Spatial Cross Section Intensity of Purdues Rare

Isotope Measurement Laboratory Particle Beam

Professor: Matthew Jones
Author: Samuel Higginbotham
December 19, 2014
Abstract
The focus of this project is the analysis of a proton beam incident on an array of Commercial
BPW34FS silicon p-i-n Diodes to profile a particle beam. The goal of the experiment was to obtain
values of the forward voltage and compare the results before and after irradiation in order to map a
spatial intensity distribution to the cross-section of the beam based on the forward voltage. The prospect
of even equivalence in the beam for an arbitrary part is discussed. Further investigation and the start
of the analysis used Equivalence Fluence of 5 1014 neq /cm2 and the diodes were read out at room
temperature in both reverse bias and forward bias regions up to a compliance limit of 1mA.

Introduction

This study will also be useful for seeing how silicon

semiconductors behave in a beam that is mostly used
The effect of radiation on silicon diodes is for rare isotope measurement. The prospect of future
recorded well, and their properties examined in great research and development at Purdues beam line can
detail even at higher radiation dosages/higher equiv- be entertained.
alent fluences [1]. When Silicon Diodes are radiated
their dark current - an intrinsic current that is meaMeasurement
sured at different voltages when there is no excita- 2
tion of the diode - increases. This phenomena can
The diodes have been fixated to a circuit board
be attributed to a damage of the crystal lattice,
in
an
array of 20 with a separation of 6.72mm in the
or for a more thorough explanation, the radiation
horizontal
direction and 4.20mm in the vertical direcdamage produces traps that cause the semiconduction.
tor to have high resistivity and dense generationrecombination centers, visit the sources listed for further information[1] & [2]. Radiation and Semiconductors is a rich study with copious amounts of material;
however, this study is interested in the before and
after behavior of the diodes in order to map an intensity distribution. The BPW34FS silicon p-i-n diodes
in use are extremely stable semiconductors with well
known distributions that follow solid-state semiconductor theory. The forward and reverse bias regions
are invariant under measurement assuming same temperature and other environmental conditions. Once
the diodes are irradiated they can be measured at
the same temperature as they were before irradiation
to observe the changes that the radiation caused in
the dark current. Room temperatures may be used if
the experimentalist is careful to measure voltage at
Array of Diodes No Pitch and Spacing:6.724.20mm
or under 1mA of current for fluences on the order of
1 1015 neq /cm2 [1].
The IV curves of each diode are measured before and
The sensitivity of radiation and the ease of use after dosage in a temperature controlled room with a
provides enough motivation to use these silicon p-i- light sealed testing area. A Keithley 2410 Source men diodes as a measurement tool for the beam profile ter was used to precisely measure the dark current at
at the location where dosage parts would be placed. different bias voltages. To be thorough, the forward
1

and reverse bias measurements were read out for each

diode. The forward region was scanned from 0 Volts
to 3 Volts with a step size of 0.05 Volts and Delay
of 2 seconds and the reverse region from 0 Volts to
300 Volts with a step size of 10 Volts and Delay of 2
seconds. The compliance limit was set to 1mA. Once
the current is measured in the forward region, the associated IV curve can be fitted to return a function
that can be used to find the forward voltage at any
particular current.
In order to measure the change in fluence the
diodes are to be radiated at the end of the beam pipe
at normal incidence to ensure that the cross section
has no spatial dispersion effects. The full experimental setup would place several of these, on separate
runs, at different distances from the Beryllium window. Placing multiple diodes will allow the analysis
of how the beam disperses outward in the direction
of the beam line.
After irradiation the diodes were measured once
again to find the change in the dark current which can
then be normalized and mapped to a spatial intensity
distribution.

DATA

Characteristic Reverse Bias

The Saturation Current can be found by the reading

the reverse bias measurement and extrapolating the
flat line or taking an average of those points in the
neighborhood before breakdown.

Current A

Example of Diode IV Readout

0.001

0.0008

0.0006

0.0004

0.0002

0
0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6
Voltage V

Array 2: Diode 2 Characteristic Forward Bias with Fit

Above is the IV curve for one of the diodes, the data

has been fitted with the Shockley diode equation and
the forward voltage can be obtained easily from the
fitted function. The diodes are rather invariant before the irradiation. To show this quality, below is a
picture of all 20 diodes from array 2 graphed together.

Data

This section presents the readout data for the

diodes before and after the radiation. Shown below is
the readout of Diode 2. The readout graph for the 20
diodes are superimposed to show the low variance.
The graph can fitted by a simple exponential relationship and inverted to find the particular voltage
at a specified current.
The current to the voltage in a semiconductor can
be modeled with the Shockley diode equation[4]:

 V0 q
I = IS e kT 1

0.001
0.0008
0.0006
0.0004

Where IS is the reverse bias saturation current, q the

charge of the electron, k the Boltzmann constant, and
T the temperature in kelvins.

0.0002
0

Current A

Reverse Bias
0

0.0002

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

Array 2: All 20 Diodes X : V oltageV and Y : CurrentA

0.0004

The ability to fit the forward voltage to each diode

where they are located on the array is also possible:

0.0006

0.0008

0.001
300

250

200

150

100

50

0
Voltage V

Foward Voltage at 100e-6A

ANALYSIS

Analysis

As the diodes of have been mapped out to a 2D

cross section it is natural to calculate a Bivariate Normal Distribution to fit to the array of diodes in order
to calculate the probability density function that can
be used later for contour analysis and fitting for even
equivalence flux.

0.52
0.518
0.516
0.514
0.512

p.d.f = fp (x1 , x2 , ..., xn ) =

T 1
1
1
p
e( 2 (~x) (~x))
n
(2) ||

10

0.51
5

10
5

0
0
5

5
10

Where is the covariance matrix:

10

ij = cov(xi , xj ) = Exp[(xi i )(xj j )]

Array 2: All 20 Diodes Z Axis is Forward Voltage

Note: The bin widths dont directly correlate to the
dimensions of the diode

Thus for the analysis here the bivariate case is

the function that should describe an x-y spatial intensity distribution with weights of the intensity at
each point corresponding to the dark current readout.
The bivariate case is as follows[3]:

Unfortunately the data for irradiated parts was

not found in time, so the formula below can be used
to generate theoretical data. The forward voltage relative to the fluence can be described in the following
way[1]:

f (x, y) =

B
p

2x y

1 2

eA

V0 = eq

(x x )2
1
A=
2(1 2 )
x 2

2
2(x x )(y y )
(y y )

+
y 2
x y

Thus data can be generated by assuming that the

beam would die off over a Gaussian distribution. In
[1] the and parameters were found to be:
= 4.27 1018
= 1.289

Where x is the Standard deviation of the forward

voltage
in x, and similar for the y direction. Thus
The forward voltage as a function of fluence can be
ROOT
can
be used to find the spatial distribution
computed assuming the fluence dies off radially like
on
the
diode.
The fitting function in the data sec14
a 2D gaussian. Here eq = 5 10 Note: Gaussian
tion
can
have
parameters
returned and the contour
may be more skewed and sharper in practice.
mapped effectively:
Simulation of Radiation

Fitting Function Simulation

h4
Entries
20
Mean x 3.037
Mean y 2.078
RMS x
3.744
RMS y
2.606

30

10

25

20
15
0

10
5
0
10

10

5
10

10

10

Array 2: All 20 Diodes Z Axis is Forward Voltage

Simulation with Fit

10

10

Array 2: All 20 Diodes Simulation with Fit

REFERENCES

It has been shown that if the forward voltages can

be measured a bivariate distribution can be fitted and
the values of the means and standard deviations can
be obtained. The fitting function can then be used
as a guide to place a sensor for a particular amount
of fluence. The parameters for this simulation would
be:
***********************************
X Mean -3.0825
X Standard Deviation 14.743
Y Mean -2.08
Y Standard Deviation 6.71281
Correlation Parameter Sig.xy 3.38e-05
***********************************

Even Equivalence

In a real exercise, an experimenter is most likely

interested in an even dosage. After mapping out the
forward voltage to the spatial cross section of the
beam, the fitting parameters may show exactly where
the experimenter should place the sensor for the desired equivalence fluence.
If the experimentalist was very ambitious then a
contour on the fitting function can be picked to find
the equivalence fluence of interest and the part can be
traced along the contour to over the dosage time to
obtain an even amount of radiation. In practice this
would be rather difficult, because a motor would have
to be constructed to traverse the contour effectively.

Discussion

Conclusion

The idea of using silicon p-i-n diodes as a beam

profiling tool was explored. The diodes are invariant before irradiation at room temperature, in a light
sealed environment. Due to time constraints, the irradiated data had to be simulated; however, with the
valuable fitting parameters obtained from [1] the data
could be simulated rather easily. The irradiated forward voltage can then be fitted with a bivariate distribution, which will indicate where the desired fluence or dosage can be obtained, assuming the beam is
not moved between subsequent runs. Therefore using
Commercial BPW34FS silicon p-i-n Diodes to profile
PRIME Labs particle beam seems completely feasible. Further investigation and further study with real
data should be implemented.

It must be restated that the actual data given is

indeed hypothetical. The measurements for the forward voltage were real for the unirradiated diodes,
but because of time constraints, the data generated from the equivalence fluence was purely fictitious. Even though the data is generated, the analysis should work in a real run, and there is enough
motivation to complete this analysis.
The science and relationships behind these semiconductors are well known to the point where if the
particle beam can be used to dose these diodes then
the chance in the voltage and the equivalence flux can
be measured, because both can be easy measured as
shown in the study [1].
Given that the relationships themselves are likely
in a real run, there is reason to believe that the distribution should be similar to what is seen here, which
means that the analysis is quite plausible for the real
scenario. This analysis has quite a few advantages
over other techniques which should be discussed.
Using an array of diodes to calibrate or profile
a beam has some advantages to other methods. The
diodes are placed where a silicon sensor may be placed
if the beam is being used for new physics, which
means that the radiation would be extremely similar to what parts place in the beam would see. The
accuracy of a beam profiler up the beam line is different because there may be dispersion of the beam
as it comes to the part. Also using the diodes creates
vital experience for those who havent been familiarized with silicon sensor lingo and technology, not to
mention that the array of diodes is probably less expensive than a beam profiler.

References
[1] J. Mekki, M. Moll, M. Fahrer, M. Glaser, and L.
Dusseasu, Senior Member, IEEE. Prediction of
the Response of the Commercial BPW34FS Silicon p-i-n Diode Used as Radiation Monitoring
Sensors up to Very High FluencesIEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, Vol. 57, No. 4, August
2010.
[2] H. Spieler, Chinese Physics C 33.7. Semiconductor detectors November 2013. Vol. 38, No. 9,
September 2014.
[3] Hamedani, G. G.; Tata, M. N. (1975). On the determination of the bivariate normal distribution
from distributions of linear combinations of the
variables. The American Mathematical Monthly
82 (9): 913?915. doi:10.2307/2318494

[4] All

About

Circuits(2014).http

ROOT CODE

//www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol3 /chpt3 /1.html

ROOT Code

double func(double *x,double *p) {

double a = p[0];
double ux = p[1];
double uy = p[2];
double sx = p[3];
double sy = p[4];
double sxy = p[5];
double det = sx*sy-sxy*sxy;
double wx = sy/det;
double wy = sx/det;
double wxy = -sxy/det;
double arg = (x[0]-ux)*(x[0]-ux)*wx+
2*(x[0]-ux)*(x[1]-uy)*wxy+
(x[1]-uy)*(x[1]-uy)*wy;
return a*exp(-0.5*arg);//(2*3.141592654)/sqrt(det);//took out the normalization factor...
}
/*****************************************************************************************

***********************************************************************************/
double fit1(double *x, double *p){
double a = p[0];//the saturation current for the reverse bias region.
double k = 1.3806488e-23;
double T = p[1];
double q = 1.60217657e-19;
return a*(exp(x[0]*q/(k*T)) - 1);
}
/********************************************************************************

*******************************************************************************/
void parsegraph2(){
//This program attemps to read multiple files
//based on the input file as the following convention:
//array#.diode#.biasDirect.ext
//The following doubles and constants are for reading out each diode
//...find the iv curve fit it, then use the inverting function in
//ROOT to obtain the forward Voltage.
Double_t SpatCur[20];
Double_t SpatVol[20];
Double_t Posx[20] = {1,1,1,1,1,2,2,2,2,2,3,3,3,3,3,4,4,4,4,4};
Double_t Posy[20] = {1,2,3,4,5,1,2,3,4,5,1,2,3,4,5,1,2,3,4,5};
Double_t VD[20];
//The current that will correlate to a forward voltage for the fit1 function

ROOT CODE

double ID = 100e-6;
double Is = 2.5e-10;//2.5e-6;//The saturation current for the diodes.
double Temp = 283;//The temperature in kelvin...Room temp here at 20 degrees celcius.
//Graphing each of the IV Curves
TCanvas *c1 = new TCanvas("Diode Readout","Diode Readout",200,10,600,400);
//c1->Divide(3);
TGraph *g[20];
TMultiGraph *mg = new TMultiGraph();
//Declaring the fitting function to fit the iv curves
TF1 *f1 = new TF1("f1",fit1, 0, 0.6, 2);
f1->SetParameters(Is,Temp);
/*************************************************************************************/
for(int fo = 1; fo<21;fo++){
//character strings for reading the file names and creating multiple graphs.
char buffer[32];
char name[20];
snprintf(buffer, sizeof(char) * 32, "array2.%i.f.txt",fo);
g[fo-1] = new TGraph();
const char *file;
file = fopen(buffer,"r");
char line[64];
ifstream in(buffer);
in.getline(line,sizeof(line));
int n = 0;
while ( ! in.eof() ) {
in.getline(line,sizeof(line));
if ( ! in.eof() ) {
char *p = line;
while ( isspace(*p) ) p++;
if ( *p == \0 ) break;
double x = strtod(p,&p);
while ( isspace(*p) ) p++;
double y = strtod(p,&p);
g[fo-1]->SetPoint(n,-x,-y);
n++;
//mg->Add(g[n++]);
}
}
g[fo-1]->SetLineColor(fo);
mg->Add(g[fo-1]);
g[fo-1]->Fit("f1");
g[fo-1]->GetXaxis()->SetTitle("Voltage V");
g[fo-1]->GetYaxis()->SetTitle("Current A");

ROOT CODE

//"Inverts" the function for us...

VD[fo-1] = f1->GetX(100e-6,0.4,0.6,1e-11,100,false);
cout<<"The Forward Voltage at "<<ID<<" is: "<< VD[fo-1]<<"\n";
cout<<"Reading File "<<buffer<<"\n";
//fclose(file);
}
/******************************************************************************/;
//this section will graph only the diode readouts separately.
//c1->cd(3);
mg->SetTitle("Forward Bias Read Outs");
//mg->Draw("a fb l3d");
//g[2]->Draw("A*");
g[2]->Fit("f1");
//f1->Draw("L Same");
g[2]->GetXaxis()->SetTitle("Voltage V");
g[2]->GetYaxis()->SetTitle("Current A");
//g[2]->SetTitle("Example of Diode IV Readout");
//mg->Draw("AL");
//c1->cd(2)
/***************************************************************************************/
//This section fills a histrogram for the data we have to show that we can
//these are unirradiated.
TH2 *h2 = new TH2D("h2","Foward Voltage at 100e-6A",4,-12.33,12.33,5,-10.4,10.4);
int index = 0;
for ( int i = 1; i<=4; i++ ) {
for ( int j= 1; j<=5; j++ ) {
h2->SetBinContent(i,j,VD[index++]);
}
}
/***************************************************************************************/
//Calling the fitting function and histrogram to fill it.
//This should simulate the data we need.
//This represents the data for the irradiated forward
double vr = (4.27e-18)*pow(5e14,1.289);
voltage...this value will be passed into the double gaussian.
cout<<"Irradiated forward voltage: "<<vr<<"\n";
TH2 *h3 = new TH2D("h3","simulated data",4,1,5,5,1,6);
TF2 *fn = new TF2("fn",func,-12.33,12.33,-10.4,10.4,6);
fn->SetParameters(vr,0,0,5,5,1);
TGraph2D *g2 = new TGraph2D(20,Posx,Posy,VD);
TRandom *r = new TRandom();
TH2 *h4 = new TH2D("h4","Simulation of Radiation",4,-12.33,12.33,5,-10.4,10.4);
//h4->FillRandom("fn",1000);

SUMMARY OF PROJECT: A STUDENTS POINT OF VIEW

Double_t VS[20];
for(int i = 0; i<20 ; i++){
VS[i] = vr*exp(-((double)i-10)*((double)i-10));
}
index = 0;
for ( int i = 1; i<=4; i++ ) {
for ( int j= 1; j<=5; j++ ) {
h4->SetBinContent(i,j,(4.27e-18)*
pow((5e14)*exp(-(j-2.5)*(j-2.5))*exp((-(i-2)*(i-2))),1.289));
//h4->SetBinContent(i,j,vr*exp(-(j-2.5)*(j-2.5))*exp((-(i-2)*(i-2))));
}
}
//Drawing the various histograms and/or contours.
//fn->Draw("surf1");
//h4->Draw("lego2");
h4->Fit("fn");
fn->Draw("cont");
fn->SetTitle("Fitting Function Simulation");
//Getting the fitting paramters:
cout<<"***********************************"<<"\n";
cout<<"X Mean "<<fn->GetParameter(1) <<"\n";
cout<<"X Standard Deviation "<<fn->GetParameter(3) <<"\n";
cout<<"Y Mean "<<fn->GetParameter(2) <<"\n";
cout<<"Y Standard Deviation "<<fn->GetParameter(4) <<"\n";
cout<<"Correlation Parameter Sig.xy "<<fn->GetParameter(5)<<"\n";
cout<<"***********************************"<<"\n";
//c1->cd(1);
//h2->Draw("Lego2");
//c1->cd(2);
//g2->Draw("Surf1");
}

Summary of Project: A Students Point of View

This research project has expanded my understanding in multiple ways and some key concepts and
software utilized were:
Familiarization with C++
Familiarization with ROOT
Familiarization with Latex
Partical Beam Concepts
Solid State Semiconductor Theory
Partical Physics Statistics