PRECISION SEMICONDUCTOR SPECTROMETRY OF IONS

Some aspects of high-precision determination of the energy of nuclear particles with use of semiconductor detectors are analyzed. The main d ifficulties are shown to be related to suppression of nonequilibrium c arrier capture. Transport of these carriers is slowed down by nonlinea r effects due to a high density of carriers in the particle tracks. Th e carrier generation occurs near the surface. It is shown that control of the built-in field in p+-n detectors can minimize the recombinatio n processes. High-purity Si detectors, therefore, have an accuracy lev el which is limited only by fundamental factors.