Position-resolved charge collection of silicon carbide detectors with an epitaxially-grown graphene layer

Silicon carbide (SiC) has outstanding physical properties therefore, diodes based on SiC are being considered for many radiation detection applications such as particle accelerator experiments and medical dosimetry. Moreover, by reducing the metal on the surface of the diode there is the potential to enhance its performance in some fields where the presence of metal is detrimental. To this end, SiC detectors with an epitaxially-grown graphene layer (EG), that substitutes the metallic contact, in the sensitive region were produced at IMB-CNM, profiting from the conductivity of the mono-atomic layer material. To isolate the effect of the graphene on the charge collection, samples without graphene were produced in parallel. In this paper, the effect of EG on Silicon Carbide p-in-n radiation detectors is studied in terms of charge collection with a radioactive source and by means of the transient current technique (TCT), which allows for position-dependent signal formation analysis. As a result of the former, we show the capability of the EG-SiC sensor for charge collection after signal integration, to a resolution close to that of a sensor fully metallised. Moreover, from the TCT studies, we observe uniform charge collection across the active region, as well as an up-to $$ 40% transient amplitude damping which, compared with the $$ 90% on the sample containing no metallic contact, proves that the presence of graphene benefits the performance of the device and that the technology is viable for radiation detection as an alternative to metal.