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中国物理学会期刊

氮化镓在不同中子辐照环境下的位移损伤模拟研究

CSTR: 32037.14.aps.69.20200064

Simulated research on displacement damage of gallium nitride radiated by different neutron sources

CSTR: 32037.14.aps.69.20200064
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  • 电子器件中的半导体材料经过中子辐照后产生大量位移损伤, 进而影响器件性能, 氮化镓(GaN)材料是第三代宽禁带半导体, GaN基电子器件在国防、空间和航天等辐射服役环境中具有重要应用. 本文利用蒙特卡罗软件Geant4模拟了中子在GaN材料中的输运过程, 对在大气中子、压水堆、高温气冷堆和高通量同位素堆外围辐照区四种中子辐照环境下GaN中的初级反冲原子能谱及加权初级反冲原子能谱进行了分析. 研究发现: 在四种辐照环境下GaN中初级反冲原子能谱中, 均在0.58 MeV附近处出现不常见的“尖峰”, 经分析该峰为核反应产生的H原子峰, 由于低能中子 (\rmn,\rmp)反应截面较大, 该峰的强弱和低能中子占总能谱的比例有关; 通过对比四种中子辐照环境下GaN中初级反冲原子能谱分布可知, 大气中子能谱辐照产生的初级反冲原子能量更低、分布范围更广, 裂变堆能谱下较高能量的初级反冲原子的比例较大, 大气中子和高通量同位素堆辐照环境下的初级反冲原子能谱与加权初级反冲原子谱形状更相似, 结合核反应产物对电学性能的影响, 高通量同位素堆外围辐照区更适合用于模拟GaN在大气中子环境下的辐照实验. 该结果对GaN基电子器件在辐射环境下长期服役评估研究和GaN材料的反应堆模拟中子辐照环境实验研究具有参考价值.

     

    Gallium nitride (GaN), one of the third-generation wide-bandgap semiconductors, offers significant application for advanced electronic devices utilized in neutron irradiation environments, like the defense, space, and aerospace, etc. In these applications, neutron irradiation-induced defects affect the properties of GaN and eventually degrade the performance of devices. In this work, neutron transport process in GaN is simulated by using the Monte Carlo-based code, Geant4 toolkit under four different irradiation conditions, e.g. high flux isotope reactor, high temperature gas-cooled reactor, pressurized water reactor, and atmospheric neutron irradiation. The energy spectra of primary knock-on atoms (PKA) in GaN and the corresponding weighted spectra under those irradiation conditions are analyzed. It is found that there is one unusual “peak” at around 0.58 MeV in the Primary recoil spectrum, regardless of the irradiation conditions. This peak is attributed to the neutron reaction of hydrogen nucleus, i.e., (n, p). Because of the remarkable (n,p) reaction cross-section of low-energy neutron, the intensity of this peak is related to the ratio of low-energy neutron to the total neutron spectrum. By comparing these PKA energy spectra in GaN, we can see that the PKA energy spectrum created under atmospheric neutron irradiation is similar to that in the high flux isotopic reactor. Specifically, the energy distribution of PKA is wide, and the magnitude of energy is lower than those under fission neutron irradiation conditions. In combination with the effects of nuclear reaction products on electrical properties, the high flux isotopic reactor is more suitable for simulating the irradiation of GaN in an atmospheric neutron energy spectrum environment. These above results can provide not only some insights into the evaluation of the degradation of GaN-based electronic devices under neutron irradiation, but also dataset for the study of radiation damage effect of GaN in simulated neutron environment.

     

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