Diamond X-ray photodiode for white and monochromatic SR beams

High-purity, single-crystal CVD diamond plates are screened for quality and instrumented into a sensor assembly for quantitative characterization of flux and position sensitivity. Initial investigations have yielded encouraging results and have led to further development. Several limiting complications are observed and discussed, as well as mitigations thereof. For example, diamond quality requirements for X-ray diodes include low nitrogen impurity and crystallographic defectivity. Thin electrode windows and electronic readout performance are ultimately also critical to device performance. Promising features observed so far from prototype devices include calculable responsivity, flux linearity, position sensitivity and timing performance. Recent results from testing in high-flux and high-speed applications are described. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.