The Passivated Implanted Planar Silicon (PIPS) Detector is a product of modern semiconductor technology. In most applications, this detector replaces silicon surface barrier (SSB) detectors and diffused junction (DJ) detectors, both of which are still made the same way they were made in 1960. The PIPS detector has a number of advantages over SDB and DJ types:
- All junction edges are buried – no epoxy edge sealant is needed or used.
- Contacts are ion-implanted to form precise, thin, abrupt junctions for good alpha resolution.
- Entrance window is stable and rugged – it can be cleaned readily and reliably.
- Leakage current is typically 1/8 to 1/100 of that of SSB and DJ detectors.
- Dead layer (window) thickness is less than that of comparable SDB or DJ detectors.
- Standard detectors are bakeable to 100 °C – higher for special models.