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 PIPS® detector (Passivated Implanted Planar Silicon). This detector employs implanted rather than surface barrier contacts and is therefore more rugged and reliable