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US 5,707,879 AGranted
Neutron detector based on semiconductor materials
OwnerKarl Reinitzinventor
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OwnerKarl Reinitzinventor
Estimating the term…
A neutron radiation detector is described. A semiconductor material is populated with helium three (.sup.3 He) atoms to increase its overall neutron capture efficiency. Upon capture of a neutron by a .sup.3 He atom, a tritium ion and a proton are generated with energies of 0.191 and 0.573 MeV, respectively. These energies are deposited in the semiconductor material creating electron-hole pairs. The electron-hole pairs are withdrawn from the material by the application of an electric field and are collected as charges at the terminals. The associated circuitry processes the charges into pulses with these being counted and their sizes measured. The results are recorded and displayed. The number of pulses are a measure of the number of neutrons absorbed in the detector and of the neutron flux of interest. In many instances the detector can also be used to detect and display non-neutron type radiation or simultaneously neutron and non-neutron forms of radiative activity.
A neutron radiation detector based on semiconductor material populated with .sup.3 He in such away that:
A method of populating a semiconductor material with .sup.3 He to obtain efficient radiation detectors:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.