Semiconductor neutron detectors using depleted uranium oxide

Craig A. Kruschwitz; Sanjoy Mukhopadhyay; David Schwellenbach; Thomas Meek; Brandon Shaver; Taylor Cunningham; Jerrad Philip Auxier

doi:10.1117/12.2063501

5 September 2014 Semiconductor neutron detectors using depleted uranium oxide

Craig A. Kruschwitz, Sanjoy Mukhopadhyay, David Schwellenbach, Thomas Meek, Brandon Shaver, Taylor Cunningham, Jerrad Philip Auxier

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 9213, Hard X-Ray, Gamma-Ray, and Neutron Detector Physics XVI; 92130C (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2063501
Event: SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications, 2014, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

This paper reports on recent attempts to develop and test a new type of solid-state neutron detector fabricated from uranium compounds. It has been known for many years that uranium oxide (UO₂), triuranium octoxide (U₃O₈) and other uranium compounds exhibit semiconducting characteristics with a broad range of electrical properties. We seek to exploit these characteristics to make a direct-conversion semiconductor neutron detector. In such a device a neutron interacts with a uranium nucleus, inducing fission. The fission products deposit energy-producing, detectable electron-hole pairs. The high energy released in the fission reaction indicates that noise discrimination in such a device has the potential to be excellent. Schottky devices were fabricated using a chemical deposition coating technique to deposit UO₂ layers a few microns thick on a sapphire substrate. Schottky devices have also been made using a single crystal from UO₂ samples approximately 500 microns thick. Neutron sensitivity simulations have been performed using GEANT4. Neutron sensitivity for the Schottky devices was tested experimentally using a ²⁵²Cf source.

Citation Download Citation

Craig A. Kruschwitz, Sanjoy Mukhopadhyay, David Schwellenbach, Thomas Meek, Brandon Shaver, Taylor Cunningham, and Jerrad Philip Auxier "Semiconductor neutron detectors using depleted uranium oxide", Proc. SPIE 9213, Hard X-Ray, Gamma-Ray, and Neutron Detector Physics XVI, 92130C (5 September 2014); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2063501

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