Barthe (2001) - Electronic Dosimeters Based On Solid State Detectors

Electronic dosimeters based on solid state detectors
Jean Barthe
*
Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique, D epartement d'Instrumentation et de M etrologie des Rayonnements Ionisants,
Centre de Saclay, 91191 Gif-Sur-Yvette, France
Received 2 January 2001; received in revised form 29 May 2001
Abstract
This paper attempts to give an idea on the state of the art in electronic solid state dosimetry, including devices mainly
based on semiconductors and diamond. Research in this area has made great progress. 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All
rights reserved.
1. Foreword
For dosimetry purposes, silicon devices are
used while germanium components are generally
not of interest because of their too high eective
atomic number compared with that of biological
tissue.
Both electronic dosimeters needing associated
electronics for real-time performing, and passive
dosimeters, the reading of which is performed
some delay after irradiation by using a specic
reader, are described. In a few cases, the two per-
forming processes are available for the same de-
tector. Four types of devices are detailed: diodes,
MOSFETs (metaloxide semiconductor eld eect
transistor), bipolar junction transistors (BJTs),
and solid ionisation chambers made of silicon di-
oxide or diamond. Direct ion-storage dosimeters
are described elsewhere in this issue.
A description of dierent applications, sorted
according to the deposited dose, is proposed:
photon and electron dosimetry at very low doses
for radiation protection, low doses for medical and
industrial imaging, intermediate doses for radia-
tion therapy and high doses for industrial purposes
such as sterilisation. A large part of this text is
dedicated to neutron personal dosimetry on which
many studies are in progress.
Much information on these dosimetry tech-
niques has been extracted from the following ref-
erence books: ``The Ionising Radiation: Detection,
Spectrometry and Dosimetry'' by Blanc [1], ``In-
troduction to Solid State Physics'' by Kittel [2],
``Fundamental of Radiation Dosimetry'' by
Greening [3], ``Dosimetry of Ionizing Radiation''
by Kase, Bjarngard and Attix [4], ``Radiation
Detection and Measurement'' by Knoll [5],
``Techniques for Nuclear and Particles Physics
Experiments'' by Leo [6] and ``Semiconductors
Detectors'' by Bertolini and Coche [7]. Publica-
tions on the state of the art in dosimetry were also
used extensively in [811].
Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 184 (2001) 158189
www.elsevier.com/locate/nimb
*
Tel.: +33-1-6908-9730; fax: +33-1-6908-9529.
E-mail address: jean.barthe@cea.fr (J. Barthe).
0168-583X/01/$ - see front matter 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 1 6 8 - 5 8 3 X ( 0 1 ) 0 0 7 1 1 - X
2. Introduction
In the past, silicon and germanium detectors
have been mainly used for energy spectrometry,
and have replaced solid state scintillator detectors
in applications where the highest energy resolution
is required. In that case, they were generally used
rather as particle detectors than radiation dosi-
meters. The use of silicon diode detectors for the
dosimetry of high-energy photon and electron
beams, mainly in the eld of radiation therapy,
began by the mid-1960s. Germanium dosimeters
dropped out of interest, because of their eective
atomic number being too high, especially for
measurements at low energy. This eect is not re-
strictive for use in spectrometry, where the whole
energy of the incident particle is deposited in the
detector. This is not the case in the dosimetry of
photons or electrons and, a fortiori, for neutrons.
One of the most important interests for semi-
conductors' use in dosimetry is their extremely
high sensitivity relative to the ionisation volume,
compared to an air-lled ionisation chamber. A
factor of about 18 000 is generally found between
the response of a silicon semiconductor diode and
an ionisation chamber of the same volume. This
allows one to reduce the sensitive volume to a few
tenths of a cubic millimetre. Despite their over-
response for low-energy photons, silicon semi-
conductor detectors present characteristics that
make them very attractive for measuring either
dose or dose rate, relative to gas-ion chambers.
3. Generalities
3.1. A few dates
The following table gives a few dates on the
progresses made in electronics and dosimetric
since the last century.
These dates are more or less mean dates corre-
sponding to either the rst studies or their eective
use.
3.2. Types of dosimeters
The semiconductor devices presently used for
radiation dosimetry may be sorted into two types:
silicon diodes and transistors (mainly MOSFETs).
In addition, solid state ionisation chambers made
with silicon dioxide or diamond can be considered
as semiconductor devices. Let us note that more
than 10 years ago, doped organic component-
based diodes were also designed and studied.
Following the type of dosimetry, semiconduc-
tor devices can be used either as (1) electronic or
real time dose rate-meters or (2) as solid state
dosimeters.
In the rst case (1), the semiconductor device
needs a bias voltage during operation. The in-
volved dosimetric quantity corresponds to dose
rate and is correlated with the produced electric
current. Dose is obtained by integration.
In the second case (2), the semiconductor device
does not need any bias voltage. The dosimetric
quantity corresponds to the absorbed dose and is
correlated with the modication of a given physi-
cal parameter such as electric conductivity for the
1883 Thomas Edison noted that a heated
metal emits electrons.
1904 Sir John Ambrose Fleming made the
rst valve diode.
1920s Solid-state diodes, rectier or ``cat
whisker'' crystals, are used in crystal
radios.
1948 Development of modern semiconductor
diodes and transistors.
1952 Commercial use of semiconductor
devices in electronics.
1959 Semiconductor detectors used in
nuclear physics.
1970s Ionisation chamber based on silicon
dioxide studied for radiation dosimetry.
1970s Semiconductor dosimeters used in
medical physics.
1981 Passive neutron dosimetry with PIN
diodes.
1986 First studies of a neutron dosimeter
based on silicon diodes.
1989 MOSFET used as a radiation
dosimeter.
1990s Ionisation chamber based on natural
diamond.
1995 Direct ion storage dosimeter.
J. Barthe / Nucl. Instr. and Meth. in Phys. Res. B 184 (2001) 158189 159
diode or threshold voltage for the MOSFET.
Mean dose-rate can be obtained by means of se-
quential dose measurements.
For these two types of dosimeter the solid state
eects which occur often coexist. This means that a
progressive decrease of sensitivity occurs during
the increase of absorbed dose. In general, the re-
sult is a saturation eect.
3.3. Classication of dosimeters
The classication of dosimeters can be done
following dierent criteria such as the nature of
involved physical phenomena, characteristics of
the measured elds, or the types of applications.
For clarity of the text, except for neutron dosi-
meters, classication following the nature of
physical phenomena is used.
3.3.1. Active (or electronic) rate meters and dosi-
meters (bias voltage)
Diode (X and c photons, electrons).
Ionisation chambers based on silicon (PIN), sil-
icon dioxide and diamond.
Silicon drift chamber (particle position), silicon
time projection chamber (energy loss and posi-
tion).
Binary and logical memories covered with an
added specic sensitive layer (hydrogenated
cathode for detection of fast neutrons).
MOSFET (X and c photons).
3.3.2. Passive (or solid state) dosimeters (no bias
voltage)
Diode (neutrons).
Linear conductive organic polymers (very high
photon doses).
3.3.3. Ambivalent dosimeters
Diode (fast neutrons).
3.3.4. Measurement method
Pulse counting for low dose-rate: photons and
electrons in radiation protection.
Pulse counting and energy and/or time discrim-
ination: mixed elds in radiation protection.
DC current measurement: high dose rate of
photons and electrons.
Measurement of electrical characteristics of
passive dosimeters (photons, electrons and neu-
trons): change in electrical resistance, drift in
threshold voltage, change in capacitance, etc.
3.4. Dosimetry domains
It is interesting to look at the dierent dosi-
metry application domains where radiation is
generally involved. They can be classied into ve
themes for which human health is generally the
main objective.
3.4.1. Radiation protection (external dosimetry)
Poor knowledge of the type and energy of the
radiation (X or c photons, electrons and neu-
trons).
Mainly low or extremely low dose-rate (natural
background dose rate to a few mSv h
1
).
High low dose-rate in accident cases.
Very wide spectra and range for neutrons in nu-
clear industry: 2:5 10
2
(thermal) 15 MeV
(fusion).
3.4.2. External radiation therapy
Good knowledge of radiation nature and beam
quality.
Dose rate: a few gray per minute. Total inte-
grated dose: <60 Gy.
Contact therapy: X-rays: 50 kV 300 kV.
Cobalt therapy: c rays ~1.25 MeV.
X-ray therapy: X-rays from 4 MV 25 MV
(Bremsstrahlung spectrum).
Electron therapy: electrons: 6 MeV 20 MeV.
Neutron therapy: neutrons: 20 MeV 60 MeV
(neutron therapy).
Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT): ther-
mal and epithermal neutrons: 25 meV a
few keV.
Proton therapy: protons: 30 200 MeV (mean
60 MeV).
3.4.3. Radio-diagnostic (2D and 3D imaging): low
doses (a few mGy)
Mammography/scintigraphy/scanner: X-rays
from a few tens to a few hundred of keV.
160 J. Barthe / Nucl. Instr. and Meth. in Phys. Res. B 184 (2001) 158189
PET camera: positonnegaton annihilation 512
keV.
3.4.4. Radiobiology
All types of radiation, doses from a few mGy to
a few tens of Gy.
3.4.5. Industrial applications
Nuclear gauges based on the transmission and/
or backscattering of photons, electrons and
neutrons.
Gamma radiography (radioactive sources and
accelerators): industry, cultural heritage (objet
d'art).
Radioactive tracers, industry and environment:
photons: 50 keV a few MeV (short period).
Sterilisation: high dose (2 10 kGy), photons
(c, X) and electrons, duration of a few tens of
seconds, dose rate ~1 MGy h
1
.
Chemical reticulation: a few tens of kGy with
high dose rate (photons and electrons).
3.5. Reminders on semiconductor characteristics
3.5.1. Intrinsic and extrinsic semiconductors
In an intrinsic semiconductor, i.e., a semicon-
ductor free of impurities, electron and hole densi-
ties are equal and the intrinsic conductivity is low
(k = 10
9
X
1
cm
1
). The excitation of carriers is
controlled by temperature in accordance with the
Bolzmann distribution. In that case the Fermi le-
vel, which separates electron from hole energy, is
located at the middle of the gap. In comparison,
metals exhibit a high conductivity from 10
3
to
10
9
X
1
cm
1
and insulators a low conductivity
from 10
22
to 10
12
X
1
cm
1
[6].
The width of the gap and bands is determined
by the lattice spacing between the atoms. These
parameters are thus strongly dependent on the
temperature and weakly on the pressure. In con-
ductors, the energy gap does not exist (band
overlapping), while in insulators the gap is large
(Fig. 1). At normal temperatures in an insulator,
the electrons are all in the valence band, thermal
energy being insucient to excite electrons across
the gap. Therefore when an external electric eld is
applied, there is no motion of electrons through
the crystal and thus no current. On the other hand,
in a conductor the absence of a gap makes it very
easy for thermally excited electrons to jump into
the conduction band where they are free to move
inside the crystal. A current will then ow if an
electric eld is applied.
In a semiconductor, the forbidden band is re-
duced in such a way that only a few electrons are
excited by thermal energy up to the conduction
band. If an electric eld is applied then a small
current is observed. If the semiconductor is cooled,
almost all the electrons will fall into the valence
band and the conductivity of the semiconductor
will decrease.
An extrinsic semiconductor (k = 10
9
10
2
X
1
cm
1
) of n-type is obtained by adding an
element of valence 5, such as phosphorus, arsenic
or antimony, which are called ``donors''. An ex-
trinsic semiconductor of p-type is obtained by
adding an element of valence 3 such as boron,
aluminium, gallium and indium and are called
``acceptors''. In comparison with the lattice dis-
tances, the rst Bohr orbit of a n-type impurity is
about 8 nm for germanium and 3 nm for silicon
Fig. 1. Dierent types of band structures [2, p. 174]. At 0 K a semi-metal (Bismuth temperature with thermal exited carriers), semi-
conductor [2] presents a lack of electrons due to impurities.
allowing an overlap at low carrier density. The
corresponding ionisation energies can be extremely
low and below the ambient energy (25 meV),
specially for germanium.
Carriers are free electric charges and are able to
move in the crystal according to the direction of
the applied electric eld. There are two types of
carriers, electrons and holes. They can be minor or
major carriers following the type of semiconduc-
tor. Major carriers are electrons with donors and
holes with acceptors. Minor carriers are electrons
with acceptors and holes with donors [6].
3.5.2. Main basic properties of intrinsic silicon and
germanium
Table 1 gives the main characteristics of silicon
and germanium. For dosimetric purposes it has to
be noticed that the very low energy needs to create
an electronhole pair, approximately 10 times
lower than in air. The respective mobility of elec-
trons and holes plays an important role in the
pulse shape rise time analysis frequently used for
neutronphoton discrimination in mixed elds.
4. Diode dosimeters
4.1. Basic principle
A silicon diode consists of a junction of two
types of semiconductors. For a p-type diode, the
bulk of the crystal consists in a p-type region
(excess of holes) while a thin layer at the surface is
an n-type region (excess of electrons). Electrical
Table 1
Main basic properties of intrinsic silicon and germanium
Physical characteristics
(300 K if no temperature is specied)
Nature of material
Silicon Germanium
Atomic number 14 32
Atomic weight 28.09 72.60
Density (g cm
2
) 2.33 5.33
Lattice constant (cm) 5:429 10
8
5:657 10
8
Dielectric constant (DC) 12 16
Forbidden energy gap (eV) 1.115 0.665
Intrinsic carriers density (cm
3
) 1:5 10
10
2:4 10
13
Intrinsic resistivity (X cm) 2:3 10
5
47
Electron mobility (cm
2
V
1
s
1
) 1350 3900
Hole mobility (cm
2
V
1
s
1
) 480 1900
Electron mobility (77 K) (cm
2
V
1
s
1
) 2:1 10
4
3:6 10
4
Hole mobility (77 K) (cm
2
V
1
s
1
) 1:1 10
4
4:2 10
4
Electron diusion constant (cm
2
s
1
) 38 90
Hole diusion constant (cm
2
s
1
) 13 45
Work function (eV) 5.0 4.8
Energy per holeelectron pair creation (eV) 3.62
Energy per holeelectron pair (77 K) (eV) 3.76 2.97
Nature of material Physical characteristics
W
gap
(eV) Electron mobility (cm
2
V
1
s
1
) Hole mobility (cm
2
V
1
s
1
)
InSb 0.18 800 450
PbS 0.36 550 600
GaAs 1.43 8500 400
CdTe 1.47 78000 50
Diamond 5.4 1800 1200
Gap and electron mobility are also given for some other semiconductor materials including diamond [2] and [57].
conduction in each region occurs through motion
of its majority charge carriers (holes or electrons).
The electrical contacts, anode (p-type region) and
cathode (n-type region), are obtained by vacuum
deposition of a thin metal layer (generally alu-
minium or gold). The dierence in charge density
between the two regions tends to diuse charge
carriers in the opposite charge region creating in
between an internal electric eld (or potential
barrier) which originates the depleted layer. At
ambient temperature, a low current (a few tens of
pA) due to thermal agitation, called leakage cur-
rent, ows through the potential barrier.
When a positive voltage (from 10 to a few
hundreds of volts) is applied between cathode and
anode, electrons are pulled out of the depleted
layer and the current cannot then ow across the
junction, except for a small leakage current. The
junction is in reverse-biased condition. The thick-
ness of the depletion layer increases with the ap-
plied voltage and may reach a few mm. When a
negative voltage (a few volts) is applied in the same
disposition, the potential barrier disappears and
the current ows freely through the junction.
These two performing situations correspond to the
``diode'' eect well-known in electronic circuits.
If an ionising particle passes through the de-
pleted layer while the junction is reverse-biased,
electronhole pairs are formed by the usual colli-
sion processes. The mean energy spent per elec-
tronhole pair creation is 3.62 eV at 300 K for
silicon and 2.97 eV at 77 K for germanium. These
values are only about one-tenth of the analogous
W-values for gas ionisation chambers; approxi-
mately 10 times more ionisation is formed in
semiconductor detectors than in ion chambers for
the same energy expenditures. This contributes to
the good energy resolution of silicon and germa-
nium detectors.
Electrons can reach the boundary of the de-
pleted layer in 10
7
10
8
s producing a compara-
ble voltage-pulse rise time. In the case of a low
dose-rate, for example in radiation protection
where the dose-rate magnitude is a few micrograys
per hour, a linear charge-sensitive preamplier
with a suitable short time constant can be used in
charge measurement or in pulse-height analysis
mode. In the case of high dose-rates, for example
in radiation therapy purposes where the dose-rate
corresponds to a few grays per minute, a direct
current preamplier, linear amplier and elec-
tronic digital converter are generally used. In that
way only dose or dose-rate can be measured and
no indication on the radiation energy can be ob-
tained.
If the dose-rate is high, silicon diodes may be
used without bias voltage. In that case the depleted
zone is reduced to the minimum thickness (a tenth
of micrometer). In the same way, sensitivity,
mainly controlled by the depleted zone volume,
lowers. This is perfect for operating in high dose-
rate radiation elds occurring in radiation therapy.
A typical sensitivity of about 2:10
9
A Gy
1
min
1
is currently found.
4.2. Radiation detection principle
When an ionising particle, electron, proton,
alpha, or non-directly ionising particle (photon or
neutron) passes through the diode (Fig. 2), a
number of electronhole pairs is created.
For spectrometric purposes, the dead layer
(metallic electrode and contact silicon layer) will
be as thin as possible, often between 50 and 170
nm. The dead layer corresponds to both the N (or
P) doped semiconductor layer and the metallic
contact. The depletion layer depends on the ap-
plied electric eld, from a few lm to a few cm
according to the use and the crystal size. Under
reverse bias voltage, the electric current is gener-
Fig. 2. Radiation detection principle.
ated by the radiation-induced charges. Mobility
and velocity control the curve shape and recom-
bination. Generally a higher doping corresponds
to a lower sensitivity and a higher power con-
sumption.
4.3. Types of diodes
Dierent types of diodes have been designed
and produced for each specic application. In ra-
diation detection, the rst use was for nuclear
particle spectrometry. At the beginning, surface
barrier diodes were performed. But their inaccu-
rate and dicult manufacturing led to the prefer-
ential use of diused diodes and sometimes
implanted diodes.
4.3.1. Spectrometric and pulsed X-ray diodes
Spectrometric diodes present a deeply depleted
zone in which the incident particle is fully stopped.
The intrinsic carrier mobility has to be high to
avoid any recombination and to increase the de-
tection rate. Cylindrical symmetry is usual for high
energy particle measurements, but square or rect-
angular diodes are often used for optical photon
detection [1,4]. Metallic surroundings do not play
a signicant role. The diameter of such diodes is
between 1 mm and a few cm, the depleted depth
between a few lm and a few tens of cm. For ex-
ample, the size of a big coaxial p-type Ge diode
detector, produced in 1992, was 109.3 mm of
length and 88.8 mm of diameter. Larger diode
detectors are used for space radiation measure-
ment on satellites [6].
For spectrometry purposes of high energy
particles, the nature of entrance window plays an
important role. It can be made of silicon, alu-
minium or gold according to the nature of incident
particles. The applied voltage may vary from a few
tens to a few hundreds (or thousands) volts. For
small diodes, the collection time is close to a few
nanoseconds. Fig. 3 shows some conventional
spectrometric diodes.
As an example [12], diodes used in alpha
spectrometry present six factors leading to a
widening of the spectral resolution R (FWHM).
By assuming a quadratic eect, it can be writ-
ten
DR
2
= DS
2
DI
2
DC
2
DP
2
DF
2
DE
2
;
Fig. 3. Spectrometric diodes used in pulse X-ray detection.
where
4.3.2. Dosimetric diodes
A perfect dosimeter has to be appropriate to the
medium in which it is intended to measure the
dose; this means that it has not modied the u-
ence of incident particles and the energy spectrum
of incident and secondary charged particles. Be-
sides, the produced signal has to be proportional
to the deposited dose; no saturation eect has to
occur.
Diodes used for dosimetry are slightly dierent
to those used for spectrometry. In order to mini-
mise the medium perturbation, the dosimeter has
to be as small as possible to satisfy the Bragg
Gray theory. In many cases the diode size is less
than 1 1 1 mm
3
. A compromise between size
and sensitivity has to be done, the resulting signal
being always proportional to the sensitive volume.
As said before, surrounding materials play a sig-
nicant role by generating secondary charged
particles. The electric contacts are generally made
of aluminium (low atomic number), while the case
and supports are made of plastic materials and are
close to being tissue equivalent. Two examples are
proposed in the following gures. Fig. 4 shows the
Gager's historic diode dosimeter (1977); the me-
tallic surrounding materials are of a high atomic
number, such as copper. In comparison, a more
recent diode dosimeter is shown in Fig. 5, com-
ponents of which are made of low atomic number
materials.
4.4. Diode used for gamma and beta radiation
protection
As said in the previous paragraphs, a diode can
be used according to two modes: the pulse mode
and the direct current mode. The pulse mode as-
sociated with an amplitude discriminator allows a
good rejection of background noise signal. In di-
rect current mode, electrons from background
noise or useful signal are indiscernible and no
discrimination can be done. Except for very high
intensity pulses and/or very high frequencies, the
mean power of background noise is generally
higher than that of pulses. The particle rate being
low in radiation protection, the pulse mode is
generally used. For that a linear relationship has to
exist between dose-rate and counting rate. In that
case, pulse intensity does not play any role. This
means that the energy response of incident parti-
DS line widening with source
depth
1.0 keV
DI statistical uctuations of
the ionisation in the
semiconductor
4.1 keV
DC uctuations due to nucleus
particle collisions
5.0 keV
DP plasma eect, trapping and
recombination
1.0 keV
DF straggling eect due to the
entrance window
3.0 keV
DE diode electronic and
amplier noise
1.0 keV
DR global resolution (FWHM) 7.4 keV
Fig. 4. Historic diode proposed by Wright and Gager in 1977.
Notice the dierent surrounding materials.
Fig. 5. Thimble-type mount of a silicon diodefrom Aoki and
described by [15]: (a) polyethylene; (b) carbon paint; (c) silicon
diode; (d) carbon epoxy; (e) aluminium wires; (f) PMMA.
cles has to be corrected by other physical means
such as the use of lters or absorbers. This method
is always used for individual neutron dosimeters in
order to discriminate neutrons from photons.
Due to the low particle rate encountered in
radiation protection purposes, the detector is
generally a square diode of 5 5 mm
2
. For lower
counting rate, the surface can be increased up to a
few square cm. It has to be noticed that the whole
capacitance of the diode is increasing with the ef-
fective surface leading to a drastic increase of the
background noise associated with a decrease in the
counting rate. In that way, and for specic uses,
the global detector is divided into a set of small
elementary diodes. A specic charge amplier is
coupled with each elementary diode. The use of
such a technique will be described later for per-
sonal neutron dosimetry.
4.4.1. Electric diagram
As seen before, the diode used in pulse mode is
biased in a reverse voltage (a few tens to a few
hundreds of volts according to its type). A stronger
voltage leads to a larger depleted zone. The reverse
current remains practically insignicant below a
fraction of the disruptive threshold voltage.
The pulse signal polarity is a function of the p-
type or n-type of the diode and its respective bias
voltage (Fig. 6).
4.4.2. Energy response
In the ISO standard, the photons generated by
137
Cs or
60
Co sources are stated as reference pho-
ton energies for the response of a personal dosi-
meter. The corresponding requirements allow a
maximum of uncertainty of 15%. The main dif-
culty complying with this requirement concerns
the low energies where the photoelectric eect is
predominant, leading to a strong over-response.
As said before, one solution consists of covering
the detector with adapted shields.
Fig. 7 shows the energy response of MGPi
electronic individual dosimeters [13].
4.4.3. Dose-rate response
Based on pulse counting, the response is per-
fectly linear with the dose rate until saturation
eects occur due, for example, to pulse stacking or
to a shift of the detection spectrum magnitude to
low values. The detection threshold does not cor-
respond to the same energy and the integrated
count number is modied. Fig. 8 shows the mea-
surements made at the IPSN (Institute for Pro-
tection and Nuclear Safety) to determine the
response linearity with the dose rate for the
Dosicard personal dosimeter [14].
4.4.4. Isotropy
Isotropy is an important feature for the use of a
personal dosimeter. It depends on the way the
dosimeter is worn on the body. In general, this
type of dosimeter is worn on the trunk. Standard
tests are performed on the ISO or ICRU phan-
toms, spheres or slabs. The Hp(10) dose equivalent
is dened under 1 cm tissue thickness. In that case,
the radiation uence is lower for tangential than
for normal incident angles leading to a higher re-
sponse under normal incidence. Fig. 9 shows the
response of a commercial personal dosimeter at
low energy photons which is a dicult case.
4.5. Diode used in radiotherapy
As seen before, diodes used for dosimetry in
radiation therapy are of small size (0:5 mm
2
)
and work in the current mode [16]. The uence
rate of photons or electrons is generally high and
corresponds to a mean dose-rate of 2.5 Gy min
1
.
N
I
P
Rc
V
Signal
Fig. 6. Electrical diagram of a detection diode.

This means that for pulsed accelerators with a
shape factor of about 2500, the instantaneous dose
rate is close to 100 Gy s
1
.
In radiation therapy dosimetry [2124], as op-
posed to radiation protection dosimetry, the na-
ture and intensity of the radiation eld is perfectly
known. The main objectives are a good estimation
of the deposited dose (a few tenths of percent), a
minimum perturbation of the irradiation eld
(silicon diode is not tissue equivalent), a correct
radio-transparency (small shadow). For these
reasons, the metallic cores of electric wires have to
be as thin as possible.
4.5.1. Eect of doping
As mentioned previously, a silicon semicon-
ductor can be made of n- or p-type silicon. The n-
and p-type detectors behave dierently because the
Fig. 7. Energy response of the DMC 2000 XB electronic individual dosimeter [13]. Energy response for photons is shown on the left of
the picture, electrons on the right.
Fig. 8. Dose response of the Dosicard personal dosimeter to
60
Co photons [14].
minority carriers are not of the same mobility.
There is also a dierence between n- and p-type
detectors with respect to sensitivity after pre-irra-
diation. The p-type detectors resist radiation better
than those of n-type. The shift of irradiated and
non-irradiated diode characteristics are given in
Fig. 10. The curve passing through the origin
corresponds to an unirradiated diode.
Another eect of radiation damage in n-type
detectors is that the detector response depends on
dose rate. So, the depth dose curves obtained with
an unirradiated dosimeter or a radiation damaged
dosimeter will also dier. As shown in Fig. 11, this
eect is reduced with p-type silicon detectors. This
Fig. 9. Response versus incident radiation angle for 60 keV ltered photon source [15].
Fig. 10. Diode sensitivity versus dose (6 MV X-rays). Upper
curve corresponds to a non-irradiated diode [17].
Fig. 11. Sensitivity versus dose (20 MeV electrons). Empty and
full circles correspond to p-type and n-type diodes, respectively
[17].
phenomenon is due to the dierent lifetime char-
acteristics of the electrons and holes.
A higher doping level will normally cause
more traps in the crystal, which means that the
lifetime for the minority carriers, the mean path
length and thus the sensitivity of the detector also
will decrease. It thus seems reasonable that the
doping level should be low in order to obtain a
high sensitivity. It is, however, important to use
a highly doped p-type detector in order to obtain
a linear response even after high pre-irradiation
levels. A non-linear response will occur if the
dosimeter is used in high energy particle beams
such as protons or neutrons. A high energy
photon beam, which contains photo-neutrons,
will thus damage more the detector than a high
energy electron beam.
4.5.2. Eect of cumulated doses
As indicated in Figs. 12 and 13, the detector
sensitivity is a function of the dose. Therefore the
decay curve and the previous irradiation level
should be known for dose determination and pa-
tient dosimetry in order to foresee when re-cali-
bration should be done. The eect depends on
radiation quality. A higher energy of electrons and
photons during irradiation gives a larger sensitiv-
ity drop for the same dose.
4.5.3. Eect of temperature
The sensitivity variation with temperature
(SVWT) in a semiconductor is about 0.1% per C
when unused. However, the SVWT increases with
irradiation predose. For a p-type detector a pla-
teau of about 0.350.4% per C is reached for a
pre-irradiation of about 5 kGy with 20 MeV
electrons.
Figs. 14 and 15 show the eect of temperature
on the relative response and the dose sensitivity of
the diode. The curves in Fig. 14 are normalised at
21.5C. The increase in sensitivity from room
temperature to patient skin temperature reach as
2% for EDP30 p-type diodes (Scanditronix) and
4% for P30 (p-type) diodes (Precitron). Fig. 15
shows the eect of resistivity and cumulated dose
Fig. 12. Sensitivity decay of an EDP20 diode: the dose rate is a
few grays per day for 3 years (total cumulated dose: 50 kGy, 25
MV photons) [18].
Fig. 13. Sensitivity as a function of the accumulated dose (6 MV
photons) [19].
Fig. 14. Temperature eect on the response of EDP30 (lled
dots) and P30 (empty dots) diodes [20].
on the overall sensitivity. One can notice that, after
a pre-irradiation of about 3 kGy, the low resis-
tivity diodes (0.2 X cm) are more stable than the
higher resistivity diodes (10 X cm).
4.5.4. Linearity with dose rate
In general the linearity with dose rate is fully
satised within a half percent of uncertainty.
The repeatability from day to day depends on
the integrated dose over the corresponding pe-
riod. Frequent calibrations have to be per-
formed.
4.5.5. Inuence of detector volume
The eective measuring volume and the detec-
tor area should be stated since the statistical noise
in the reading is correlated with detector size. The
smaller the detector, the better the spatial resolu-
tion, but the statistical noise increases and this
leads to a longer measuring time for the same
precision. The number of radiation pulses that
have to be collected in order to have a precision of
0.2% at a 95% condence level is a function of
detector area and shown in Fig. 16. The detector
area is supposed to be orthogonal to the beam
axis. Fig. 16 is valid for a dose per pulse corre-
sponding to a dose rate of 3 Gy min
1
with a
frequency of 300 pulses/s. A decrease in area from
4 mm
2
, a commonly used detector size, to 1 mm
2
increases the measuring time four times for the
same relative variance.
5. Neutron dosimeters
Neutrons are uncharged particles which are
only detectable from the secondary charge par-
ticles generated in the material. For this reason
their spectrometry and dosimetry are generally
problematic. This is also the reason why re-
search in this eld is always in progress and up
to now no high performance commercial pocket
neutron dosimeters are available on the mar-
ket.
Initially a neutron, being not directly detect-
able, has to interact with matter and produce at
least one secondary charged particle. The charged
particle is then detected with an appropriate ra-
diation sensor. In order to obtain a signal pro-
portional to the deposited dose rate, a linear
relation has to exist between the neutron energy
uence and the deposited dose. Due to the wide
energy range, from a few hundreds of eV to a few
MeV, cross-sections are over at least four decades
(0.15000 barns). To cover the whole energy
range, several nuclear interactions, which are well
distributed on the energy domain, have to be
used.
For dosimetry purposes two dierent interac-
tions are used:
at high energy >10 keV: (n,p) interaction on hy-
drogenated materials.
Fig. 15. Sensitivity variation versus temperature as a function of
accumulated dose (6 MV photons) [19].
Fig. 16. Number of pulses versus detector area [17].
at low energy <10 keV: (n,a) interaction on sen-
sitive material to neutron capture such as
6
Li or
10
B.
Thermal neutron cross-sections are, respectively,
of about 994 barns for
6
Li and 3960 barns for
10
B.
Fig. 17 gives the converter response expressed
as the number of protons emitted toward the diode
surface per mSv of dose equivalent as a function of
neutron energy for given values of the converter
thickness. At protonic equilibrium, similar to
electronic equilibrium, the entrance uence of
protons in a small volume at a given depth is equal
to the exit uence. One can observe that the con-
verter eciency increases with neutron energy up
to a maximum value correlated with the converter
thickness. For neutrons of high energy and thin
layers of converter, the eciency reaches a maxi-
mum and then decreases. For a 10 lm thickness,
the eciency is constant within a factor of two
from 0.5 to 10 MeV.
5.1. Dierential neutron diode dosemeter
The rst paper to report the use of a semi-
conductor diode covered with a hydrogenated
converter for fast neutron dosimetry was made by
H. Frank in 1975. The rst paper on a neutron
pocket dosimeter using a dierential diode tech-
nique was proposed at the university of Limoges
and IPSN [25] at the end of 1985. Since this date,
much research has been performed with a detec-
tion set consisting of one or more diodes [2630].
Since 1998, the Aloka company (Japan) has
marketed a neutron pocket dosimeter. Other new
systems will be commercially available by the end
of 2000.
5.1.1. Principle
The neutron sensor consists of two diodes
[31]:
the rst diode, called the neutron diode, is cov-
ered with an organic converter doped with
10
B
(10 lm in thickness and approximately 10
13
bo-
ron atoms per cm
2
). It is sensitive both to neu-
trons and photons.
the second diode, called the gamma diode, is
bare (no converter) and is thus less sensitive to
neutrons than photons. The two diodes are
placed close one to the other at normal incident
angle to the radiation eld.
Neutrons interact with the diode system by the
mean of the two reactions:
the H(n,n)p reaction with nuclei of hydrogen at-
oms to produce recoil protons. The emission
angle depends on the direction and energy of in-
cident neutrons.
the
10
B(n,a)
7
Li reaction with
10
B to produce al-
pha particles with an isotropic emission angle.
Fig. 17. Converter eciency in function of neutron energy and converter thickness [39,41].
The secondary charged particles loose their energy,
at rst in the converter and then in the diode dead
zone, and later on in the sensitive layer.
The dierential method (signal from neutron
diode minus signal from gamma diode) allows one
to macroscopically discriminate the photon com-
ponent from the neutron component. The energy
detection threshold for neutrons is reduced to a
few hundreds of keV; practically 250 keV in the
best cases.
In certain cases, mainly for low neutron ener-
gies, two non-identical diodes may lead to negative
doses. This means that photon signal from the
gamma diode is lower than this from the neutron
diode. A comparable result can be observed if the
photon uence is very high in comparison with the
neutron uence, these two eects being cumula-
tive.
In order to improve the energy range, three or
more diodes can be used. Such a system is called a
multi-element detector. The personal dosimeter
called Saphydose designed by the IPSN consists of
four diodes and three specic converters.
5.1.2. Schematic view
A schematic view of the detector is shown in
Fig. 18.
5.1.3. Energy response
Fig. 19 shows the spectra obtained with and
without
10
B converter. The low count number
leads to empty channels. The upper curve corre-
sponds to the neutron diode and the lower to the
photon diode. One can see the alpha peak corre-
sponding to thermal neutrons. Notice that the
thermal neutron cross-section decreases with in-
creasing energy and falls down to 1 barn for 1 keV
neutron energy. This eect can be partially com-
pensated by the albedo eect when the dosimeter is
worn on the body.
Fig. 20 shows, as an example, the energy re-
sponse of the DIAC dosimeter developed at the
IPSN [10]. The amount of
10
B doping was deter-
mined in such a way that the thermal neutron re-
sponse (~1000) is similar to that of fast neutrons.
The energy response falls to 200 keV for fast
neutrons and increases for lower energies. This
shape combines the albedo eect and the cross-
section increase. The energy response is aected by
a factor of 25. Beyond 1 MeV, the response is fully
satisfying.
In order to atten the energy response curve,
many authors have studied dierent absorbers
and/or moderators. The philosophy has been to
attenuate the response at high energies, taking in
account that the thermal response can be perfectly
adjusted by varying the prole of the doping
concentration. Such a consideration leads to
Fig. 18. Schematic view of the dierential double diode neutron dosimeter [10].
Fig. 19. Energy spectra obtained with and without converter
[10].
design moderators the surface of which present a
variable depth and sometimes one or many holes.
In Fig. 21, one can see a schematic view of a
spherical moderator [33,34]. It has to be noticed
that the change in the energy response curves is not
drastic due to the small size of the moderator.
Other types of moderators have been also pro-
posed.
A double diode on a single wafer [39] was used
in which the front diode was covered with a
moderator-converter implanted with
10
B. The
back diode is kept bare. This choice was based on
the assumption that the depleted zones of the
diodes are fully symmetrical on the same wafer
leading to a dierential method of higher per-
formance.
The angular response was studied by Sasaki
et al. [29]. A response similar to a cosine curve
(Fig. 22) was found. It corresponds to the projec-
tion of the eective surface of the double diode
system on the normal incidence plan.
Fig. 21. Schematic view of a spherical moderator [33].
Fig. 22. Angular response for neutrons from
252
Cf source. 0
corresponds to the normal incidence [29].
Fig. 20. Energy response of the DIAC neutron dosimeter [32].
5.1.4. Alternative design
An original design was proposed by Aoyama
et al. [35]. In this case, the
10
B foil converter was
replaced by a gadolinium foil converter. In that
conguration, thermal neutrons are detected by
means of internal-conversion electrons emitted
by neutron-capture in the gadolinium. Natural
gadolinium, consisting of
156
Gd and
158
Gd, gives
a set of 14 photons with energies increasing from
29 to 246 keV. In principle, because of the lack
of discrimination between incident photons and
gadolinium emitted photons, this method is only
usable if the photon uence produced by the
gadolinium is proportional, for all neutron
energies, to the neutron dose equivalent. An
overall eciency close to 6% is reported by the
authors. Fig. 23 gives a schematic view of the
dosimeter.
A new generation of personal neutron dosi-
meters using a detector set consisting of a large
number of diodes covered with dierent con-
verters, both in thickness and shape, has been
studied. One of them was designed by the IPSN
and developed by the Saphymo company. In
these conditions, the energy correction was easily
performed over the whole energy range by an
appropriate algorithm to obtain a response in
accordance with the requirements of the 1323
IEC standard [36].
5.2. Rise time discrimination diode dosimeter
Photons and low energy neutrons, except ther-
mal neutrons, give pulses of the same magnitude
and no discrimination can be performed in such a
way. As seen above, charged particles generate, in
the semiconductor, electrons and holes which drift
under the local electric eld towards their respec-
tive electrode. Two parameters have to be exam-
ined. Firstly, the speed of holes and electrons
depends on the magnitude of the local electric eld
according to their respective mobility which is
correlated to the semiconductor zone in which they
have been created. Secondly, the collection e-
ciency depends on the recombination rate, which is
higher for the substrate than the depleted zone.
Thirdly, in relation with their LET, the charge
density created in the semiconductor depends on
the nature and energy of the incoming particle. It
is low for photons, slightly higher for electrons,
high for protons and very high for alpha particles.
The combination of these parameters leads to a
specic pulse shape for the electronic signal. The
signal as a function of the time shows two dierent
slopes, a fast slope corresponding to the drift in-
side high mobility zones followed by a slow slope
corresponding to the drift inside the low mobility
zones. The magnitude associated with the rst
slope depends on the LET of the incident particle.
Fig. 24 shows the pulses sorted according to their
rise time. The sharp peak (short time) corresponds
to alpha particles and protons and the large peak
to electrons. A 300 ns time discrimination allows
one to separate the neutron to photon compo-
Fig. 24. Time resolved spectrum. Discrimination threshold: 300
ns [10].
Fig. 23. Schematic view of the detector: (1) neutron diode, (2)
gadolinium foil (25 lm thick), (3) lucite board (2 mm thick), (4)
tin foil (30 lm thick), (5) photon compensation diode [35].
nents. However, there is an overlap between the
photon and neutron components which reduces
the interest of the method. This method was
studied a few years ago at the IPSN, but the
electronics complexity associated with the need of
a high stability and a sensitivity are incompatible
with size and weight of a standard pocket dosi-
meter [32].
5.3. Double diode spectrometric monitor
Approximately a decade ago a new technique
was studied by a team at the University of Limo-
ges [37]. The basic principle was to measure the
energy of the incident neutrons and to aect a
statistical weight on the counting proportional to
the inverse of the interaction cross-section. For
this a
10
B or
6
Li foil converter is located in a
sandwich between two identical diodes. The nu-
clear reaction with the incident neutrons generates
two particles, with isotropic angles for thermal and
low energy neutrons, and on the same directional
plan for fast neutrons. The energy summation of
the two signals diminished by the nuclear reaction
energy gives the incident neutron energy. It is as-
sumed that the incident photons, the energy of
which is low in comparison with that of alpha
particles and recoil nuclei, are simultaneously de-
tected in the two diodes and rejected.
Fig. 25 shows a schematic view of the dosime-
ter.
5.4. SRAM neutron detector
The basic idea of a static random access mem-
ory (SRAM) neutron detector was proposed for
the rst time at the beginning of the 1990s [37].
Metal-oxide semiconductor (MOS) integrated cir-
cuits, and specially RAM devices used in space
environment are corrupted by nuclear interactions
with neutrons and high energy charged particles
such as protons. In many case the bit change is
reversible and the RAM can be re-used. This
computer anomaly proportional to particle uence
can be used in dosimetry.
Coupled charge device (CCD) [38] and BCCD
[39] can also be used as a dosimeter for mixed
elds. Their principle is very similar to that of the
SRAM memory. As for the standard dosimeter,
the obtained signal is analogue and can be treated
in the same proportional way. In this case, the
CCD is to operate in the dark and the response
signal is derived from the background noise signal.
Fig. 26 shows an SRAM memory cell [40]. The
neutron interaction generates secondary charged
particles (mainly protons) in the polyamide layer.
The charged particles reach the intrinsic depleted
zone of the MOS through the silicon dioxide layer.
They produce holeelectron pairs and traps in the
SiO
2
layer leading to a change in the gate capaci-
tance. The resultant voltage drop between power
and ground line is directly proportional to the
charge depositions from the secondary charged
particles. The probability of a bit change increases
Fig. 25. Schematic view of the spectrometric dosimeter (not in scale) [37].
with the deposited energy. Changes will be coun-
ted by the memory access card and analysed by an
associated computer.
After recording, data are numerically treated
taking into account the whole characteristics of the
detector such as geometry and nature of compo-
nents, etc. The results are then translated in terms
of dosimetric quantities. Fig. 27 shows the dose
distribution for two dierent chips (4 and 64 kB)
compared with that of a tissue equivalent pro-
portional counter (TEPC) of 1 lm simulated di-
ameter. Irradiation was performed with a
252
Cf
source. One can observe a shrinking of the peaks
due to the high atomic number of the silicon di-
oxide layer. The proton edge at 150 keV lm
1
in
tissue equivalent is shifted down to the low LET.
This eect is more eective for 4 kB SRAM than
64 kB. This seems correlated with the measuring
statistics.
5.5. Diode in passive mode
The passive dosimetry mode corresponds to the
use of a dosimeter where certain physical charac-
teristics are modied by the incident radiation.
Such a dosimeter integrates the dose, and the
measurement is performed after a delay time using
a specic reader. TLDs, radiological lms, nuclear
emulsions and many others proceed from the same
method.
Silicon diodes can be used for measuring inte-
grated doses deposited by neutrons in mixed ra-
diation elds [42]. The modication of the diode
characteristics is due to the creation, under radia-
tion, of point defects in the intrinsic depletion
zone. The initial defect density is assumed to be
proportional to the deposited dose. PIN diodes are
used because they present a large intrinsic zone
leading to greater sensitivity. Defects, created in-
side the forbidden band, modify the trapping
probability of charge carriers which leads to a
decrease in conductivity.
The rst study for neutron dosimetry was
probably made by Ramondetta and Groeber [43].
The measurement is based on the modication of
the direct current characteristic due to the high
LET of neutron radiation. Photons and electrons
having a lower LET than neutrons, protons or
alpha particles do not modify substantially the
direct current characteristics and are ignored.
The reading process consists in the measure-
ment of the forward diode voltage for a given
current at a given temperature. The measurement
current is a square shaped pulse of a few seconds
duration with a magnitude close to 1 mA. The
mean measured value (a few volts) is obtained
from the integration of the diode voltage after a
space of time of about 1 s located at the end of the
reading pulse. The dierential response corre-
sponds to a few tens of mV per gray. The response
is not proportional to dose, and a specic diode
relationship has to be used to determine the
Fig. 27. Dose distribution for two dierent chips (4 and 64 kB)
compared with that of a tissue equivalent proportional counter
of 1 lm simulated diameter in the same neutron eld (
252
Cf)
[40].
Fig. 26. Detection principle of a one-bit SRAM [40].
corresponding actual dose. In neutron dosimetry,
such a relation is experimentally obtained by cal-
ibration with reference neutron radiation sources
namely radioactive sources (
252
Cf), reactors or
charged particle accelerators using appropriate
targets.
This dosimeter may be used as a real-time
dosimeter if read-outs are sequentially performed
during the time. The mean dose rate over a given
space of time is obtained step by step. A neutron
dosimeter called ERADCOM has been developed
according to this principle [43]. In order to obtain
a real dose-rate meter, the frequency of measure-
ments has to be high and therefore integration
period and signal both diminish. The sensitivity
depends on the type of diode and varies from 0.1
to 1.0 V Gy
1
. With a basic sensitivity of 0.1 V
Gy
1
, a dose-rate of 1 mGy h
1
corresponds ap-
proximately to a voltage step of about 30 nV/s.
In some cases, diodes are doped with
10
B in
order to increase their sensitivity to thermal and
epithermal neutrons. Such diodes present a strong
dependence with the low energy part of the neu-
tron spectrum.
Many eects aect the diode response after
irradiation. The two most important are the
temperature and delay time to the reading. They
both play a negative role. Fading i.e. a decrease
of response with time is magnied with increasing
temperature. In order to reduce the consequences
on the measurement, diodes are heated to a given
temperature for a given time. These values de-
pends on the type of diodes and the process used
by the operator. The most eective solution [44]
is to dip the diodes in boiling water for 3 min.
After thermal treatment, the response of diodes
shows lower than 5% fading over an 80 day pe-
riod [44].
Fig. 28 shows the signal decrease versus time
for untreated diodes. The initial signal value has
been normalised at 100. The decrease is fast during
the rst tens of hours (half a day) and slow after
(2 weeks). A pseudo-stabilisation corresponding to
a 0.1% drop per day is reached after a delay of one
month.
As noted previously, PIN diodes are very sen-
sitive to thermal treatment and storage time.
Fig. 29 shows the relative signal for DN-156 PIN
diodes from Harshaw stored at three dierent
temperatures. It is clear that the signal is lower for
the higher temperatures, but the decreasing slope,
close to a logarithmic function, seems to be the
same. For this type of diode no stabilisation oc-
curs. In addition, due to the logarithmic scale, the
slope seems to decrease with time to a pseudo-
equilibrium. A compromise between time and ac-
curacy has to be found.
Fig. 30 shows the response of Czech PIN diodes
coming from two manufacturing sets after irradi-
ation at the IPSN Silene facility (pulsed liquid re-
actor). Two series of irradiation have been
performed with and without a lead screen. The
lead screen is used to reduce the gamma compo-
nent by a factor of about 10. If no signicant
dierence in behaviour is seen, however, the
gamma dose increases the signal slightly (a few
percent).
The dose response of PIN diodes is not per-
fectly linear. It depends on diode type, deposited
dose, thermal treatments and the reader used. It is
well known that a strong electric current can re-
duce the internal defects created under radiation
and so plays an identical role as a thermal treat-
ment. Attention has to be focused on the reading
sequence in order to avoid any abnormal readings
or under-estimate measurements.
Fig. 31 shows the dose response for two types
of diode. Type I is weakly sensitive, type II is
highly sensitive. Weakly sensitive diodes (Czech
type I and DN-156 Harshaw) present a quasi-lin-
ear response with dose up to 20 Gy, while highly
Fig. 28. Ratio between voltage at time t and voltage 1 h after
irradiation [44].
sensitive diodes (Czech type II) display a sub-lin-
ear response over 2 Gy.
6. Transistors
6.1. MOSFET
A MOSFET is a eld eect transistor where the
channel size is controlled by capacitance through
an insulating material (silicon dioxide), in oppo-
sition to the classical eld eect transistor where
the channel size is controlled using a reverse
Fig. 30. Behaviour of two sets of Czech diodes after irradiation at the Silene facility [44].
Fig. 29. Signal fading of a DN-156 diode versus time for 3 storage temperatures [45]. The upper curve corresponds to the room
temperature (22 5C).
Fig. 31. Dose response for two types of Czech diodes of type I
and II [46].
junction. In a MOSFET no direct electric current
can be injected from the gate. Generally the gate
capacitance of a MOSFET is low and the gate
power consumption strongly reduced. Such a
transistor may be considered as a tap where the
current ows from the source to the drain, and the
aperture of which is controlled by the voltage ap-
plied on the gate.
As an example, the p-type MOSFET consists of
a source and a drain, two highly conducting p-type
semiconductor regions which are isolated from the
n-type substrate by reverse-biased pn diodes. A
metallic (or polycrystalline) gate covers the region
between the source and the drain, but is separated
from the semiconductor by the gate oxide. Fig. 32
gives the schematic diagram of the MOSFET
principle of an n-type MOS. Doping is made of
B
.
As can be seen in this gure the source and
drain regions are identical. The applied voltages
determine the p-type region from where electrons
are derived and becomes the source, while the
other p-type region collects the electrons and be-
comes the drain. The voltages applied to the drain
and gate electrodes, as well as to the substrate by
means of a back contact, are determined from the
source potential, as indicated in Fig. 33 [47].
As an example, for a type-n MOS the drain-
source current decreases when the negative voltage
applied to the source and gate increases in absolute
value. Such a correlation is called the I
DS
(V
GS
)
characteristic. The drift of V
GS
, termed D
T
(V ), is
called threshold voltage. Fig. 33 shows the re-
spective drifts of threshold voltage for MOSFETs,
p-type on the left and n-type on the right. This
characteristic shifts down to negative values of V
GS
Fig. 33. I
SD
characteristics under normal conditions [47].
Fig. 32. Schematic diagram of the MOSFET principle [47].
when the absorbed dose increases. Fig. 34 shows
the eect on threshold voltage versus the dose for
both n- and p-types of MOSFETs. It can be seen
that the behaviours of n-type and p-type are dif-
ferent. A one-to-one relation between threshold
voltage and dose exists for p-type, but not for n-
type where a same threshold voltage can corre-
spond to two dierent doses.
There have been many studies on MOS dosi-
meters, including technical [4852], low doses
[53,54], spatial and medical dosimetry mainly in
the eld of imaging [55,56], radiotherapy [57,58],
and very high doses [59].
The radiation sensitivity increases with the ap-
plied electric eld. The sensitivities can be modied
and precisely adjusted to a given value for a batch
with an appropriate electric biasing, as shown in
Fig. 35.
The relationship between dose and D
T
(V ) is
linear for low doses and approaches saturation for
high doses (a few kGy). The zone of linear slope
determines the radiation sensitivity of the device.
For a p-type MOSFET, the relationship between
threshold voltage and dose is linear from a few
mGy up to 1 kGy (see Fig. 36).
Sharp and Pater [63] report the use of MOS-
FETs up to 30 kGy. The sensitivity of the MOS
device was found to change with the gate geome-
try, with a shorter gate length showing a greater
response. Following the range of dose, correction
can be made by the reading system in order to
obtain an overall linear response. In the same way,
accuracy decreases when the dose increases.
Studies have also been made on the use of
hydrogenated materials (paran) for sensitising
p-MOS dosimeters to neutrons [64]. The hydro-
genated converter gives a result, per unit of sur-
face, close to that of diodes.
A MOSFET can be used simultaneously as a
passive or an active dosimeter, according to the
external electric circuit used. Nevertheless, an ini-
tial reference has to be performed prior to use. The
shift from the initial value gives, at any time, the Fig. 34. Threshold voltage (DV ) for (a) n-type, (b) p-type [60].
Fig. 35. Threshold voltage (DV ) versus dose for dierent gate
voltages [61].
Fig. 36. Threshold voltage (DV ) versus dose without bias [62].
threshold voltage and so the integrated dose ob-
served between two successive measurements. If
the integration time step is suciently short in
accordance with the time variation of the dose
rate, the dose rate can be determined step by step.
All MOSFETs are sensitive to temperature and
present a zero temperature characteristic for a
specic value of V
GS
generally close to 3 V (known
as the ZTC point).
6.2. Stacked RADFET
Generally speaking, a RADFET is the name
given to a thick oxide p-type MOSFET intended
to be used as a radiation dosimeter. In order to
increase both sensitivity and dose range, 412 p-
MOSFETs may be stacked. As for MOSFET
dosimeters, the radiation-induced charges modify
the V
T
value of the device and the sum of the V
T
changes is proportional to the total amount of
absorbed radiation dose. The V
T
reading is per-
formed by the reading circuit or reader (here de-
signed for 4 p-FETs) schematically described in
Fig. 37. Processing improvements of RADFET
devices have enabled radiation sensitivity values
higher than 0.7 V Gy
1
to be obtained. New de-
signs have shown radiation sensitivities close to 8.5
V Gy
1
. For radiation protection in medical, nu-
clear facilities and other applications, where mea-
sured doses are lower than lGy, a radiation
sensitivity of the order of 10 V Gy
1
is required. In
these conditions, the background noise has to be
lower than 10 lV.
The issue of high reading voltage has been
shown to be a draw-back. The body bulk eect is
responsible for an increase of the overall stack
threshold voltage (V
T
), which is greater than the
sum of the individual V
T
[65]. From new manu-
facturing processes and the simulation of their
associated circuits, modied stack structures have
been proposed and tested.
Fig. 38 gives an idea of the dosimeter structure
while Fig. 39 shows the cut-away structure of
such a dosimeter. The aluminised Mylar facing
outside is used both to electrically ground it and
to protect wire bonds from mechanical damage
during assembly. This chip consists of eight
devices which are measured with an operational
amplier sequentially switched onto each de-
vice.
The dose response of a stacked RADFET is
shown in Fig. 40.
Fig. 37. Measurement circuit for a dosimeter consisting of four stacked RADFET [65].
Fig. 38. Prole of a multi-element dosimeter [66].
6.3. Bipolar transistor
6.3.1. Structure of a bipolar junction transistor
A bipolar junction transistor (BJT) consists of a
three-layer structure with alternating n-type and p-
type regions as shown in Fig. 41. The three regions
are referred to as the emitter, the base and the
collector regions and are connected via an ohmic
contact.
A rst examination of the structure reveals that
it contains two pn diodes, one between the base
and the emitter, and one between the base and the
collector. However, the thin base region between
the two pn diodes enables the transport of mi-
nority carriers through this region. It is the
transport of minority carriers injected from the
emitter into the base which results in a collector
current. The collector current is almost indepen-
dent of the voltage applied between the base and
the collector, VBC, as long as the base-collector
diode is reversed biased. This causes the base-col-
lector diode to act as a current source whose value
is controlled by the base-emitter voltage, VBE.
The physical widths of the emitter, base and
collector are indicated on the gure with the as-
sociated symbols, W
E
, W
B
and W
C
. Two pn diodes
exist in the three-layer structure, namely the base-
emitter diode and the base-collector diode. The
two diodes are biased by the respective voltage
sources. The sign convention indicated on the g-
ure is such that the diodes are forward biased when
a positive voltage is applied. The collector and
base currents are considered to be positive when
current ows into the terminals while the emitter
current is considered to be positive if the current
ows out of the emitter terminal.
The ``quasi-neutral'' regions are neutral only at
thermal equilibrium. However, when voltages are
applied one nds that the charge densities and the
electric eld in these regions are signicantly
smaller than in the depletion regions.
6.3.2. Principle of radiation eects
The irradiation eects on the BJT can be sum-
marised as follows:
1. Production of a transient electric current across
the pn junction during irradiation due to diu-
sion of electronhole pairs in the electric eld of
the depletion layer of the semiconductor.
Fig. 39. Cut-away view of the dosimeter showing the Al-Mylar
lid used for the chip and electrical wire bonds [66].
Fig. 40. Voltage changes due to a 1 lCi
241
Am (37 MBq) source
(60 keV photons) located at four distances from the Al-Mylar
side: h
1
0, h
2
0:5, h
3
1:0 and h
4
1:5 inch [66].
Fig. 41. Structure of a bipolar junction transistor (BJT).
2. Permanent damage to the silicon crystal struc-
ture with the formation of point defects, which
create generation recombination centres that
aect the charge carrier lifetime and all the re-
lated electrical parameters [67].
In the case of a bipolar transistor, there is a linear
relation between the lifetime inverse of charge
carriers and the dose expressed by the following
equation:
1
s
1
=
1
s
0
kD; (1)
where s
1
is the post-irradiation life-time, s
0
is the
pre-irradiation lifetime, D is the dose and k is the
radiation damage coecient (in general, k depends
on substrate and irradiation conditions).
The lifetime measurement is obtained with the
mean of a physical parameter T related to the
charge carrier life-time and dened by the equa-
tion
T = s ln
Q
S
s I
B

; (2)
where s is the charge carrier lifetime, Q
S
is the
stored charge, and I
B
is the turn-on base current.
The practical measurement consists in using the
circuit shown in Fig. 42. saturation of the col-
lectorbase junction with I
B1
current, clamping
of the junction by the use of a reverse voltage V
BB
through resistor R
BB
. The integration of I
B
with
time is proportional to Q
S
. The Q
S
collector tran-
sient charge is a function of the power supply
voltage through the load resistor R
C
. If all the
performing parameters are properly selected from
the right conditions V
BB
, R
BB
, R
C
, V
CC
and I
B1
, T
can be considered as a linear function of the carrier
lifetime.
Fig. 43 shows the evolution of D(1=T) = 1=
T
1
1=T
0
versus the deposited dose for photons of
four dierent energies. The D(1=T) behaviour is
approximately linear up to 1 kGy and shows a
saturation eect for higher doses. This eect is
increased at lower energies. It is considered that
this dosimetry technique is not very sensitive and is
more appropriate for radiation processing in
which doses are nearby a few kGy.
7. Diamond dosimeter
A world-wide research is presently made on
diamond detectors. Two main types of industrial
diamond are available on the market: DLC dia-
mond (diamond-like carbon) [69] in thin lms, and
CVD diamond (chemical vapour deposition) [70].
DLC, because of the large hydrogen concentration
up to 40 at% H
2
, would be able to detect inter-
mediate and fast neutrons. It would be to present a
better response to photons because of a density
lower than CVD or natural diamond (2.5 instead
of 3.52). However, some physical features present
strong disadvantages: thickness limit of 3 lm, low
gap between 1 and 3 eV, low electrical resistivity
for high H
2
concentration and low dielectric
strength (100 times lower than for CVD diamond).
The idea consisting in the use of a diamond
detector as an ionisation chamber was proposed
Fig. 42. Resistive load switching test circuit for measuring the T
parameter [67].
Fig. 43. Response of D(1=T) versus irradiation dose [67].
probably for the rst time [71] at the beginning of
the 1980s.
The commercial dosimeter consists of a thin
diamond plate sandwiched between two alumin-
ium deposited electrodes. Fig. 44 shows a front
diamond dosimeter developed for external radio-
therapy. Surrounding materials are tissue equiva-
lent for photons (made of PMMA and
polystyrene). Electronic equilibrium with incident
radiation is obtained with a PMMA entrance
window and a thick plastic back-support. Electric
wires are moved back away from the detector.
7.1. IV characteristics
Fig. 45 shows IV characteristics of the CVD
diamond under X-ray irradiation. It can be seen
that such characteristics present a saturation shape
at high electrical elds. As with silicon dioxide or
liquid dielectric ionisation chambers, diamond IV
characteristics do not show any plateau. The upper
curve corresponds to a detector (1) of 480 lm thick
and the lower curve to a detector (2) of 6 lm
thickness. The corresponding electrical eld is gi-
ven in Fig. 45, 2.1 kV/cm for detector (1) and 167
kV/cm for detector (2). The net current is lower for
the 6 lm layer diamond; this corresponds to a
lower energy deposited in a lower sensitive volume.
It can be seen on the same gure; the measured
currents are not in the ratio of the thickness. The
best eciency (65 times higher) is obtained for the
highest applied electrical eld.
The type of diamond (i.e., natural, CVD or
DLC) plays a signicant role on the sensitivity to
radiation and on the stabilisation time. Fig. 46
gives the relative sensitivity for three detectors of
dierent sensitive volumes. As stated before, the
relative sensitivity is directly correlated to the
sensitive volume.
7.2. Dose and dose-rate response
Two important dosimetric aspects of the dia-
mond are the response with dose and/or dose-rate,
and the equivalence to biological tissue or water.
It was found that the dose-rate response of the
CVD diamond under irradiation is a function of
Fig. 44. Schematic view of a diamond dosimeter [72]. Diamond
is in black, dimensions are noticed in mm.
Fig. 45. IV characteristics under X-ray irradiation of CVD
diamond [73].
Fig. 46. Relative sensitivity of three types of diamond versus the
applied electric eld. Relative sensitivity corresponds to the
ratio of the response with sensitive volume [73].
the integrated dose. The behaviour of its response
with irradiation is described in Fig. 47. Experi-
ments were performed in six dose steps of 8 Gy
each. The dose rate was of approximately 0.9 Gy
min
1
. The measurements show a saturation of the
current at about 13 pA after a reading of 9 min. It
can be seen in a progressive increase of the current,
38% for the rst step, 22% for the second and 17%
for the last step.
The stabilisation eect with dose is well known
for many dierent kinds of dosimeters. It is often
called ``pre-sensitisation''. As seen in Fig. 47,
above a specic dose value, the sensitivity (i.e.
intensity of current versus dose-rate) becomes
dose independent. This leads to irradiation of
the dosimeter before the rst use. Such a
pre-sensitisation is performed for ionisation
chambers, proportional counters and diodes used
in radiotherapy. In that case, the irradiation sta-
bilises the insulating materials included in the
dosimeter or the sensitive element of the dosime-
ter.
The response of a diamond dosimeter versus
dose-rate is shown in Fig. 48. More recent exper-
iments show a slight evolution of the dierential
response with dose-rate (Fig. 49) at low dose-rate.
The sensitivity to radiation of a diamond dosi-
meter is low. This means that such a dosimeter is
only usable for radiotherapy and not for radiation
protection.
7.3. Equivalence to water
Another feature of the diamond is its close
equivalence to biological tissue and water. The
curves in Fig. 50 show the stopping power ratios of
silicon, carbon and air relative to water. It can be
seen that carbon is relatively constant with energy
within a few percents around 1.13 [74].
7.4. Energy response
Figs. 51 and 52 give a good idea of the interest
of diamond relatively to silicon diodes. One can
observe an infra-sensitivity for diamond and a
Fig. 49. Response as a function of dose. k represents the order
of linearity. For linearity k = 1, here k = 0:91 0:02 [73].
Fig. 47. Response of a CVD diamond dosimeter as a function
of irradiation time for dierent dose rates [73].
Fig. 48. Relative sensitivity versus dose-rate for photons [72].
supra-sensitivity for silicon diodes at energies
lower than 100 keV due to the photoelectric eect.
In Fig. 51, the shielded diode shows a better re-
sponse than the unshielded one. In that gure di-
amond is a bulk diamond from Russia.
In Fig. 52, diamond has been obtained by CVD
technique. The radiation characteristics seem to be
the same as for natural diamond. Dierences ap-
pear in electrical characteristics, mainly due to the
CVD diamond structure. In that case, the dia-
mond appears under an oriented micro-crystalline
form. The numerous grain joints trap a part of
charge carriers created by ionising radiation and in
that way diminish the sensitivity. This type of
trapping is relatively independent of the applied
electric eld.
Diamond dosimeters are used more and more
in medical applications such as radiotherapy.
Numerous studies have been made in this eld
[76]. In that purpose, a project, called the
CANDIDO project, was stated in Italy concern-
ing the development of a CVD diamond dosi-
meter for applications in radiotherapy [77].
Synthetic diamond lms, doped with nitrogen or
boron and grown on pseudo-lattice matched W,
SiO
2
, Si or Si
3
N
4
, have also been tested as a
detector for optical waves, X-ray photons and
charged particles [78]. Diamond studies have
been made for fast high voltage optically coupled
switches.
8. Silicon dioxide ionisation chamber
The principle of a silicon dioxide ionisation
chamber is close to that of diamond and liquid
ionisation chambers. In all cases, an insulator
volume is sandwiched between two electrodes.
They can be with a parallel or cylindrical geometry
according to the application. The silicon dioxide
chambers remained only of laboratory interest
because the yielded current is very low even if high
voltages are applied. However with regard to the
ionisation chambers lled up with dielectric liquid,
mainly saturated hydrocarbons, the silicon dioxide
chambers present a large stability with the time.
Fig. 53 gives the IV characteristics obtained with
a silicon dioxide chamber of 25 mm diameter and
Fig. 52. Relative response of silicon diode and diamond nor-
malised in function of air kerma for dierent energies [75].
Fig. 50. Stopping power ratios of electrons for silicon, carbon
and air relatively to water.
Fig. 51. Relative sensitivity of the Therados diodes and dia-
mond detector to mono-energetic photons (normalised to co-
balt-60) [72].
500 lm thickness. The maximum applied voltage
on electrodes was 1.5 kV. Silicon dioxide detector
was obtained from a casting of silicon dioxide then
abraded and optically burnished. A guard ring is
used in order to reduce the leakage currents and to
make uniform the electric eld.
As for liquid ionisation chambers, the IV
characteristics tend toward a straight line, the
slope of which depends on the magnitude of the
electric eld. The collection eciency increases
with the electric eld but never reach a plateau.
The extrapolation of straight lines converges on
two points which are specic of the radiation LET
of the incident particles.
The intersection point corresponds to
26 keV cm
1
for photons and 28 keV cm
1
for
neutrons. This particularity is also found with
liquid ionisation chambers.
The silicon dioxide chambers show a transitory
polarisation eect, immediately after the voltage is
applied. An electric equilibrium appears and
reaches a stable state after a few minutes. Its value
depends on the irradiation dose-rate. Immediately
after the voltage is o, a residual current ows and
decreases to zero. Shapes of charges and dis-
charges are similar, indicating a reversible process.
9. Conclusion
The rst conclusion is that a dosimeter must be
adapted to the use for which it is intended. The
second is that a detector is not a dosimeter. In
many cases a good detector leads to a good dosi-
Fig. 53. IV characteristics for two incident particles and var-
ious dose-rates:
60
Co photons and neutrons from an AmBe
source [68].
Table 2
Comparative characteristics of the principles of solid state electronic dosimeters (radiation protection and radiotherapy)
Type of detector
Characteristics Diode MOSFET Diamond DIS
Size Possibly small Small Small Small
Power supply Yes Yes and No Yes No in general
Biasing voltage Possibly low Possibly low High Yes
Associated electronics Simple Very simple Precise Very simple
Real time measurements Yes Not in general Yes No yes possible
Integrated dose Yes Yes Yes Yes
Dose rate Yes No really No really No directly
Sensitivity Very high Low Low Very high
Sensitive to cumulated dose High Of course Low At saturation
Linearity with dose Good <1 kGy Good Good
Linearity with dose rate Good Good Good Good
Photon energy response at low energy Bad Bad Very good Very good
Tissue equivalence No No Yes Yes
Life time Dose function Dose function Long N.C.
Versatility Yes Yes Yes Yes
Temperature Sensitive No Low Medium
Detection threshold Very low High Low Very low
Saturation (dose rate) Yes No High level Medium level
meter but this assertion is not always true. It is
worth recalling that a dosimeter with a very high
quality detector may be a very bad dosimeter,
particularly if the inuence of the surrounding
materials has not been taken into account as, for
example, the wall eects. A detector is one thing, a
dosimeter is another.
Table 2 summarises the main characteristics of
four solid state electronic dosimeters frequently
used in the elds of radiation protection and ra-
diotherapy. No data on the inuence of heavy
charged particles are given. In their case, the en-
ergy and nature play a fundamental role.
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Barthe (2001) - Electronic Dosimeters Based On Solid State Detectors

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Electronic dosimeters based on solid state detectors

Fig. 6. Electrical diagram of a detection diode.

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