Novel ultraviolet and ionizing radiation detectors made from TiO2 wide bandgap semiconductor

We describe the fabrication and characterization of a novel UV and ionizing radiation detector using polycrystalline TiO 2 wide bandgap semiconductor as the active material. The detector geometry we have developed and tested is a polycrystalline TiO 2 thin film with planar electrode contacts for signal pickup. Several prototypes were fabricated using two single-step techniques. We present the DC characterization of these devices and the signal response to ultraviolet (UV) light and low energy proton beam irradiation. The detector prototypes show excellent DC characteristics and fast AC signal response at bias voltage as low as 50V.