Direct thermal neutron detection by the 2D semiconductor 6LiInP2Se6

Daniel G. Chica, Yihui He, Kyle M. McCall, Duck Young Chung, Rahmi O. Pak, Giancarlo Trimarchi, Zhifu Liu, Patrick M. De Lurgio, Bruce W. Wessels, Mercouri G. Kanatzidis*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

72 Scopus citations

Abstract

Highly efficient neutron detectors are critical in many sectors, including national security1,2, medicine3, crystallography4 and astronomy5. The main neutron detection technologies currently used involve 3He-gas-filled proportional counters6 and light scintillators7 for thermalized neutrons. Semiconductors could provide the next generation of neutron detectors because their advantages could make them competitive with or superior to existing detectors. In particular, solids with a high concentration of high-neutron-capture nuclides (such as 6Li, 10B) could be used to develop smaller detectors with high intrinsic efficiencies. However, no promising materials have been reported so far for the construction of direct-conversion semiconductor detectors. Here we report on the semiconductor LiInP2Se6 and demonstrate its potential as a candidate material for the direct detection of thermal neutrons at room temperature. This compound has a good thermal-neutron-capture cross-section, a suitable bandgap (2.06 electronvolts) and a favourable electronic band structure for efficient electron charge transport. We used α particles from an 241Am source as a proxy for the neutron-capture reaction and determined that the compact two-dimensional (2D) LiInP2Se6 detectors resolved the full-energy peak with an energy resolution of 13.9 per cent. Direct neutron detection from a moderated Pu–Be source was achieved using 6Li-enriched (95 per cent) LiInP2Se6 detectors with full-peak resolution. We anticipate that these results will spark interest in this field and enable the replacement of 3He counters by semiconductor-based neutron detectors.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)346-349
Number of pages4
JournalNature
Volume577
Issue number7790
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 16 2020

Funding

Acknowledgements The exploratory synthesis and materials characterization work was supported by the National Science Foundation through grant DMR-1708254. The device fabrication and neutron response measurements were supported by Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) funding from Argonne National Laboratory, provided by the Director, Office of Science of the US Department of Energy under contract number DE-AC02-06CH11357. PL measurements were supported by the Murphy Fellowship from Northwestern University. This work made use of the SPID and EPIC facilities of Northwestern University\u2019s NUANCE Center, which has received support from the Soft and Hybrid Nanotechnology Experimental (SHyNE) Resource (NSF ECCS-1542205); the MRSEC programme (NSF DMR-1720139) at the Materials Research Center; the International Institute for Nanotechnology (IIN); the Keck Foundation; and the State of Illinois, through IIN. This work used the Northwestern University\u2019s Keck Biophysics Facility, which is funded by a Cancer Center Support Grant (NCI CA060553). This work made use of IMSERC at Northwestern University, which has received support from the Soft and Hybrid Nanotechnology Experimental (SHyNE) Resource (NSF ECCS-1542205), the State of Illinois and IIN.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General

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