SBIR/STTR Award attributes
In the condition of a nuclear event, it is critical that warfighters and first responders are equipped with active dosimeters and dose rate meters. These tools can be made from scintillation-based detector systems that require a high performance photodetector. The silicon photomultiplier is a compact photodetector that would be ideal for such a detector system, yet their performance suffers from thermal effects, where the gain (breakdown voltage) and noise floor (dark current) have a dependence on temperature. The radiation tolerance of silicon photomultipliers will likely not meet requirements for nuclear survivability. Some III-V semiconductor materials can intrinsically provide a higher radiation tolerance than silicon as well as a reduction in the underlying temperature effects. The project will explore the development of a solid-state photomultiplier, an array of Geiger photodiodes, using III-V materials, and will characterize their nuclear survivability.
