Thermoluminescence properties of wide-bandgap semiconductor hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN)
摘要
The thermoluminescence (TL) properties of the wide-bandgap semiconductor hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), a group III nitride component, were investigated. A 20 mg sample of h-BN was irradiated with β-particles from a 90Sr–90Y source over a dose range of 12 Gy to 3.5 kGy. The TL glow curves exhibited a linear dose‒response between 36 and 288 Gy before reaching the saturation level at approximately 864 Gy. At all doses and heating rate of 1 °C/s, two distinct dosimetric peaks were consistently observed at approximately 145–160 °C and 245–250 °C. The TL signal demonstrated good reusability, with peak intensities remaining stable throughout multiple measurements at a 72 Gy dose level and 1 °C/s. Furthermore, the shape of the TL glow curve remained unchanged when different heating rates were applied, ranging from 1 °C/s to 5 °C/s. However, the first peak completely disappeared after 480 h of storage, whereas the second peak retained 60% of its original intensity. The activation energies (Eₐ) were calculated via the (CGCD) method as 1.08 eV and 1.36 eV, respectively. The kinetic orders obtained from this technique were further validated via the peak-shape method. The first peak followed second-order kinetics, as indicated by a symmetric factor µg of 0.52, while the second peak conformed to general-order kinetics with a factor value of 0.48.