Characterisation of a Si-PIN diode detector and its usage in gamma spectroscopy

Silicon PIN diode detectors are usually used for the detection of X-ray and low-energy gamma rays. Depending on the thickness of the e window, 90% of the incident photons reach the detector at energies ranging from 2 to 3 keV. The detection efficiency is a function of the Si wafer thickness. For a 300 micron thick wafer, efficiency is ~100% at 10 keV, falling to ~1% at 150 keV. These detectors are usually rugged, cheap, available in light, portable configuration with liquid Nitrogen free cooling and can handle high count rate. Small volume planar detectors (Low Energy Photon Spectrometer (LEPS)) are usually sensitive for detection of x-ray and gamma rays below 100 keV. The efficiency of the LEPS detectors starts falling off sharply from around 40 keV. The Silicon PIN diode can be used as a detector suitable for detection of X-rays and/or gamma ray in the energy region where the LEPS detector efficiency decreases rapidly. In the present work, we have characterised a silicon PIN diode detector and compared its resolution and efficiency with a LEPS detector and tested whether the PIN detector can be used as a detector complementary to a LEPS in nuclear gamma spectroscopy