A class of boron-rich solid-state neutron detectors

Abstract

Real-time solid-state neutron detectors have been fabricated from semiconducting boron–carbon alloys, deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. Single neutrons were detected and signals induced by gamma rays were determined to be insignificant. The source gas closo-1,2-dicarbadodecaborane (ortho-carborane) was used to fabricate the boron–carbon alloys with only the natural isotopic abundance of B10. Devices made of thicker boron–carbon alloy layers enriched in B10 could lead to increased detection efficiency and active diodes could use the inherent micron scale spatial resolution, increasing the range of possible applications.