Next Generation High-Performance, Low Cost, Semiconductor-Based Spectroscopic Personal Radiation Detectors (SPRDs)

This effort is aimed at developing an advanced semiconductor-based Spectroscopic Personal Radiation Detector (SPRD) for both gamma and neutron detection. Design and performance objectives shall exceed the requirements set forth in the ANSI standards N42.48. High performance SPRDs fill a niche between Personal Radiation Detectors (PRDs) and Radioisotope Identification Devices (RIIDs). PRDs only sound an alarm when the radiation field exceeds a threshold level. While these devices are portable and relatively low cost, they do not have radioisotope identification capability. RIIDs, at the other end of the spectrum, have very good energy resolution for rapid identification of radioisotopes but are relatively more expensive due to the complexity of the systems which sometimes includes the need for a customized Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC). Using a semiconductor-based approach offers many benefits over scintillators including, but not limited to, higher energy resolution for better and faster isotope identification, high gamma capture efficiency, lower false alarm rates, compactness, low size, weight and power (SWAP), and robustness. An example of detector materials with performance of interest to CWMD include thallium bromide (TlBr) for gamma detection. Other detector materials will be considered if they have performance as good or better than TlBr and cost as low or lower than TlBr. For neutron detection, an example of a semiconductor material of interest includes lithium indium di-selenide (LiInSe2, or LIS).