Appeal No. 2005-0821
Application No. 09/960,356
semiconductor substrate, a boron containing layer formed on the
substrate containing the isotope 10B, a PN junction formed on the
surface of the substrate below the boron containing layer, and
where electron-positive hole pairs are generated in a depletion
layer of the PN junction by " rays generated by a reaction
between the neutrons and the isotope 10B (Brief, page 2). The
neutrons are detected on the basis of the quantity of the
electron-positive hole pairs, and the semiconductor device
further comprises an analyzing circuit portion on the
semiconductor substrate in a region other than the region where
the neutrons are detected, including an amplifier circuit and a
single channel height analyzer circuit (Brief, page 3).
Representative independent claim 3 is reproduced below:
3. A semiconductor device for detecting neutrons
comprising:
a semiconductor substrate;
a boron containing layer containing isotope 10B, the layer
being formed on said semiconductor substrate;
a PN junction formed on a surface area of said semiconductor
substrate below said boron containing layer; wherein
electron - positive hole pairs are generated in a depletion
layer of said PN junction by " rays generated by a reaction
between said neutrons and said isotope 10B, and the neutrons are
detected on the basis of the quantity of electric charge of the
electron - positive hole pairs; and
an analyzing circuit portion, which includes an amplifier
circuit for amplifying a signal and a single channel height
analyzer circuit for selecting only a pulse with a particular
height to estimate an energy spectrum of the " rays with the aid
of counting or by measuring peak height distribution using a
2
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