A pixelated silicon telescope for solid state microdosimetry

Abstract A solid state microdosimeter consisting of a matrix of cylindrical Δ E elements of micrometric size implanted on a single E stage is discussed in this work. This detector was constructed in order to minimize some discrepancies found when comparing the distribution of energy imparted per event of a single Δ E -stage telescope with the one measured by a cylindrical tissue-equivalent proportional counter (TEPC). These discrepancies were ascribed to geometrical effects related to the wide sensitive area (1 mm2) of the single Δ E -stage telescope. Preliminary irradiations with mono-energetic neutrons showed a better agreement between the spectra measured with the new telescope and the TEPC. The improvement of the procedures adopted for correcting the spectra for tissue equivalence and for the effects due to the track distribution is also discussed