Speaker
Description
The peculiar physical properties of Silicon Carbide (SiC) such as its wide band gap (up to 3.2 eV), high saturation velocities of the charge carriers (200 um/ns), high breakdown field (2 MV/cm), high thermal conductivity (4.9 W/cm²) and large threshold displacement energy (21-35eV), joined with the microelectronics advanced fabrication technology, make this semiconductor unique for X-ray detection and spectroscopy with high energy resolution even above room temperature and in harsh environments. Relevant R&D on SiC X-ray detectors have been made in the last 25 years, and this presentation presents a review of the state of the art reached with different crystals (semi-insulating or epitaxial) and detector types (pad, pixel, microstrip). The present technological limits to be overcome, the challenges and perspectives for further developments will be discussed.