Study of lithium behaviour in Si(Li) detectors

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 3kΩcm, 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 +500V, at pressure of 5.10-6Torr and 113 K. An alpha test using triple source 241Am, 239Pu, 233U was carried and a resolution on 241Am 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+pn+p diode.