Study of silicon photomultipliers fast amplifier and thermoregulation

The silicon photomultipliers (SiPM) are adopted in various physical applications, from medical physics to astrophysics, for their advantages in terms of cost and weight with respect to traditional photo detectors. Their low bias voltage supply (about 30 V), hardiness and resistance to magnetic field are ideal characteristics for space application. In the frame of INFN-Irst collaboration, some of them have been developed and produced at FBK (Trento-Italy), and have been characterized in the INFN laboratories of Bologna (DaSiPM2 collaboration).The SiPM can be used in conjunction with fibres and counters in high energy physics experiments. To exploit the SiPM time resolution, a fast amplifier has been studied. The SiPM gain depends critically on temperature and a thermal stabilization is also necessary. The use of a thermoelectric cooler module based on a Peltier cell has been investigated, and the results are shown.     

Silicon photomultipliers for radioactive waste online monitoring

A prototype demonstrator for the online monitoring of short-medium term radioactive waste repositories is currently under development at INFN-LNS. Such a system is planned to be distributed, fine-grained, robust, reliable, and based on low-cost components. With the main purpose of counting gamma radiation, we implemented a new kind of mini-detector based on silicon photomultipliers and scintillating fibers that behaves like a cheap scintillating Geiger-Muller counter and is suitable to be deployed in the shape of a grid around waste drums.     

A coincidental timing model for the scintillating fibers

A model describing the coincidental timing of scintillating fibers is developed. Fiber geometry, the rate of scintillation decay together with the mean number, spatial dispersion and attenuation of emitted photons are considered. For a specific selection of probability distributions and parameters involved, the entire coincidental timing distributions, corresponding FWHM values and the photon detection efficiencies are extracted. The significance of the number of photons from the scintillation process is specially emphasized. Additionally, the model is extended to include a triggering feature, experimentally realized by coupling fibers to any photon resolving device. Finally, the measurements of a coincidental timing distribution were performed, with an excellent agreement found between the experimental and predicted theoretical results.     

Extensive electrical model of large area silicon photomultipliers

In this paper the full electrical model of silicon photomultipliers fabricated at STMicroelectronics Catania R&D clean room facilities is presented. An accurate investigation on both SiPM single microcell and entire SiPM structure to extrapolate all the electrical elements has been executed by means of dedicated characterizations carried out on appropriate layout structure. The electrical simulations results are compared to the experimental data showing a good fit and therefore verifying the accuracy of the proposed model. This model can be used to describe all the SiPMs with different sizes manufactured using the same technology. Moreover, starting from this extensive electrical model, custom application software was developed in order to predict the possibility to profitably use the SiPM technology for different applications.     

硅量子线的研究

利用常规硅工艺的反应离子刻蚀、各向异性化学腐蚀、热氧化和超低压ＣＶＤ生长技术，成功地硅单晶衬底上制作了硅／二氧化硅异质界面结构超精细硅量子线。本项研究结果对开展低维量子结构物理及硅量子器件的研究具有十分重要的意义。     

Doping Silicon Wafers with Boron by Use of Silicon Paste

In this work we introduce recently developed silicon-paste-enabled p-type doping for silicon.Boron-doped silicon nanoparticles are synthesized by a plasma approach.They are then dispersed in solvents to form silicon paste. Silicon paste is screen-printed at the surface of silicon wafers.By annealing,boron atoms in silicon paste diffuse into silicon wafers.Chemical analysis is employed to obtain the concentrations of boron in silicon nanoparticles.The successful doping of silicon wafers with boron is evidenced by secondary ion mass spectroscopy(SIMS) and sheet resistance measurements.     

深亚微米集成电路用硅单晶材料

由于经济和技术的发展,深亚微米集成电路要求硅单晶材料向大直径和无（少）缺陷方向发展。综述了深亚微米集成电路用硅单晶材料的研究和发展,指出对于已开始应用的300毫米硅单晶而言,磁场拉晶、计算机模拟、线切割、双面抛光等工艺成为大直径硅单晶研制的重要特征;利用晶体生长速率和固液界面的温度梯度的设计,硅单晶中的自间隙硅原子、空位以及相关的微缺陷可以被控制;通过快速热处理,引入和控制空位,进而控制氧沉淀的新型内吸杂技术,可以制备高质量的表面清洁区;利用氮杂质掺杂,可以抑制硅单晶中VOID缺陷和增加硅片的机械强度。最后,还讨论了硅单晶材料的今后的研究方向和趋势。     

Silicon Nanocrystals: Photosensitizers for Oxygen Molecules

Molecular oxygen plays an important role in many of the chemical reactions involved in the synthesis of biological life. In this review, we explore the interaction between O₂ and silicon nanocrystals, which can be employed in the photosynthesis of singlet oxygen. We demonstrate that nanoscale Si has entirely new properties owing to morphological and quantum size effects, i.e., large accessible surface areas and excitons of variable energies and with well‐defined spin structures. These features result in new emerging functionality for nanoscale silicon: it is a very efficient spin‐flip activator of O₂, and therefore, a chemically and biologically active material. This whole effect is based on energy transfer from long‐lived electronic excitations confined in Si nanocrystals to surrounding O₂ via the exchange of single electrons of opposite spin, thus enabling the spin‐flip activation of O₂. Further, we discuss the implications of these findings for physics, chemistry, biology, and medicine.     

Large area microchannel plate detector with amorphous silicon pixel array readout for fast neutron radiography

Fast neutron radiography is a non-destructive testing technique with a variety of industrial applications and the capability for element sensitive imaging for contraband and explosives detection.

Commonly used position sensitive detectors for fast neutron radiography are based on charge coupled devices (CCDs) and scintillators. The limited format of CCDs implies that complex optical systems involving lenses and mirrors are required to indirectly image areas that are larger than 8.6 cm×11.05 cm. The use of optics reduces the light collection efficiency of the imaging system, while the efficiency of hydrogen rich scintillators exploiting the proton recoil reaction is limited by the hydrogen concentration and the magnitude of the neutron scattering cross-section.

The light conversion step inevitably involves a tradeoff in scintillator thickness between light yield and spatial resolution.

The development of large area amorphous silicon (a-Si) panel flat panel photodiode arrays and direct neutron-to-charge converters based on microchannel plates, provide an attractive new form of high resolution, large area, fast neutron imaging detector for the non-destructive imaging of large structures. This paper describes some recent results of both Monte Carlo simulations and measurements for such a detector.     

SiC材料氧化行为研究进展

本文对各种纯 Si C及含有少量杂质的 Si C在不同条件下的氧化行为进行了全面系统的概述。对今后 Si C氧化行为的研究具有一定的指导意义。     

Dielectric reference coatings for the evaluation of thin film characterization techniques

Thin film technology has an increasing demand for industrial reliable characterization techniques. A precise absolute determination of layer thickness, interface width and the quantification of depth profiles in dependence on resolution limits of the measurement are required. Certified reference materials, certified reference coatings (CRCs) and non-destructive evaluation techniques can meet these requirements. Dielectric reference coatings (SiO₂, Si₃N₄) were used for metallographic preparation (e.g. bevelled cross-sections), optical characterization techniques (e.g. spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE)), and films of SiO₂, Si₃N₄ and Al₂O₃ were applied to reference measurements in depth profiling of layer stacks (e.g. radio frequency glow discharge optical emission spectroscopy). Thickness and refractive index of these dielectric single-and multilayer coatings on different substrate materials are accurately determined in advance by means of SE. These values are subsequently used for precise angle determination of bevelled cross-sections, for reference and re-calibration purposes in thin film characterization (system reproducibility) and in surface analysis (determination of sputter and erosion rates, depth profiles). Examples are discussed for different applications and the calculated data are compared with experimental results. It is shown that reproducible commercial coatings are also of importance for use as CRCs.     

SOI结构制备工艺进展

绝缘体上生长的薄单晶硅膜 (SOI)具有良好的横向绝缘、抗辐照、无锁存效应和无寄生电容 ,并能有效地提高硅集成电路的速度和集成度 ,在深亚微米 VL SI技术中 ,具有很大的优势和潜力。本文简单地介绍了 SOI材料的结构特性和制备方法及当前发展状况 ,同时 ,也指出 SOI进一步实用化所需解决的问题及应用前景。     

船用高性能硅橡胶腻子的研制

以双组分室温硫化硅橡胶为基体材料,通过材料筛选和性能试验,研制了具有耐高温性能、粘接性能和屏蔽性能的硅橡胶腻子,可以满足船用甲板覆层材料的要求。