SILICON CHARGED PARTICLE DETECTORS
Silicon Charged Particle detectors have a P-I-N structure in which a depletion region is formed by applying reverse bias, with the resultant
electric field collecting the electron-hole pairs produced by an incident charged particle. The resistivity of the silicon must be high enough to allow a large enough depletion region at moderate bias voltages. A traditional example of this type of detector is the Silicon Surface Barrier (SSB) detector. In this detector, the n-type silicon has a gold surface-barrier contact as the positive contact, and deposited aluminum is used at the back of the detector as the ohmic contact.
A modern version of the charged particle detector is the CANBERRA PIPSŪ detector (Passivated Implanted Planar Silicon). This detector
employs implanted rather than surface barrier contacts and is therefore more rugged and reliable
