X-ray luminescence spectra of graded-gap AlxGa1−xAs structures irradiated by alpha particle

The influence of 241Am alpha particle irradiation on X-ray luminescence spectra of the graded-gap AlxGa1−xAs structures of different thicknesses is investigated. It is observed that the integral X-ray luminescence intensity of nonirradiated thin (15 μm) structure is 1.4 times less than that in the thick (32 μm) structure, and this difference increases to 3 times after 3×1010 cm−2 dose of irradiation by alpha particle. The X-ray luminescence intensity of the energy hν<1.5 eV of thin nonirradiated structure is about 7 times less than that in thick one. The internal graded-gap electric field Fgg is responsible of that large difference, because it shifts the X-ray generated carriers to the narrow-gap surface with great nonradiative surface recombination rate. The alpha particle irradiation increases nonradiative recombination rate and causes a decrease of the X-ray luminescence intensity of all spectra lines in the thin (15 μm) detector. The most significant drop in X-ray luminescence efficiency is observed from the region at narrow-gap surface after the initial stage (109 cm−2 dose) of alpha particle irradiation. In the 32 μm thick detector, the luminescence intensity of the energy hν=1.8 eV does not change up to 2×1010 cm−2 of alpha particle irradiation dose. That means the high irradiation hardness of the thick graded-gap X-ray detector with optical response.