Silicon carbide for high resolution X-ray detectors operating up to 100℃

摘要

This work presents experimental results on the possibility of high resolution X-ray spectroscopy in a wide temperature range, from room temperature up to 100℃ without any cooling system, using Silicon Carbide (SiC) detectors. This capability arises from the very low noise of SiC detectors at high temperature because of their extremely low-leakage current density (20 pA/cm~2 at 24℃ and 1 nA/cm~2 at 107℃ with mean electric fields of 120 kV/cm). Spectra of ~(241)Am acquired by a pixel SiC detector are reported with equivalent noise energies of 315 eV FWHM at 27℃ and 797 eV FWHM at 100℃. The contributions of the different noise sources of the detector and of the front-end electronics are determined and analyzed. The potential for SiC X-ray detectors and open issues in SiC technology are highlighted.