Fast Front End Electronic for High Detector Capacitance SiC Based Fast Neutrons Sensors

Silicon carbide-based semiconductor detectors play a key role in radiation instrumentation. The material is well suited for detection of fast neutrons due to several charged particle emission channels at neutron energies above 7Mev. Furthermore, its high atomic displacement energies, wide bandgap (3.26 eV for 4H-SiC) and low intrinsic carrier concentrations, make this semiconductor detectors suitable for applications where rugged, high-temperature, low-gamma-sensitivity detectors are required, such as electronic personal neutron dosimetry and harsh environment detectors. Using a preamplifier with resistive feedback, the output may become saturated if the count rate (Φ> 10
¹²
n/cm
²
.s) and/or incident energy are very high. This phenomenon is distinct with respect to the pileup effect. A specific high-speed Charge. Sensitive Amplifier has been developed for coupling with high detector capacitance based fast neutron sensors. Limits of traditional feedback op-amp amplifier are given. Simulation as well as experimental results are presented. This architecture allows to analyze the signal generated by SiC sensor.