Detection of 14 MeV neutrons in high temperature environment up to 500 °C using 4H-SiC based diode detector

In reactor technology and industrial applications, detection of fast and thermal neutrons plays a crucial role in getting relevant information about the reactor environment and neutron yield. The inevitable elevated temperatures make neutron yield measurements problematic. Out of the currently available semiconductors 4H-SiC seems to be the most suitable neutron detector material under extreme conditions due to its high heat and radiation resistance, large band-gap and lower production cost than the competing diamond detectors. Some of future using and interesting applications of such SiC detector devices-for non-charged particles (photons and/or neutrons) are expected in the frame of non-destructive assays, nuclear reactor monitoring, safeguards, oil and gas prospections [1,2,3]. In the framework of the European I-Smart project, optimal 4H-SiC based diode geometries were developed for high temperature neutron detection. Irradiation tests were conducted with 14 MeV fast neutrons supplied by a deuterium-tritium neutron generator with an average neutron yield of 4.04 × 1010-5.25 × 1010 n/s at Neutron Laboratory of the Technical University of Dresden in Germany. In the present work, we interpret the first measurement of SiC detector irradited with fast neutrons from room temperature up to 500 degrees Celsius. These experiments are serving also the first simulation of the harsh environmental condition measurements in the tritium breeding blanket of the ITER fusion reactor, which is one of the most prominent planned location of high temperature neutron flux characterization studies in the near future.