Operation of Al-Implanted SiC Nuclear Detectors Subjected to High Radiation Fluences at Temperatures of up to 250 °C

The effect of a cycle "introduction of defects – annealing – introduction of defects" on the SiC properties has been studied to know the degradation of characteristics of p-n- nuclear radiation detectors. The irradiation with 8 МeV protons at fluences of about 3×1014 сm-2 was used. The annealing was carried out in two stages one-hour at temperatures of 600 and 700 °С. Nuclear spectrometric techniques with 5.8 MeV -particles were employed to test the detectors. The charge collection efficiency and features of the amplitude spectrum were determined to study the capture of charge carriers by radiation-induced defects. Measurements were made in the temperature range of 20–250 °С. It is shown that at 250 °С there is a decrease in the carriers capture. The form of the amplitude spectrum essentially improves. The first irradiation and the subsequent annealing do not change significantly the radiation hardness of SiC. During the second irradiation the effective concentration of the introduced centers is 1.3 times higher. This result may be due to the high total fluence of protons, 6×1014 cm-2.