A Monte-Carlo study of defect sensitivity limits in positron lifetime spectroscopy

Abstract

The central task of positron lifetime spectroscopy is that of determining defect types and concentrations in solids. The technique is, however, often limited in its applicability owing to the difficulty of separating the defect and bulk lifetime components and further even when components are far enough apart to be separated the sensitivity limit for detecting the defect is ∼10 15s -1 - which is high compared to the sensitivity limits on other complimenting deep level techniques. Here we present studies carried out on using the MELT analysis software. The results show that by using high statistics spectra (10 8-10 10 events) such as may become available using planned high intensity LINAC-based beams, defect detection levels of ∼10 13cm -3 should become possible.