GaN heterostructures as innovative x-ray imaging sensors — change of paradigm

  • Direct conversion of X-ray irradiation using a semiconductor material is an emerging technology in medical and material sciences. Existing technologies face problems, such as sensitivity or resilience. Here, we describe a novel class of X-ray sensors based on GaN thin film and GaN/AlGaN high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs), a promising enabling technology in the modern world of GaN devices for high power, high temperature, high frequency, optoelectronic, and military/space applications. The GaN/AlGaN HEMT-based X-ray sensors offer superior performance, as evidenced by higher sensitivity due to intensification of electrons in the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG), by ionizing radiation. This increase in detector sensitivity, by a factor of 104 compared to GaN thin film, now offers the opportunity to reduce health risks associated with the steady increase in CT scans in today’s medicine, and the associated increase in exposure to harmful ionizing radiation, by introducingDirect conversion of X-ray irradiation using a semiconductor material is an emerging technology in medical and material sciences. Existing technologies face problems, such as sensitivity or resilience. Here, we describe a novel class of X-ray sensors based on GaN thin film and GaN/AlGaN high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs), a promising enabling technology in the modern world of GaN devices for high power, high temperature, high frequency, optoelectronic, and military/space applications. The GaN/AlGaN HEMT-based X-ray sensors offer superior performance, as evidenced by higher sensitivity due to intensification of electrons in the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG), by ionizing radiation. This increase in detector sensitivity, by a factor of 104 compared to GaN thin film, now offers the opportunity to reduce health risks associated with the steady increase in CT scans in today’s medicine, and the associated increase in exposure to harmful ionizing radiation, by introducing GaN/AlGaN sensors into X-ray imaging devices, for the benefit of the patient.show moreshow less

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Metadaten
Author:Stefan Thalhammer, Andreas HörnerORCiDGND, Matthias KüßGND, Stephan Eberle, Florian Pantle, Achim WixforthORCiDGND, Wolfgang Nagel
URN:urn:nbn:de:bvb:384-opus4-925445
Frontdoor URLhttps://opus.bibliothek.uni-augsburg.de/opus4/92544
ISSN:2072-666XOPAC
Parent Title (English):Micromachines
Publisher:MDPI
Type:Article
Language:English
Date of first Publication:2022/01/19
Publishing Institution:Universität Augsburg
Release Date:2022/02/09
Tag:GaN-HEMT mesa structures; 2DEG; X-ray sensor; X-ray imaging
Volume:13
Issue:2
First Page:147
DOI:https://doi.org/10.3390/mi13020147
Institutes:Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftlich-Technische Fakultät
Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftlich-Technische Fakultät / Institut für Physik
Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftlich-Technische Fakultät / Institut für Physik / Lehrstuhl für Experimentalphysik I
Dewey Decimal Classification:5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 53 Physik / 530 Physik
Licence (German):CC-BY 4.0: Creative Commons: Namensnennung (mit Print on Demand)