On Nov.6-8 2010, a patent ‘a PIN type nuclear detector and its preparation methods’ of associated professor Dr. Lu Min has been awarded gold prize on the seventh China International Patent and Famous-Brand Expo held in Wu Xi of Jiang Su province.

This patent aims at designing and fabricating PIN type nuclear detectors based on GaN, which has wider band gap than traditional semiconductor detectors such as Si, GaAs, CZT, etc.. So it doesn’t need to reduce noise signal by cooling, and it can work at room temperature. Also it has stronger radiation resistance compared with traditional semiconductor detectors. Therefore it has broad applications in nuclear medicine, nuclear imaging, and advanced nuclear reactors neutron detection, and so on. This detector has been in R&D, and the prototype device has been successfully fabricated by Dr. Lu Min and his group. This detector has emerged with some better performance than conventional semiconductor detectors.

GaN nuclear radiation detectors are the core component of the XRF equipments, nuclear medicine imaging systems such as X-ray imaging, PET and SPET machines, etc.. The excellent radiation hardness and corrosion resistance can greatly improve the performance of nuclear power control systems, which would result in better safety and higher using efficiency of nuclear fuel. The patent leads to not only good economic benefits, but also very prominent social benefits. It has significant impact on energy conservation and emission reduction. In the application of medical imaging system, it can greatly improve imaging quality and greatly reduce radiation dose absorbed by patients and doctors, and the doctors can also more easily observed the patients’  lesions with subtle pathological change. This is important to improve the diagnostic capabilities of medical imaging in China.