Radiation-sensitive OXide semiconductor Field Effect Transistor (ROXFET): a novel thin-film device for real-time and remote ionizing radiation detection

Nowadays, ionizing radiation detectors find application in a wide range of contexts, spanning from industry to healthcare and security. In this background, the next generation of ionizing radiation sensors require devices that are accurate, light-weight, relatively inexpensive and capable to be read-out in real-time and remotely. In recent years, research groups at the University of Bologna and the NOVA University of Lisbon (Portugal) have developed Radiation-sensitive OXide-semiconductor Field-Effect Transistors (ROXFET) to be employed as fast, real-time x-ray dosimetry detection systems. The ROXFET operation relies on the principle that, upon exposure to radiation, excitons are generated in the dielectric and separated into hole and electron charge carriers. While electrons are able to diffuse out of the dielectric layer, hole charges get trapped and contribute to the field-effect in the semiconductor channel. Macroscopically, such contribution is observable as a shift in transistor threshold voltage toward negative values, which turns out to be proportional to the absorbed radiation dose. In laboratory tests, ROXFET devices proved to be sensitive in a wide energy range and capable of providing reliable information about their radiation exposure history. Furthermore, the design of ROXFET can be integrated on a flexible substrate and read in real-time as a passive radiofrequency tag. Aim of this thesis work was to contribute to the development of the ROXFET technology. To this end, I carried out multiple characterization tests on recently fabricated samples, revealing how they outperformed previously observed radiation sensitivities. Later on, I worked in a clean-room facility to fabricate new ROXFET experimental samples by leveraging the knowledge acquired from previous observations.