Abstract

Neutron detection is crucial for particle physics experiments, nuclear power, space and international security. Solid state neutron detectors are of great interest due to their superior mechanical robustness, smaller size and lower voltage operation compared to gas detectors. Gallium nitride (GaN), a mature wide bandgap optoelectronic and electronic semiconductor, is attracting research interest for neutron detection due to its radiation hardness and thermal stability. This work investigated thermal neutron scintillation detectors composed of GaN thin films with and without conversion layers or rare-earth doping. Intrinsic GaN-based neutron scintillators are demonstrated via the intrinsic 14N(n, p) reaction, which has a small thermal neutron cross-section at low neutron energies but is comparable to other reactions at high neutron energies (>1 MeV). Gamma discrimination is shown to be possible with pulse-height in intrinsic GaN-based scintillation detectors. Additionally, GaN-based scintillation detector with a 6LiF neutron conversion layer and Gd-doped GaN detector are compared with intrinsic GaN detectors. These results indicate GaN scintillator is a suitable candidate neutron detector in high-flux applications.

Department(s)

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Publication Status

Open Access

Comments

U.S. Department of Energy, Grant None

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

2045-2322

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Final Version

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2024 The Authors, All rights reserved.

Creative Commons Licensing

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Publication Date

01 Dec 2019

PubMed ID

31772191

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