Heavy ion response of amorphous silicon transmission detectors for particle identification

In an effort to determine the applicability of a-Si:H transmission detectors to integrated /spl Delta/E-E detector telescopes, we have measured the response of discrete a-Si:H detectors to ions with atomic numbers between 7 and 36 and ranging in energy from 0.5 to 4.5 MeV/nucleon. Measured pulse height spectra show substantial pulse height deficits which depend on detector bias. Additionally an unexpected result is obtained in that the amplitudes of the detector signals correlate better with the total ion energy than with the ion energy loss in the transmission detector.