High performance ~6LiF-diamond thermal neutron detectors

摘要

Fabrication reproducibility and high performance reliability were obtained in fissile-material-free thermal neutron detectors based on chemical vapor deposited diamond in a multilayered p-type/intrinsic/metal design. Under α particle irradiation, all the detectors (more than ten) have shown 100% charge collection efficiency and approximately 1.5% energy resolution. A ~6LiF layer was deposited on the detector surface as converting material for thermal neutrons through the ~6Li(n, α)T nuclear reaction. Both the 2.73 MeV tritium and the 2.06 MeV α peaks are detected and clearly resolved. Stable performance and excellent linear behavior of the count rate versus the incident neutron flux were observed.