Epitaxial silicon carbide for X-ray detection

We present the first experimental results of X-ray detection and spectroscopy by means of Schottky junctions on epitaxial silicon carbide (SLC). The devices have a junction area of 3 mm(2) on an n-type 4H-SiC layer 30 mum thick with a dopant concentration of 1.8 X 10(15)cm(-3) At 300K, the reverse current density of the best device varies between 2 pA/cm(2) and 18 pA/cm(2) as the mean electric field is increased from 40 kY/cm up to 170 kV/cm. The devices have been tested with X and gamma raysfrom Am-241; the best measured energy resolution is 2.7 keV FWHM at room temperature.