A NEW IONIZING RADIATION DETECTION CONCEPT WHICH EMPLOYS SEMICONDUCTOR AVALANCHE AMPLIFICATION AND THE TUNNEL DIODE ELEMENT

A concept for the detection of ionizing radiation which utilizes the inherent high speed and large amplitude of the induced charge pulse in a semiconductor avalanche detector coupled with the tunnel diode element is described. It has been shown possible to digitally detect extremely low energy events even in high‐current‐induced noise backgrounds in the avalanche detector. Cryogenic cooling is not required. Detection is accomplished by use of the rate of rise and magnitude of the nuclear pulse (or alternatively a pulse of suitable amplitude and rate of rise generated by optical photons). The high‐speed time domain allows discrimination against all noise‐generated events because charge is not integrated in this scheme.