Design and implementation of a real-time positron imager

Abstract

In this paper we are going to present the first real-time S-parameter positron imager. This is a useful tool in solid state technology for mapping the lateral defect types and concentrations on a material sample. This technology has been developed for two major categories of researchers, the first being those that have a focused low energy positron beam and second those that do not. Here we describe the design and implementation of a real-time automated scanning system that rasters a sample surface with a 0.5mm diameter positron source (or beam focus) so as to give an S-parameter image of a sample. The source (or beam) rasters across a region of a semiconductor sample in rectilinear motion while gamma ray energies E γ are processed using a standard HP Ge spectroscopy system and a 14 bit nuclear ADC. Two other ADCs are used to obtain the x, y coordinate data corresponding to each event by storing voltage pulses from the x & y stepper motor drives (or saddle coil currents) gated with the event pulses. Using these event data triplets (x, y, E γ) the S-parameter is computed in real time for each pixel region and is used to refresh a color image display on the screen coordinates. Optimal use is made of processing time and the system resources. This user-friendly system is efficient for producing high resolution S-parameter images of the sample, (patent pending 2003).