A Fast-Neutron Tolerant 3D-Array SiC X-ray Detector with High Performance

This letter presents the neutron irradiation tolerant of 10 × 10 3D-array SiC X-ray detector, which is fabricated on a high-resistivity 4H-SiC single-crystal wafer. According to the 3D structure, the more energy deposition together with higher charge collection efficiency could be realized, despite the carrier lifetime and mobility of SiC are lower than that of silicon. To evaluate radiation tolerance, the SiC detector was subjected to fast neutron irradiation at a total fluence of 1.996×10¹⁴ n/cm². XRD results show that SiC (004) interplanar distance slightly increase. And the carrier lifetime decreases from 28 ns to 23 ns, whereas the carrier mobility only drops from 401.21 cm²·V^-1·s^-1 to 393.07 cm²·V^-1·s^-1.The X-ray response characteristics reveal that high sensitivity of 7.23×10⁴ μC∙Gy_air^-1·cm^-2 and low detection limit of 0.77 nGy_air·s^-1 could be also achieved after fast neutron irradiation, indicating the potential application in extreme environments.