Experimental analysis of Schottky-barrier 4H-SiC-detector-response to fast neutrons: Comparison with Si and diamond detectors

¹ Institute of Nuclear and Physical Engineering, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, Slovak University of Technology, SK-84104 Bratislava, Slovak Republic
² Institute of Experimental and Applied Physics, Czech Technical University in Prague, Husova 240/5, CZ 110 00 Prague 1, Czech Republic
³ Horia Hulubei National Institute for R&D in Physics and Nuclear Engineering, No. 30 Reactorului Street, Măgurele, Ilfov, Romania
⁴ CEA, DES, IRESNE, DER, Cadarache F-13108, Saint-Paul-Lez-Durance, 13108, France
⁵ CEA, DES, IRESNE, DTN, Cadarache F-13108, Saint-Paul-Lez-Durance, 13108, France
⁶ Institute of Electrical Engineering, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, SK-841 04 Bratislava, Slovak Republic

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Published online: 6 November 2025

Abstract

The response of 4H-SiC detectors to 17 MeV neutrons was experimentally analysed using detectors composed solely of carbon or silicon. The detectors were tested using three different neutron energies (14.5 MeV, 15 MeV and 17 MeV) at two different facilities with T(d,n) neutron generators, the Van de Graaff laboratory at IEAP CTU in Prague and at the DANAIDES facility at CEA research center in Cadarache. The calibration via interactions on ²⁸Si nuclei, the (n, α) nuclear reaction to ground and excited states of ²⁵Mg, was made. The standard deviation of experimental values measured by Si detector from prepared calibration curve, was of 0.073 MeV, which represents the uncertainty of less than 1% in this energy range (≈ 10 MeV). The experiment showed that the pulse height defect affects the measured spectra the way that the peak energies from the C interactions are shifted by about 0.5 MeV to higher values when the calibration from the Si interactions is used.