TSU radiophysicists are developing detectors for electron microscopes

11 September 2019

TSU radiophysicists are creating sensors on chromium-compensated gallium arsenide (HR-GaAs: Cr) for detecting high-energy electrons. Based on these sensors, by December 2019, scientists will develop detectors for research and measurement equipment, in particular, modern transmission electron microscopes for the study of biological tissues and cells.

As a part of a new project, scientists plan to optimize the characteristics of matrix HR-GaAs: Cr sensors for detecting high-energy electrons. These are electrons with energies from several thousand to several million electron volts emitted during the radioactive decay of atomic nuclei. Such electrons are sometimes called beta particles or beta rays.

By December 2019, radiophysicists will create a prototype sensor for transmission electron microscopes. The use of HR-GaAs: Cr sensors in them will improve the resolution of the resulting image, increase the life of the system as a whole, and make the detector more efficient.

- The material developed by the employees of the center has high radiation resistance and charge collection efficiency, which increases the efficiency of the system. Improved sensors can be used in transmission electron microscopes. They find their application in medicine and in the study of various biological objects, for example, tissues and cells, - said Leila Shaimerdenova of the research and development center Promising Technologies in Microelectronics at TSU.

Studies of the radiation resistance of optimized sensors to high-energy electrons will be carried out at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (Dubna).

Currently, TSU gallium arsenide sensors are used in the leading world scientific centers DESY, ESRF, PSI, RAL, and JINP, and in the project for creating the prototype of the world's first Compton X-ray microscope in Germany.