To detect radioactive substances with low activity levels,an anticoincidence detector and a high-purity germanium(HPGe)detector are typically used simultaneously to suppress Compton scattering background,thereby resul...To detect radioactive substances with low activity levels,an anticoincidence detector and a high-purity germanium(HPGe)detector are typically used simultaneously to suppress Compton scattering background,thereby resulting in an extremely low detection limit and improving the measurement accuracy.However,the complex and expensive hardware required does not facilitate the application or promotion of this method.Thus,a method is proposed in this study to discriminate the digital waveform of pulse signals output using an HPGe detector,whereby Compton scattering background is suppressed and a low minimum detectable activity(MDA)is achieved without using an expensive and complex anticoincidence detector and device.The electric-field-strength and energy-deposition distributions of the detector are simulated to determine the relationship between pulse shape and energy-deposition location,as well as the characteristics of energy-deposition distributions for fulland partial-energy deposition events.This relationship is used to develop a pulse-shape-discrimination algorithm based on an artificial neural network for pulse-feature identification.To accurately determine the relationship between the deposited energy of gamma(γ)rays in the detector and the deposition location,we extract four shape parameters from the pulse signals output by the detector.Machine learning is used to input the four shape parameters into the detector.Subsequently,the pulse signals are identified and classified to discriminate between partial-and full-energy deposition events.Some partial-energy deposition events are removed to suppress Compton scattering.The proposed method effectively decreases the MDA of an HPGeγ-energy dispersive spectrometer.Test results show that the Compton suppression factors for energy spectra obtained from measurements on ^(152)Eu,^(137)Cs,and ^(60)Co radioactive sources are 1.13(344 keV),1.11(662 keV),and 1.08(1332 keV),respectively,and that the corresponding MDAs are 1.4%,5.3%,and 21.6%lower,respectively.展开更多
Two optical methods, namely crystal facet reflection and etching pits reflection, were used to orient and high-purity germanium crystals. The X-ray diffraction patterns of three slices that were cut from the oriented ...Two optical methods, namely crystal facet reflection and etching pits reflection, were used to orient and high-purity germanium crystals. The X-ray diffraction patterns of three slices that were cut from the oriented and crystals were measured by X-ray diffraction. The experimental errors of crystal facet reflection method and etching pits reflection method are in the range of 0.05° - 0.12°. The crystal facet reflection method and etching pits reflection method are extremely simple and cheap and their accuracies are acceptable for characterizing high purity detector-grade germanium crystals.展开更多
The ultralow detection threshold,ultralow intrinsic background,and excellent energy resolution of ptype point-contact germanium detectors are important for rare-event searches,in particular for the detection of direct...The ultralow detection threshold,ultralow intrinsic background,and excellent energy resolution of ptype point-contact germanium detectors are important for rare-event searches,in particular for the detection of direct dark matter interactions,coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering,and neutrinoless double beta decay.Anomalous bulk events with an extremely fast rise time are observed in the CDEX-1B detector.We report a method of extracting fast bulk events from bulk events using a pulse shape simulation and reconstructed source experiment signature.Calibration data and the distribution of X-rays generated by intrinsic radioactivity verified that the fast bulk experienced a single hit near the passivation layer.The performance of this germanium detector indicates that it is capable of single-hit bulk spatial resolution and thus provides a background removal technique.展开更多
The point-contact high-purity germanium detector(HPGe)has the advantages of low background,low energy threshold,and high energy resolution and can be applied in the detection of rare-event physics.However,the performa...The point-contact high-purity germanium detector(HPGe)has the advantages of low background,low energy threshold,and high energy resolution and can be applied in the detection of rare-event physics.However,the performance of HPGe must be further improved to achieve superior energy resolution,low noise,and long-term reliability.In this study,we combine computational simulations and experimental comparisons to deeply understand the passivation mechanism of Ge.The surface passivation effect is calculated and inferred from the band structure and density of interface states,and further con-firmed by the minority carrier lifetime.The first-principles method based on the density functional theory was adopted to systematically study the lattice structure,band structure,and density of state(DOS)of four different systems:Ge–H,Ge–Ge-NH 2,Ge-OH,and Ge-SiO_(x).The electronic char-acteristics of the Ge(100)unit cell with different passi-vation groups and Si/O atomic ratios were compared.This shows that H,N,and O atoms can effectively reduce the surface DOS of the Ge atoms.The passivation effect of the SiO_(x) group varied with increasing O atoms and Si/O atomic ratios.Experimentally,SiO and SiO_(2) passivation films were fabricated by electron beam evaporation on a Ge substrate,and the valence state of Si and resistivity was measured to characterize the film.The minority carrier lifetime of Ge-SiO_(2) is 21.3 ls,which is approximately quadruple that of Ge-SiO.The passivation effect and mechanism are discussed in terms of hopping conduction and surface defect density.This study builds a relationship between the passivation effect and different termination groups,and provides technical support for the potential passivation layer,which can be applied in Ge detectors with ultralow energy thresholds and especially in HPGe for rare-event physics detection experiments in future.展开更多
Rare event search experiments are one of the most important topics in the field of fundamental physics,and high-purity germanium(HPGe)detectors with an ultralow radioactive background are frequently used for such expe...Rare event search experiments are one of the most important topics in the field of fundamental physics,and high-purity germanium(HPGe)detectors with an ultralow radioactive background are frequently used for such experiments.However,cosmogenic activation contaminates germanium crystals during transport and storage.In this study,we investigated the movable shielding containers of HPGe crystals using Geant4 and CRY Monte Carlo simulations.The production rates of 68Ge,65Zn,60Co,55Fe,and 3H were obtained individually for different types of cosmic rays.The validity of the simulation was confirmed through a comparison with the available experimental data.Based on this simulation,we found that the interactions induced by neutrons contribute to approximately 90%of the production rate of cosmogenic activation.In addition,by adding an optimized shielding structure,the production rates of cosmogenic radionuclides are reduced by about one order of magnitude.Our results show that it is feasible to use a shielding container to reduce the cosmogenic radioactivity produced during the transport and storage of high-purity germanium on the ground.展开更多
Compton scattering with bound electrons contributes to a significant atomic effect in low-momentum transfer,yielding background structures in direct light dark matter searches as well as low-energy rare event experime...Compton scattering with bound electrons contributes to a significant atomic effect in low-momentum transfer,yielding background structures in direct light dark matter searches as well as low-energy rare event experiments.We report the measurement of Compton scattering in low-momentum transfer by implementing a 10-g germanium detector bombarded by a^(137)Cs source with a radioactivity of 8.7 mCi and a scatter photon captured by a cylindrical NaI(Tl)detector.A fully relativistic impulse approximation combined with multi-configuration Dirac–Fock wavefunctions was evaluated,and the scattering function of Geant4 software was replaced by our calculation results.Our measurements show that the Livermore model with the modified scattering function in Geant4 is in good agreement with the experimental data.It is also revealed that atomic many-body effects significantly influence Compton scattering for low-momentum transfer(sub-keV energy transfer).展开更多
SiGe offers a low-cost alternative to conventional infrared sensor material systems such as InGaAs, InSb, and HgCdTe for developing near-infrared (NIR) photodetector devices that do not require cooling and can operate...SiGe offers a low-cost alternative to conventional infrared sensor material systems such as InGaAs, InSb, and HgCdTe for developing near-infrared (NIR) photodetector devices that do not require cooling and can operate with relatively low dark current. As a result of the significant difference in thermal expansion coefficients between germanium (Ge) and silicon (Si), tensile strain incorporated into SiGe detector devices through specialized growth processes can extend their NIR wavelength range of operation. We have utilized high throughput, large-area complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology to fabricate Ge based p-i-n (PIN) detector devices on 300 mm Si wafers. The two-step device fabrication process, designed to effectively reduce the density of defects and dislocations arising during deposition that form recombination centers which can result in higher dark current, involves low temperature epitaxial deposition of Ge to form a thin p<sup>+</sup> seed layer, followed by higher temperature deposition of a thicker Ge intrinsic layer. Phosphorus was then ion-implanted to create devices with n<sup>+</sup> regions of various doping concentrations. Secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) has been utilized to determine the doping profiles and material compositions of the layers. In addition, electrical characterization of the I-V photoresponse of different devices from the same wafer with various n<sup>+</sup> region doping concentrations has demonstrated low dark current levels (down to below 1 nA at -1 V bias) and comparatively high photocurrent at reverse biases, with optimal response for doping concentration of 5 × 10<sup>19</sup> cm<sup>-3</sup>.展开更多
Medium-wave HgCdTe thin films grown on germanium-based substrates by molecular beam epitaxy were treated by large area n-on-p injection junction and flip-flop mixing process.The chips interconnected with low-noise and...Medium-wave HgCdTe thin films grown on germanium-based substrates by molecular beam epitaxy were treated by large area n-on-p injection junction and flip-flop mixing process.The chips interconnected with low-noise and multimodal options readout circuit composed a 1280×1024 Medium-wave Infrared Focal Plane Cooling Detector whose pixel spacing was 15 microns.Its main photoelectric properties are average NETD equivalent to 18.5 mK,non-uniformity equivalent to 7.5%,operability equivalent to 98.97%.The paper also studies the substrate-removal technique on Germanium-based chip,which improves the stability and reliability of detector.展开更多
Radiation is considered one of the possible causes of cancer disease with natural background sources including cosmic, terrestrial and internal radiation. A number of cancer disease cases have been reported in Kargi w...Radiation is considered one of the possible causes of cancer disease with natural background sources including cosmic, terrestrial and internal radiation. A number of cancer disease cases have been reported in Kargi with their causes not properly documented. The present work characterized the radioactivity in soil and water, to find out possible causes of radiation in KARGI-KENYA by studying magnetic intensities, anomalous zones with depth to magnetic sources and delineating subsurface structures. A total of 117 soil and 14 water samples were collected from the entire area and analysed for radionuclides due to <sup>40</sup>K, <sup>232</sup>Th and <sup>226</sup>Ra. Measurement methods of proton magnetometer and gamma spectrometry employing a high purity germanium (HPGe) detector were employed basically to evaluate the magnetic survey and radiological hazard of radioactivities respectively. A total of 51 magnetic field measurements were taken on the eastern part of Kargi, a place suspected to have more concentration of radionuclides. The results showed that there could have been a fractionation during weathering period or metasomatic activity of the radioelements involvement. This study also reveals that the mining activities in the nearby study area could have affected the geologic formation causing more fracturing in rocks and pronounced subsurface structures as a result of mining that could have served as passage for leachates from pollutants as well as the level of radiation in the study area.展开更多
High-purity germanium(HPGe)detectors,which are used for direct dark matter detection,have the advantages of a low threshold and excellent energy resolution.The surface passivation of HPGe has become crucial for achiev...High-purity germanium(HPGe)detectors,which are used for direct dark matter detection,have the advantages of a low threshold and excellent energy resolution.The surface passivation of HPGe has become crucial for achieving an extremely low energy threshold.In this study,first-principles simulations,passivation film preparation,and metal oxide semiconductor(MOS)capacitor characterization were combined to study surface passivation.Theoretical calculations of the energy band structure of the -H,-OH,and -NH_(2) passivation groups on the surface of Ge were performed,and the interface state density and potential with five different passivation groups with N/O atomic ratios were accurately analyzed to obtain a stable surface state.Based on the theoretical calculation results,the surface passivation layers of the Ge_(2)ON_(2) film were prepared via magnetron sputtering in accordance with the optimum atomic ratio structure.The microstructure,C-V,and I-V electrical properties of the layers,and the passivation effect of the Al/Ge_(2)ON_(2)/Ge MOS were characterized to test the interface state density.The mean interface state density obtained by the Terman method was 8.4×10^(11) cm^(-2) eV^(-1).The processing of germanium oxynitrogen passivation films is expected to be used in direct dark matter detection of the HPGe detector surface passivation technology to reduce the detector leakage currents.展开更多
基金This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China(Nos.2022YFF0709503,2022YFB1902700,2017YFC0602101)the Key Research and Development Program of Sichuan province(No.2023YFG0347)the Key Research and Development Program of Sichuan province(No.2020ZDZX0007).
文摘To detect radioactive substances with low activity levels,an anticoincidence detector and a high-purity germanium(HPGe)detector are typically used simultaneously to suppress Compton scattering background,thereby resulting in an extremely low detection limit and improving the measurement accuracy.However,the complex and expensive hardware required does not facilitate the application or promotion of this method.Thus,a method is proposed in this study to discriminate the digital waveform of pulse signals output using an HPGe detector,whereby Compton scattering background is suppressed and a low minimum detectable activity(MDA)is achieved without using an expensive and complex anticoincidence detector and device.The electric-field-strength and energy-deposition distributions of the detector are simulated to determine the relationship between pulse shape and energy-deposition location,as well as the characteristics of energy-deposition distributions for fulland partial-energy deposition events.This relationship is used to develop a pulse-shape-discrimination algorithm based on an artificial neural network for pulse-feature identification.To accurately determine the relationship between the deposited energy of gamma(γ)rays in the detector and the deposition location,we extract four shape parameters from the pulse signals output by the detector.Machine learning is used to input the four shape parameters into the detector.Subsequently,the pulse signals are identified and classified to discriminate between partial-and full-energy deposition events.Some partial-energy deposition events are removed to suppress Compton scattering.The proposed method effectively decreases the MDA of an HPGeγ-energy dispersive spectrometer.Test results show that the Compton suppression factors for energy spectra obtained from measurements on ^(152)Eu,^(137)Cs,and ^(60)Co radioactive sources are 1.13(344 keV),1.11(662 keV),and 1.08(1332 keV),respectively,and that the corresponding MDAs are 1.4%,5.3%,and 21.6%lower,respectively.
文摘Two optical methods, namely crystal facet reflection and etching pits reflection, were used to orient and high-purity germanium crystals. The X-ray diffraction patterns of three slices that were cut from the oriented and crystals were measured by X-ray diffraction. The experimental errors of crystal facet reflection method and etching pits reflection method are in the range of 0.05° - 0.12°. The crystal facet reflection method and etching pits reflection method are extremely simple and cheap and their accuracies are acceptable for characterizing high purity detector-grade germanium crystals.
基金supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China(No.2017YFA0402203)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.11975162)the SPARK project of the research and innovation program of Sichuan University(No.2018SCUH0051)。
文摘The ultralow detection threshold,ultralow intrinsic background,and excellent energy resolution of ptype point-contact germanium detectors are important for rare-event searches,in particular for the detection of direct dark matter interactions,coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering,and neutrinoless double beta decay.Anomalous bulk events with an extremely fast rise time are observed in the CDEX-1B detector.We report a method of extracting fast bulk events from bulk events using a pulse shape simulation and reconstructed source experiment signature.Calibration data and the distribution of X-rays generated by intrinsic radioactivity verified that the fast bulk experienced a single hit near the passivation layer.The performance of this germanium detector indicates that it is capable of single-hit bulk spatial resolution and thus provides a background removal technique.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China Youth Fund(No.12005017)。
文摘The point-contact high-purity germanium detector(HPGe)has the advantages of low background,low energy threshold,and high energy resolution and can be applied in the detection of rare-event physics.However,the performance of HPGe must be further improved to achieve superior energy resolution,low noise,and long-term reliability.In this study,we combine computational simulations and experimental comparisons to deeply understand the passivation mechanism of Ge.The surface passivation effect is calculated and inferred from the band structure and density of interface states,and further con-firmed by the minority carrier lifetime.The first-principles method based on the density functional theory was adopted to systematically study the lattice structure,band structure,and density of state(DOS)of four different systems:Ge–H,Ge–Ge-NH 2,Ge-OH,and Ge-SiO_(x).The electronic char-acteristics of the Ge(100)unit cell with different passi-vation groups and Si/O atomic ratios were compared.This shows that H,N,and O atoms can effectively reduce the surface DOS of the Ge atoms.The passivation effect of the SiO_(x) group varied with increasing O atoms and Si/O atomic ratios.Experimentally,SiO and SiO_(2) passivation films were fabricated by electron beam evaporation on a Ge substrate,and the valence state of Si and resistivity was measured to characterize the film.The minority carrier lifetime of Ge-SiO_(2) is 21.3 ls,which is approximately quadruple that of Ge-SiO.The passivation effect and mechanism are discussed in terms of hopping conduction and surface defect density.This study builds a relationship between the passivation effect and different termination groups,and provides technical support for the potential passivation layer,which can be applied in Ge detectors with ultralow energy thresholds and especially in HPGe for rare-event physics detection experiments in future.
基金supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China(No.2017YFA0402203)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.11975162)the Fundamental Research Funds for Central Universities(No.20822041C4030)。
文摘Rare event search experiments are one of the most important topics in the field of fundamental physics,and high-purity germanium(HPGe)detectors with an ultralow radioactive background are frequently used for such experiments.However,cosmogenic activation contaminates germanium crystals during transport and storage.In this study,we investigated the movable shielding containers of HPGe crystals using Geant4 and CRY Monte Carlo simulations.The production rates of 68Ge,65Zn,60Co,55Fe,and 3H were obtained individually for different types of cosmic rays.The validity of the simulation was confirmed through a comparison with the available experimental data.Based on this simulation,we found that the interactions induced by neutrons contribute to approximately 90%of the production rate of cosmogenic activation.In addition,by adding an optimized shielding structure,the production rates of cosmogenic radionuclides are reduced by about one order of magnitude.Our results show that it is feasible to use a shielding container to reduce the cosmogenic radioactivity produced during the transport and storage of high-purity germanium on the ground.
基金supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China(No.2017YFA0402203),the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.11975159 and 11975162).
文摘Compton scattering with bound electrons contributes to a significant atomic effect in low-momentum transfer,yielding background structures in direct light dark matter searches as well as low-energy rare event experiments.We report the measurement of Compton scattering in low-momentum transfer by implementing a 10-g germanium detector bombarded by a^(137)Cs source with a radioactivity of 8.7 mCi and a scatter photon captured by a cylindrical NaI(Tl)detector.A fully relativistic impulse approximation combined with multi-configuration Dirac–Fock wavefunctions was evaluated,and the scattering function of Geant4 software was replaced by our calculation results.Our measurements show that the Livermore model with the modified scattering function in Geant4 is in good agreement with the experimental data.It is also revealed that atomic many-body effects significantly influence Compton scattering for low-momentum transfer(sub-keV energy transfer).
文摘SiGe offers a low-cost alternative to conventional infrared sensor material systems such as InGaAs, InSb, and HgCdTe for developing near-infrared (NIR) photodetector devices that do not require cooling and can operate with relatively low dark current. As a result of the significant difference in thermal expansion coefficients between germanium (Ge) and silicon (Si), tensile strain incorporated into SiGe detector devices through specialized growth processes can extend their NIR wavelength range of operation. We have utilized high throughput, large-area complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology to fabricate Ge based p-i-n (PIN) detector devices on 300 mm Si wafers. The two-step device fabrication process, designed to effectively reduce the density of defects and dislocations arising during deposition that form recombination centers which can result in higher dark current, involves low temperature epitaxial deposition of Ge to form a thin p<sup>+</sup> seed layer, followed by higher temperature deposition of a thicker Ge intrinsic layer. Phosphorus was then ion-implanted to create devices with n<sup>+</sup> regions of various doping concentrations. Secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) has been utilized to determine the doping profiles and material compositions of the layers. In addition, electrical characterization of the I-V photoresponse of different devices from the same wafer with various n<sup>+</sup> region doping concentrations has demonstrated low dark current levels (down to below 1 nA at -1 V bias) and comparatively high photocurrent at reverse biases, with optimal response for doping concentration of 5 × 10<sup>19</sup> cm<sup>-3</sup>.
文摘Medium-wave HgCdTe thin films grown on germanium-based substrates by molecular beam epitaxy were treated by large area n-on-p injection junction and flip-flop mixing process.The chips interconnected with low-noise and multimodal options readout circuit composed a 1280×1024 Medium-wave Infrared Focal Plane Cooling Detector whose pixel spacing was 15 microns.Its main photoelectric properties are average NETD equivalent to 18.5 mK,non-uniformity equivalent to 7.5%,operability equivalent to 98.97%.The paper also studies the substrate-removal technique on Germanium-based chip,which improves the stability and reliability of detector.
文摘Radiation is considered one of the possible causes of cancer disease with natural background sources including cosmic, terrestrial and internal radiation. A number of cancer disease cases have been reported in Kargi with their causes not properly documented. The present work characterized the radioactivity in soil and water, to find out possible causes of radiation in KARGI-KENYA by studying magnetic intensities, anomalous zones with depth to magnetic sources and delineating subsurface structures. A total of 117 soil and 14 water samples were collected from the entire area and analysed for radionuclides due to <sup>40</sup>K, <sup>232</sup>Th and <sup>226</sup>Ra. Measurement methods of proton magnetometer and gamma spectrometry employing a high purity germanium (HPGe) detector were employed basically to evaluate the magnetic survey and radiological hazard of radioactivities respectively. A total of 51 magnetic field measurements were taken on the eastern part of Kargi, a place suspected to have more concentration of radionuclides. The results showed that there could have been a fractionation during weathering period or metasomatic activity of the radioelements involvement. This study also reveals that the mining activities in the nearby study area could have affected the geologic formation causing more fracturing in rocks and pronounced subsurface structures as a result of mining that could have served as passage for leachates from pollutants as well as the level of radiation in the study area.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.12005017).
文摘High-purity germanium(HPGe)detectors,which are used for direct dark matter detection,have the advantages of a low threshold and excellent energy resolution.The surface passivation of HPGe has become crucial for achieving an extremely low energy threshold.In this study,first-principles simulations,passivation film preparation,and metal oxide semiconductor(MOS)capacitor characterization were combined to study surface passivation.Theoretical calculations of the energy band structure of the -H,-OH,and -NH_(2) passivation groups on the surface of Ge were performed,and the interface state density and potential with five different passivation groups with N/O atomic ratios were accurately analyzed to obtain a stable surface state.Based on the theoretical calculation results,the surface passivation layers of the Ge_(2)ON_(2) film were prepared via magnetron sputtering in accordance with the optimum atomic ratio structure.The microstructure,C-V,and I-V electrical properties of the layers,and the passivation effect of the Al/Ge_(2)ON_(2)/Ge MOS were characterized to test the interface state density.The mean interface state density obtained by the Terman method was 8.4×10^(11) cm^(-2) eV^(-1).The processing of germanium oxynitrogen passivation films is expected to be used in direct dark matter detection of the HPGe detector surface passivation technology to reduce the detector leakage currents.