Light Ions Response of Silicon Carbide Detectors

Silicon carbide (SiC) Schottky diodes 21 mum thick with small surfaces and high N-dopant concentration have been used to detect alpha particles and low energy light ions. In particular 12C and 16O beams at incident energies between 5 and 18 MeV were used. The diode active-region depletion-thickness, the linearity of the response, energy resolution and signal rise-time were measured for different values of the applied reverse bias. Moreover the radiation damage on SiC diodes irradiated with 53 MeV 16O beam has been explored. The data show that SiC material is radiation harder than silicon but at least one order of magnitude less hard than epitaxial silicon diodes. An inversion in the signal was found at a fluence of 10^15 ions/cm^2.