The Development of a High Sensitivity Neutron Displacement Damage Sensor

The capability to characterize the neutron energy spectrum and fluence received by a test object is crucial to understanding the damage effects observed in electronic components. For nuclear research reactors and high energy density physics facilities this can pose exceptional challenges, especially with low level neutron fluences. An ASTM test method for characterizing neutron environments utilizes the 2N2222A transistor as a 1-MeV equivalent neutron fluence sensor and is applicable for environments with 1 × 10
¹²
- 1 × 10
¹⁴
1-MeV(Si)-Eqv.-n/cm
²
. In this work we seek to extend the range of this test method to lower fluence environments utilizing the 2N1486 transistor. The 2N1486 is shown to be an effective neutron displacement damage sensor as low as 1 × 10
¹⁰
1-MeV(Si)-Eqv.-n/cm
²
.