Measurement of a 2-Mev Electron Beam Flux by Using an Aluminum-Nitride Detector

A small aluminum-nitride detector of 3 mm x 3 mm x 0.387 mm in size fabricated at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory is used to measure the 1 MeV similar to 2 MeV electron beam from a beam facility at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute. Our objective is to check the linearity of the generated electric current relative to the electron beam intensity and to see if the electric current generated can be used as a measurement of the flux intensity. The results show that if the electric voltage applied to the detector is 2,000 V or higher and if the data are taken in a sufficiently short period of time so that the heat build up inside the detector is negligible, then the measured electric current increases linearly as the flux intensity increases. Hence, the measured value can be used as an estimate of the flux intensity, provided that one prior measurement of the beam with the given energy is available.