Study of lithium behaviour in Si(Li) detectors

Abstract In this paper we describe the fabrication of a conventional lithium compensated silicon detector (Si(Li)) realized on Topsil silicon with bulk resistivity 0.9 to 3 k Ω cm , using the process of ion drift introduced by Pell. Preliminary results of electrical and nuclear characterization are shown. A leakage current value of 4 pA is obtained under reverse bias voltage of + 500 V , at pressure of 5 . 10 - 6 Torr and 113 K. An alpha test using triple source 241 Am, 239 Pu, 233 U was carried and a resolution on 241 Am peak around 42 keV was obtained with this type of detector. The fabricated detector present a good electrical and nuclear characteristics that can be used in X-ray spectrometry and widespread applications in research science, environment monitoring and natural radioactivity. The main contribution of this work is the demonstration of an easy-to-implement, low cost detector set that can be achieved with an inexpensive n + p diode.