanine et d'un détecteur à scintillation sont caractérisées à 6 MV et 25 MV. Plusieurs stratégies sont également suggérées pour diminuer/éliminer les facteurs de correction telles que de rapporter la dose absorbée à un volume et de modifier les matériaux non sensibles du détecteur pour pallier l'effet de densité massique. Une nouvelle méthode de compensation de la densité basée sur une fonction de perturbation est présentée. Finalement, les résultats démontrent que le détecteur à scintillation peut mesurer les champs non standard utilisés en clinique avec une correction inférieure à 1%. / In recent years, the radiation dosimetry community has shown a keen interest in extending broad beam dosimetry protocols such as AAPM's TG-51 and IAEA's TRS-398 to nonstandard fields which involve the use of an additional correction factor. Yet, these correction factors are difficult to determine precisely in a time frame that is acceptable. For small fields, these factors increase rapidly with field size, whereas for composite IMRT fields, detector positioning uncertainties render a case-by-case correction impractical. In this study, a theoretical criterion based on radiation detectors' dose response functions is used to determine in which situations a given dosimeter can be used without correction. The responses of four ionization chambers, a liquid-filled chamber, a diamond detector, an unshieded diode, an alanine dosimeter and a plastic scintillator detector are characterized at 6 MV and 25 MV. Several strategies are also suggested to reduce/eliminate correction factors such as reporting the absorbed dose to a volume and modifying the non-sensitive components of a detector to compensate for mass density effects. A new method of density compensation based on a perturbation function is presented. Finally, results show that the scintillator detector can measure nonstandard fields used in the clinic with corrections under 1%.