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Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A 542 (2005) 283287

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Performance of a pixel detector suited for slow neutrons

J. Uhera,, T. Holya, J. Jakubeka, E. Lehmannb, S. Posp s ila, J. Vac kc
a
Institute of Experimental and Applied Physics, Czech Technical University in Prague, Horska 3a/22, CZ-12800 Praha 2, Czech Republic
b
Paul Scherrer Institut, Villigen, CH-5232, Switzerland
c
Nuclear Physics Institute, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Rez near Prague, CZ-25068, Czech Republic
Available online 26 February 2005

Abstract

Semiconductor pixel radiation detector systems have recently made signicant progress achieving excellent spatial
resolution, high sensitivity, wide dynamic range and low noise. The hybrid silicon pixel device of Medipix type
developed at CERN was originally designed for position sensitive single X-ray photon detection. We have adapted this
device to a position sensitive detector of slow neutrons by covering the detector surface with a 6LiF neutron converter.
Neutrons are converted to tritons and alpha particles which are subsequently detected by the silicon pixel detector. The
basic parameters of such a pixel neutron sensitive device were investigated using thermal neutron beams. Tests for
neutron imaging applications and comparison with currently used devices for neutron radiography (CCD camera with
scintillator, imaging plates) were performed. The aim of this article is to demonstrate the exceptional good spatial
resolution for neutrons (up to 8.5 lp/mm in the case of Medipix-2 option), reasonable neutron detection efciency with
very low sensitivity to background gamma radiation, low noise, perfect linearity and wide dynamic range. Results and
future prospects are presented in this article.
r 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

PACS: 29.40.Gx

Keywords: Neutron detector; Neutron imaging; X-ray imaging; Pixel detectors; Medipix

1. Introduction integration of contemporary electronic parts for

The progress in semiconductor technology has
opened wide possibilities for the development of
novel radiation detection and imaging systems.
Naturally, the concept occurs of utilizing the high
Corresponding author. Tel.: +420 22435 9395;
fax: +420 22435 9392.
E-mail address: josef.uher@utef.cvut.cz (J. Uher).
the design of an imaging detector which can
improve parameters of current radiation imaging
systems. Semiconductor-imaging detectors can
provide high spatial resolution, high dynamic
range and low noise. Examples of such devices
are Medipix-1 and Medipix-2 X-Ray imaging
detectors [1]. By adding a neutron to heavy-
charged particle converting layer we have adapted
these devices to neutron-imaging detectors.

0168-9002/$ - see front matter r 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.nima.2005.01.149
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284 J. Uher et al. / Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A 542 (2005) 283287
2. Description of the Medipix-1 and Medipix-2
devices
The Medipix-1 device has been originally
designed for single photon counting. It is com-
posed from a silicon pixel detector and a readout
chip [2]. One side of the silicon detector is entirely
metallized and forms a common electrode. The
contact on the other side of the detector is divided
into a matrix of square pixels. It consists of 64
64
pixels with 170
170 mm2 pixel size with a total
sensitive area of about 1 cm2. The detector is
bump-bonded to the CMOS readout chip. Thus,
each pixel has its own readout with preamplier,
discriminator and 15-bit counter. Each cell has
also a 5-bit register which allows masking, test-
enabling and 3-bit individual threshold adjust.
One complete frame can be read out from the
detector within 384 ms (clock 10 MHz). The Medi-
pix-1 readout chip has been manufactured accord-
ing to 1 mm SACMOS technology.
The Medipix-2 device [3] is the successor of
Medipix-1. It is manufactured using 6-metal
0.25 mm CMOS technology. The pixel size has
been reduced down to 55
55 mm2 and the pixel
array enlarged up to 256
256 pixels, so the
sensitive area is also increased up to almost 2 cm2
(1.4
1.4 cm2). The Medipix-2 readout electro-
nics now offers the new possibility to use two
discriminators to set an energy window for
choosing the measured energy of radiation. Each
cell contains a 13-bit counter and an 8-bit
conguration register which allows masking, test-
enabling and 3-bit individual threshold adjust for
each discriminator. Using the serial or parallel
interface, the readout of the whole matrix contain-
ing measured data (clock 100 MHz) takes 9 ms or
266 ms, respectively. The fast readout is predesti-
nating this detector also for applications where
fast frame acquisition is needed.
3. Modication of the Medipix into neutron
imaging detector
Neutrons as electrically neutral particles can be
hardly detected by the semiconductor detector
itself. Therefore, a layer of LiF enriched to 89% by
Fig. 1. Medipix-1 detector covered by a 6LiF converter with an
illustration of a neutron conversion in the converter layer (not
on scale).
6
Li has been deposited on the Medipix detectors
surface. The layer acts as neutron converter using
the following nuclear reaction:
6
Li 1 n ! 3 H 4 He; Q 4:78 MeV:
Products of the reaction, heavy-charged parti-
cles, are subsequently detected in the silicon
detector sensitive volume (Fig. 1).
The signal created by the heavy-charged parti-
cles is high enough to set the discriminator
threshold far above noise and a possible back-
ground. Counts of events in each pixel obey a
Poisson distribution with a standard deviation
determined only by the number of neutrons
reacting in the converter. Therefore, the signal-
to-noise ratio can be improved to an arbitrary level
only by an exposition time extension. In the case of
thermal neutrons the threshold is high and thus the
background is neglectable. The p signal-to-noise
ratio is then given only by n; where n is a
number of counts per pixel.
4. Simulations of the neutron detection efciency
Monte-Carlo simulations of the detection ef-
ciency (Fig. 2) and deposited energy spectra
(Fig. 3) have been done [8].
The neutron detection efciency (sensitivity) is
mainly given by the geometrical layout of the
detecting structure. The secondary particles born
in the converter layer most distant from the silicon
surface should still be capable to reach the
sensitive detector volume and leave a detectable
amount of energy there. Thus, the converter
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J. Uher et al. / Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A 542 (2005) 283287 285

6 5. Experimental results
5
The measurements described in this paper were
Efficiency [%]

4
carried out using neutron beams in the Nuclear
3 Physics Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences
2 at Rez near Prague (NPI) [4] and in the NEUTRA
1
facility in Paul Scherrer Institute at Villigen in
Switzerland (PSI) [5].
0 Measurements in NPI used a parallel beam of
0 2 4 6 8 10
Converter thickness [mg/cm2] thermal neutrons from a horizontal channel of the
LVR-15 nuclear research reactor. The neutron
Fig. 2. Simulated dependence of detector efciency on the beam intensity was about 107 neutrons/cm2 s (at
thickness of the 6LiF neutron converter layer. Calculated for
reactor power of 8 MW) with a cross-section 4 mm
thermal neutrons and 89% of 6Li enrichment.
(height)
60 mm (width) and a divergence less
than 0.51.
The NEUTRA facility is located at beam port 32
of the Swiss spallation neutron source SINQ. A
thermal neutron intensity of 3
106 cm2/s is
obtained at a beam with 40 cm diameter when the
source runs on 1 mA proton beam power. The initial
proton energy from the cyclotron is 590 MeV.

5.1. Efficiency

The converter layer thickness has been opti-

Fig. 3. Spectrum of an energy deposited by tritons and alpha
particles in a planar silicon detector covered with a 6LiF
converter. By setting the energy threshold to the minimum at
lower energies we can obtain a stable device with low sensitivity
to background radiation. The threshold energy should be about
500 keV.
thickness is limited to a value of the maximum
particles range in the converter material. The small
converter thickness reduces the probability that
neutrons will interact inside the converter. The
sensitivity of this planar geometrical arrangement
is limited to 5% according to simulations.
A way to overcome this limitation is to
introduce more complex geometrical structures of
the surface between the converter and the detector
sensitive volume. According to simulations, it can
increase the detection efciency by a factor of 6.
The development of such a structure is a part of
present-day investigation.
mized to achieve the highest detection efciency
with the planar geometry using a gradual deposition
of the converter in thin layers on Medipix-1 and
Medipix-2 devices. The count rate was measured
between each deposition in thermal neutron beam.
Then, it was possible to measure changes of the
detection efciency and to nd its maximum. Using
absolute neutron beam monitor, the nal detection
efciency has been estimated to be 3% for both
chips. It is lower than predicted by the simulation,
probably due to the additional metallic layer of the
common electrode contact, because some heavy-
charged particles stop in this layer and do not reach
the detector sensitive volume.
For instance, the efciency of 3% means for
the neutron beam in PSI and for Medipix-2 device
count rate of 0.3 counts/pixel/s. The device is
capable to handle up to 8
105 counts/pixel/s.
5.2. Spatial resolution
The spatial resolution has been tested on both
Medipix detectors measuring the projection of a
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286 J. Uher et al. / Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A 542 (2005) 283287
straight edge of a 1 mm thick cadmium plate [6,9].
The plate should stop all thermal neutrons striking
it. The measured edge projection is blurred (Fig. 4,
see also Fig. 5a,b). It is possibly due to charge
sharing or crosstalk between adjacent pixels.
The oversampled edge prole was t by an error
function. The detector spatial resolution is often
described by the full-width at half-maximum
(FWHM) of a line spread function (LSF) [7].
Since the LSF is equal to the rst derivative of the
Fig. 4. Measured Cd edge proles: (a) for Medipix-1 device and
(b) for Medipix-2.
Fig. 5. Cd edge prole images measured with different neutron
devices: (a) Medipix-2, (b) Medipix-1, (c) CCD camera with
scintillator mixed with 6Li (pixel size 0.139 mm [5]), (d) imaging
plate (pixel size 50 mm [5]).
Table 1
Resolution of tested slow neutron imagers
Imager Resolution (FWHMa Resolutionc
of LSFb) (mm) (lp/mm)
Medipix-1 device 370 2.5
Medipix-2 device 108 8.5
CCD camera 824 1.1
Imaging plate 124 7.3
a
FWHMFull-width at half-maximum.
b
LSFLine spread function of Cd edge. LSF is equal to the
rst derivative of the straight edge projection.
c
lp/mmline pairs per millimeter.
straight edge projection (see Gaussian in Fig. 4),
its FWHM can be easily evaluated. The results are
summarized in Table 1.
5.3. Comparison of Medipix-based neutron imagers
with some devices currently used for neutron
radiography
A series of comparative measurements were
done in PSI at Villigen. Properties of imaging
devices available in PSI (a CCD camera with
scintillator lled with 6Li and an imaging plate [5])
were compared to those of the Medipix-1 and
Medipix-2 devices. The measurements were mainly
focused on the comparison of spatial resolution.
The technique of the Cd edge projection described
in the previous section was used for all tested
neutron imagers. The results are shown in Table 1.
The Medipix-2 device exhibits a spatial resolu-
tion of 8.5 lp/mm which is the best of all tested
systems. An imager with comparable resolution to
the Medipix-2 device is an imaging plate with a
resolution of 7.3 lp/mm. However, the dynamic
range of the imaging plate was lled up to 80%
in all performed measurements. Thus, the image
contrast cannot be further improved. Thanks to
the Medipix chip online readout, linearity and
noise properties, it is possible to acquire number of
images which can be summed ofine. Therefore,
the dynamic range of the Medipix-2 (also the
Medipix-1) device is virtually unlimited.
Fig. 6 allows comparison of blank shell neutron
radiograms measured with different imagers.
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J. Uher et al. / Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A 542 (2005) 283287
Fig. 6. Neutron radiograms of a blank shell: (a) photography,
(b) Medipix-2, (c) Medipix-1, (d) CCD camera, (e) imaging
plate. The explosive lling which is rich of light elements is well
visible with all neutron imagers. A scratch on the imaging plate
is visible in gure (e).
6. Conclusion
The Medipix-1 and Medipix-2 devices are state
of the art semiconductor pixel radiation detectors.
These imagers originally designed for single
photon counting have been adapted for single
neutron detection by adding a neutron to heavy-
charged particles converter. The converter is
formed by a 6LiF surface layer. Detectors ef-
ciency is now limited to 3% due to converter
detector geometrical layout. By introduction of
more complex converterdetector structures, the
efciency can be signicantly increased. Basic
parameters of the detectors were measured and
compared to some nowadays devices of standard
use for neutron radiography. Especially, the
Medipix-2 device with a resolution of 8.5 lp/mm
can well compete with current high-resolution
imaging devices such as imaging plates (with a
resolution of about 7.3 lp/mm). The dynamic
range of Medipix devices is unlimited in principle
thanks to its linearity and online readout. The
results demonstrate the superior performance of
the Medipix-2 based neutron imager in terms of
287
spatial resolution, linearity and dynamic range.
These devices are very promising for the develop-
ment of a fast neutron camera.
Acknowledgments
This work is carried out within the framework
of the Medipix Collaboration based at CERN and
supported by Grant 106/00/D064 of the Grant
Agency of the Czech Republic. Part of this work is
supported by the Ministry of Education, Youth
and Sports of the Czech Republic under research
project MSM 210000019 and by the Czech
Committee for Collaboration with CERN.
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