Project Description

It was discovered by Prof. D.S. McGregor that cavitiy structures in a diode can be etched to improve:

(1) Film adhesion. The etched holes reduced surface stress on the thin films and allowed for thicker neutron reactive films to be applied to a surface.

(2) Neutron detection efficiency. Backfilling the cavities with additional neutron reactive material increased the efficiency of the neutron detectors.

Research funding was awarded to the S.M.A.R.T. Laboratory at K-State by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) to explore the concept for deep perforation designs. At present, devices with perforations of various sizes are under construction in the S.M.A.R.T. Laboratory with the expectation that intrinsic efficiencies exceeding 50% thermal neutron detection efficiency can be reached.

High Efficiency Thermal Neutron Detectors, DOE NEER Program, 1998-2001.