β -Ga2O3Solid-State Devices for Fast Neutron Detection

Examination of Ga2O3as solid-state nuclear detector was carried out. Ga2O3is a wide bandgap material with beneficial physical properties that enable its application in harsh environmental conditions, such as elevated temperature or strong electromagnetic field; therefore, Ga2O3could become a competitor of diamond and 4H silicon-carbide nuclear detectors. Furthermore, because of its high oxygen content the new detector material can play an important role in the field of reactor research due to the16O(n,α )¹³Creaction. Monocrystallineβ-Ga2O3samples were investigated under 14 MeV fast neutron irradiation. On unintentionally doped semiconducting and Mg-doped insulating crystals metallic films were deposited in order to form the contact electrodes for biasing and to collect the electron-hole pairs generated by secondary particles after nuclear interactions between neutrons and the nuclei of the Ga2O3crystal. The Mg-doped sample could be operated from zero up to more than 1000 V biasing level. The recorded electric signal and energy histograms were investigated.