Silicon Carbide Neutron Detectors for Harsh Nuclear Environments: A Review of the State of the Art
Résumé
Silicon carbide (SiC) semiconductor is an ideal
material for solid-state nuclear radiation detectors to be used in
high-temperature, high-radiation environments. Such harsh
environments are typically encountered in nuclear reactor
measurement locations as well as high-level radioactive waste
and/or “hot” dismantling-decommissioning operations. In the
present fleet of commercial nuclear reactors, temperatures in
excess of 300 °C are often encountered, and temperatures up to
800 °C are anticipated in advanced reactor designs. The wide
bandgap for SiC (3.27 eV) compared to more widely used
semiconductors such as silicon (1.12 eV at room temperature) has
allowed low-noise measurements to be carried out at temperatures
up to 700 °C. The concentration of thermally induced charge
carriers in SiC at 700 °C is about four orders of magnitude less
than that of silicon at room temperature. Furthermore, SiC
radiation detectors have been demonstrated to be much more
resistant to the effects of radiation-induced damage than more
conventional semiconductors such as silicon, germanium, or
cadmium zinc telluride (CZT), and have been demonstrated to be
operational after extremely high gamma-ray, neutron, and
charged-particle doses. The purpose of the present review is to
provide an updated state of the art for SiC neutron detectors and
to explore their applications in harsh high-temperature, high-
radiation nuclear reactor applications. Conclusions related to the
current state-of-the-art of SiC neutron detectors will be presented,
and specific ideal applications will be discussed.
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