NEUTRON-IRRADIATION OF CVD-DIAMOND SAMPLES FOR TRACKING DETECTORS

Diamond may make an excellent substrate for a tracking device in the n ear future, especially at colliders like LHC, where extreme running co nditions are expected (high rates and high radiation levels). We repor t on neutron irradiation of several CVD-diamond samples at the ISIS fa cility (Rutherford Appleton Laboratory), which provides a fast neutron spectrum similar to that expected in a high luminosity collider exper iment like CMS. We measured beam-induced currents and charge collectio n of diamonds exposed to fluences in excess of 10(15) n/cm(2) (peaking at 1 MeV), which should be the maximum value of the ten years total f luence at the design LHC luminosity. Physical hypotheses for the inter actions of neutrons on CVD-diamond are proposed.