Organic radiation detectors

有机材料目前正准备给一系列技术带来革命性的变化，涵盖的应用包括碳基电子产品、聚合物显示器、生物和化学传感器以及智能材料。这类材料，包括共轭聚合物和碳纳米管(CNT)纳米复合材料，可能提供一系列独特的性能，挑战传统的基于半导体的设备和技术。有机材料也可能为用作辐射探测器提供显著的优势，尽管到目前为止在这一领域做的工作还很少。有机辐射探测器的一些关键优势包括：低成本的大面积探测器技术，良好的辐射硬度，以及能够以非传统的几何形状(如柔性薄片)制造有机探测器。到目前为止，在开发有机辐射探测器方面所做的工作很少--除了申请者为证明有机探测器装置的可行性而进行的18个月的试点研究之外。该项目在由共轭半导体聚合物制成的测试探测器上产生了两个关键结果：(1)成功地制造了“厚”(例如。高达20微米)肖特基二极管具有良好的整流电性能，(2)这些器件对X射线辐射具有高灵敏度。这些器件不工作在光子计数模式下，这主要是由于聚合物层的电荷传输性能的限制。这项工作导致了国际专利申请和发表在《应用物理快报》上。在这项提案中，我们将进行一项有针对性的12个月的研究，以研究一系列聚合物材料，特别是它们的电荷传输特性和对辐射的敏感性。其主要目的是从最新一代的聚合物中确定用于制造探测器器件的最佳候选材料。然后，预计将申请完整的PIPSS奖项，以实现这项技术的商业化。

Organic materials are currently poised to revolutionise a wide range of technologies, covering applications which include carbon-based electronics, polymer-based displays, biological and chemical sensors, and smart materials. Such materials, including conjugated polymer and carbon nanotube (CNT) nanocomposites, potentially offer a range of unique properties that challenge conventional semiconductor based devices and technologies. Organic materials also potentially offer significant advantages for use as radiation detectors, although very little work has been done in this area to date. Some of the key advantages of organic radiation detectors include; a low-cost large-area detector technology, good radiation hardness, and the ability to fabricate organic detectors in unconventional geometries such as flexible sheets. There has been very little work done to date to develop organic radiation detectors to date - with the exception of a 18 month pilot study carried out by the applicants to demonstrate the feasibility of organic detector devices. This project produced two key results from test detectors fabricated from conjugated semiconducting polymer; (1) the successful fabrication of 'thick' (eg. up to 20 um) Schottky diodes with good rectifying electrical properties, (2) the high sensitivity of these devices to X-ray irradiation. These devices did not operate in photon counting mode, which was due primarily to limitations in the charge transport performance of the polymer layers. The work resulted in an international patent filing and publication in Applied Physics Letters. In this proposal we will carry out a targeted 12 month study to study a range of polymer materials specifically in terms of their charge transport properties and their sensitivity to radiation. The principle aim is to identify, from the latest generation of polymers, the best candidate materials for detector device fabrication. It is then anticipated to apply for a full PIPSS award to carry out the commercialisation of this technology.