Feasibility study of silicon PN photodiodes as X-ray intensity monitors for high flux X-ray beam with synchrotron radiation

The basic properties of silicon PN photodiodes as X-ray detectors with synchrotron radiation and their application to XAFS measurements have been investigated. The effects of diffraction peaks due to the crystalline structure of the photodiodes have been eliminated by mounting the scintillators on the photodiodes; (1) CsI(T1) crystal as a X-ray total absorption detection medium and (2) plastic scintillator as a non-crystalline solid state X-ray detection medium. An accurate comparison between XAFS signals detected by ionization chambers and silicon PN photodiodes is presented. It is shown that good quality XAFS measurements with silicon PN photodiodes are possible by eliminating the diffraction effects with scintillator photodiode configurations. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.