A pn-SiC diode as a radiation detector

We evaluated pn-SiC (silicon carbide) particle detectors exposed to 5.486 MeV alpha particles from a sealed radioactive source of /sup 241/Am and 3.26 eV (380 nm) pulsed Ultra-Violet (UV) light at 100 Hz from a Light Emitting Diode (LED). The pn junction SiC diode was made by the implantation of phosphorus (P) ions (140, 60, 90 keV) into p-type 6H-SiC epitaxial layers (5 /spl mu/m) grown onto p/sup +/-type substrates. The mean pulse height from detector increased with the supplied reverse bias voltage for each irradiation, alpha particles and UV light. We discuss relation of the pulse height distribution obtained by the UV light and the alpha particles to the depletion width with diffusion length of carriers.