Study of aging of nuclear detector based on n-silicon/copper phthalocyanine heterojunction

Nuclear detectors based on n-silicon/copper-phthalocyanine (CuPc) heterojunction were fabricated using thermally evaporated CuPc thin film. These detectors exhibited stable electrical and α-particle characteristics for prolonged periods of time under ordinary laboratory conditions and also exposing to α– particles (during α– spectroscopic measurements). The electrical and alpha particle characteristics of these detectors were studied after a long gap of 3 – 5 years and the best result obtained from one detector (five year old) is reported here. Degradation in electrical and alpha particle characteristics were not found to be very significant over the period.