SPICE analysis of the charge division in resistive semiconductor nanowire diodes

In this paper we present an analysis of the charge division method in semiconductor nanowire Schottky diodes using an electrical model based on the SPICE simulation code. A semiconductor nanowire prototype that is simulated as an RC network and two readout electronic systems are modelled in order to understand its behaviour and to assess its application as a possible ionizing particle detector in clinical high-LET particle beams. We study the use of resistive charge division along the semiconductor nanowire to calculate the position of deposited charge generated by an ionizing particle as it crosses the nanodevice and to determine the minimal viable spatial resolution. Our aim is to demonstrate the charge division concept in resistive semiconductor nanowire diodes, and to subsequently understand the performance of these nanodevices as radiation sensors and address the design limitations of such an application.