Neutron irradiation of Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon p-i-n diodes and charge selective contacts detectors

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon is a well-known detector material for its radiation resistance. For this reason it has been used in particle beam flux measurements and in solar panels designed for space applications. This study concern 10μm thickness, p-i-n and charge selective contacts planar diode detectors which were irradiated with neutrons to two fluence values: 1016 neq/cm2 and 5 × 1016 neq/cm2. In order to evaluate their radiation resistance, detector leakage current and response to x-ray photons have been measured. The effect of annealing for performance recovery at 100 °C for 12 and 24 h has also been studied. The results for the 1016 neq/cm2 irradiation show a factor 2 increase in leakage current that is completely recovered after annealing for p-i-n devices while charge selective contacts devices show an overall decrease of the leakage current at the end of the annealing process compared to the measurement before the irradiation. X-ray dosimetric sensitivity degrades, for this fluence, at the end of irradiation, but partially recovers for charge selective contact devices and increases for p-i-n devices at the end of the annealing process. Concerning the 5 × 1016 neq/cm2 irradiation test (for p-i-n structures only), due to the activation that occurred during the irradiation phase, the measurements were taken after 146 days of storage at around 0 °C, during this period, a self-annealing effect may have occurred. Therefore, the results after irradiation and storage show a noticeable degradation in leakage current and x-ray sensitivity with a small recovery after annealing.