Abstract
Because of their low cost, low energy consumption, high performance, and exceptional electrical properties, nanocomposites containing carbon nanotubes are suitable for use in many applications such as sensing systems. In this research work, a metal–semiconductor–metal (MSM) structure based on a multiwall carbon nanotube/high-density polyethylene (MWCNT/HDPE) nanocomposite is introduced as a neutron sensor. Scanning electron microscopy, Fourier-transform infrared, and infrared spectroscopy techniques were used to characterize the morphology and structure of the fabricated device. Current–voltage (I–V) characteristic modeling showed that the device can be assumed to be a reversed-biased Schottky diode, if the voltage is high enough. To estimate the depletion layer length of the Schottky contact, impedance spectroscopy was employed. Therefore, the real and imaginary parts of the impedance of the MSM system were used to obtain electrical parameters such as the carrier mobility and dielectric constant. Experimental observations of the MSM structure under irradiation from an americium–beryllium (Am–Be) neutron source showed that the current level in the device decreased significantly. Subsequently, current pulses appeared in situ I–V and current–time (I–t) curve measurements when increasing voltage was applied to the MSM system. The experimentally determined depletion region length as well as the space-charge-limited current mechanism for carrier transport were compared with the range for protons calculated using Monte Carlo n-particle extended (MCNPX) code, yielding the maximum energy of recoiled protons detectable by the device.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
T. Reimer, I. Paulowicz, R. Röder, S. Kaps, O. Lupan, S. Chemnitz, W. Benecke, C. Ronning, R. Adelung, and Y.K. Mishra, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 6, 7806 (2014).
D. Gedamu, I. Paulowicz, S. Kaps, O. Lupan, S. Wille, G. Haidarschin, Y.K. Mishra, and R. Adelung, Adv. Mater. 26, 1473 (2014).
D.K. Avasthi, Y.K. Mishra, D. Kabiraj, N.P. Lalla, and J.C. Pivin, Nanotechnology 18, 125604 (2007).
C.L.L. Chen, K. Liu, C. Meng, H. Chunhua, J. Wang, and S. Fan, ACS Nano. 5, 1588 (2011).
P. Avouris, Z. Chen, and V. Perebeinos, Nat. Nanotechnol. 2, 605 (2007).
Y. Zhu, H.I. Elim, Y.L. Foo, T. Yu, Y. Liu, W. Ji, J.Y. Lee, Z. Shen, A.T.S. Wee, J.T.L. Thong, and C.H. Sow, Adv. Mater. 18, 587 (2006).
Z. Spitalsky, D. Tasis, K. Papagelis, and C. Galiotis, Prog. Polym. Sci. 35, 357 (2010).
J. Kim, S.M. Hong, S. Kwak, and Y. Seo, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 11, 10851 (2009).
W.-S. Tung, V. Bird, R.J. Composto, N. Clarke, and K.I. Winey, Macromolecules 46, 5345 (2013).
W.-S. Tung, N. Clarke, R.J. Composto, and K.I. Winey, Macromolecules 46, 2317 (2013).
T.H. Kim, B.Y. Lee, J. Jaworski, K. Yokoyama, W.J. Chung, E. Wang, S. Hong, A. Majumdar, and S.W. Lee, ACS Nano. 5, 2824 (2011).
I. Childres, L.A. Jauregui, M. Foxe, J. Tian, R. Jalilian, I. Jovanovic, and Y.P. Chen, Appl. Phys. Lett. 97, 173109 (2010).
T.-Y. Kim, K. Cho, W. Park, J. Park, Y. Song, S. Hong, W.-K. Hong, and T. Lee, ACS Nano. 8, 2774 (2014).
T. Susi, J. Kotakoski, R. Arenal, S. Kurasch, H. Jiang, V. Skakalova, O. Stephan, A.V. Krasheninnikov, E.I. Kauppinen, U. Kaiser, and J.C. Meyer, ACS Nano. 6, 8837 (2012).
W.K. Hong, G. Jo, J.I. Sohn, W. Park, M. Choe, G. Wang, Y.H. Kahng, M.E. Welland, and T. Lee, ACS Nano. 4, 811 (2010).
S. Kim, S. Lee, and J. Hong, ACS Nano. 8, 4698 (2014).
H. Kasani, M. Taghi Ahmadi, R. Khoda-bakhsh, D. RezaeiOchbelagh, and R. Ismail, J. Appl. Phys. 119, 124510 (2016).
M. Foxe, G. Lopez, I. Childres, R. Jalilian, A. Patil, C. Roecker, J. Boguski, I. Jovanovic, and Y.P. Chen, IEEE Trans. Nanotechnol. 11, 581 (2012).
M. Foxe, E. Cazalas, H. Lamm, A. Majcher, C. Piotrowski, I. Childres, A. Patil, Y.P. Chen, and I. Jovanovic, In: Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference (NSS/MIC), 2011 IEEE, (IEEE: 2011), pp 352–355.
H. Gotoh and H. Yagi, Nucl. Instrum. Methods 101, 395 (1972).
T.M. Filho, M.M. Hamada, F. Shiraishi, and C.H. de Mesquita, Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A 458, 441 (2001).
A. Šagátová-Perd’ochová, F. Dubecký, B. Zaťko, I. Chodák, M. Ladzianský, and V. Nečas, Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A 576, 56 (2007).
G.F. Knoll, Radiation Detection and Measurement (Hoboken: Wiley, 2010).
N.A. Bakh, A.V. Vannikov, A.D. Grishina, and S.V. Nizhnii, Russ. Chem. Rev. 34, 736 (1965).
W. Liu, Y. Miao, and Q. Meng, Integr. Ferroelectr. 138, 77 (2012).
W. Ding, A. Eitan, F.T. Fisher, X. Chen, D.A. Dikin, R. Andrews, L.C. Brinson, L.S. Schadler, and R.S. Ruoff, Nano Lett. 3, 1593 (2003).
T.R. Fadel, F.A. Sharp, N. Vudattu, R. Ragheb, J. Garyu, D. Kim, E. Hong, N. Li, G.L. Haller, L.D. Pfefferle, S. Justesen, K.C. Herold, and T.M. Fahmy, Nat. Nanotechnol. 9, 639 (2014).
E. Celia, E.T. de Givenchy, S. Amigoni, and F. Guittard, Soft Matter 7, 10057 (2011).
C. Cunha, S. Panseri, D. Iannazzo, A. Piperno, A. Pistone, M. Fazio, A. Russo, M. Marcacci, and S. Galvagno, Nanotechnology 23, 465102 (2012).
L. Stobinski, B. Lesiak, L. Kövér, J. Tóth, S. Biniak, G. Trykowski, and J. Judek, J. Alloys Compd. 501, 77 (2010).
S. Goyanes, G.R. Rubiolo, A. Salazar, A. Jimeno, M.A. Corcuera, and I. Mondragon, Diam. Relat. Mater. 16, 412 (2007).
J. Chiquito Adenilson, A. Amorim Cleber, M. Berengue Olivia, S. Araujo Luana, P. Bernardo Eric and R. Leite Edson, J. Phys. Condens. Matter 24, 225303 (2012)
S.M Sze and K.K Ng, Physics of Semiconductor Devices. (Wiley: New York, 2006).
H. Elhadidy, J. Sikula, and J. Franc, Semicond. Sci. Technol. 27, 015006 (2012).
A.A. Mowlavi and R. Koohi-Fayegh, Appl. Radiat. Isot. 60, 959 (2004).
S. Croft, Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A 281, 103 (1989).
J.C. Vitorelli, A.X. Silva, V.R. Crispim, E.S. da Fonseca, and W.W. Pereira, Appl. Radiat. Isot. 62, 619 (2005).
D. Rezaei Ochbelagh, H. Miri Hakimabad, and R. Izadi Najafabadi, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment 577, 756 (2007).
T. Bortfeld, Med. Phys. 24, 2024 (1997).
E.H. Rhoderick and R.H. Williams, Metal-Semiconductor Contacts (Oxford: Clarendon, 1978).
A. Takshi, A. Dimopoulos, and J.D. Madden, Appl. Phys. Lett. 91, 083513 (2007).
L. Pintilie and M. Alexe, J. Appl. Phys. 98, 124103 (2005).
S.R. Elliott, Physics of Amorphous Materials. (Longman London; New York, 1983).
G. Conte, M.C. Rossi, S. Salvatori, and G. Vitale, Diam. Relat. Mater. 13, 891 (2004).
N.A. Bhagat, N.K. Shrivastava, S. Suin, S. Maiti, and B.B. Khatua, Polym. Compos. 34, 787 (2013).
S. Lanfredi and A.C.M. Rodrigues, J. Appl. Phys. 86, 2215 (1999).
M.H. Al-Saleh, H.K. Al-Anid, Y.A. Husain, H.M. El-Ghanem, and S.A. Jawad, J. Phys. D Appl. Phys. 46, 385305 (2013).
A. Hajibadali, M. Baghaei Nejad, and G. Farzi, Braz. J. Phys. 45, 394 (2015).
S.M. Sze, Physics of Semiconductor Devices. (Wiley-Interscience, 1969).
A.R. Tameev, L. Licea Jiménez, L. Ya Pereshivko, R.W. Rychwalski, and A.V. Vannikov, J. Phys: Conf. Ser. 61, 1152 (2007).
E. Simoen, A. Mercha, J.M. Rafí, C. Claeys, N.B. Lukyanchikova, A.M. Smolanka, and N. Garbar, J. Appl. Phys. 95, 4084 (2004).
A.L. Giudice, F. Fasolo, E. Durisi, C. Manfredotti, E. Vittone, F. Fizzotti, A. Zanini, and G. Rosi, Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A 583, 177 (2007).
W. Jian, M. Li, Y. Jiang, J. Li, Y. Zhang, H. Gao, X. Liu, D. Jinfeng, D. Zou, X. Fan, L. Gan, C. Peng, L. Yi, and J. Lei, Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A 771, 17 (2015).
C.H. Kim, O. Yaghmazadeh, D. Tondelier, Y.B. Jeong, Y. Bonnassieux, and G. Horowitz, J. Appl. Phys. 109, 083710 (2011).
Acknowledgement
The first author would like to thank Dr. Davod Seifzadeh at the Applied Chemistry Department of University of Mohaghegh Ardabili for his technical support and providing facilities.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kasani, H., Khodabakhsh, R., Taghi Ahmadi, M. et al. Electrical Properties of MWCNT/HDPE Composite-Based MSM Structure Under Neutron Irradiation. J. Electron. Mater. 46, 2548–2555 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-017-5346-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-017-5346-7