Characteristic studies for fast detection of a wide energy range of alpha particles in polycarbonate detectors

Parametric investigations were carried out on electrochemical etching (ECE) process of Lexan polycarbonate (PC) detector. Outstanding experimental results showing the enlargement of the registration energy range of α-particle tracks of the PC and decrease of ECE time are presented in this paper. In the experiment, major parameters such as etching solution and ECE conditions are focused. Ethylene diamine is applied as an additional chemical agent to increase the bulk etching rate (VB) which is maintained below a critical value (20μm/h). By using mixture of KOH, CH3OH (methanol), NH2(CH2)2NH2 (ethylene diamine) and H2O and applying interval-based ECE process in total duration of 70min, expanded α-registration range of 0.5-4.7MeV have been achieved, as well alpha track diameters decrease with increasing of alpha particle energy. In this process the density of background tracks also decreases comparably. In this paper, electric current is introduced as an effective ECE parameter for improving detection efficiency of low α-particles energy in the PC