Novel Ultraviolet and Ionizing Radiation Detectors Made From TiO Wide-Bandgap Semiconductor

We describe the fabrication and characterization of a novel ultraviolet (UV) and ionizing radiation detector using a polycrystalline TiO2 wide-bandgap semiconductor as the active material. The detector geometry we have developed and tested is a polycrystalline TiO2 thin film with planar electrode contacts for signal pickup. Several prototypes were fabricated using two single-step techniques. We present the dc characterization of these devices and the signal response to the UV light and low-energy proton beam irradiation. The detector prototypes show excellent dc characteristics and fast ac signal response at bias voltage as low as 50 V.