Compensated-Surface Oxide-Passivated Silicon Junction Radiation Detectors

A semiconductor detector was constructed for operation as a guard-ring detector. Oxide passivation is used to protect the junction edges, and diffusion of Ga acceptor impurity into the Si surface is used to compensate for the donors introduced by the oxide growth. Resolution of alpha particle spectra is typically 17 kev for 1-cm-dia detectors made in this way, and they are much less sensitive to ambient conditions than other types of detectors. (D.L.C.)