Editing Diode (section)

===Ionizing radiation detectors===
In addition to light, mentioned above, [[semiconductor]] diodes are sensitive to more [[energy|energetic]] radiation. In [[electronics]], [[cosmic ray]]s and other sources of ionizing radiation cause [[noise]] [[pulse]]s and single and multiple bit errors. This effect is sometimes exploited by [[particle detector]]s to detect radiation. A single particle of radiation, with thousands or millions of [[electron volt]], s of energy, generates many charge carrier pairs, as its energy is deposited in the semiconductor material. If the depletion layer is large enough to catch the whole shower or to stop a heavy particle, a fairly accurate measurement of the particle's energy can be made, simply by measuring the charge conducted and without the complexity of a magnetic spectrometer, etc. These semiconductor radiation detectors need efficient and uniform charge collection and low leakage current. They are often cooled by [[liquid nitrogen]]. For longer-range (about a centimeter) particles, they need a very large depletion depth and large area. For short-range particles, they need any contact or un-depleted semiconductor on at least one surface to be very thin. The back-bias voltages are near breakdown (around a thousand volts per centimeter). Germanium and silicon are common materials. Some of these detectors sense position as well as energy. They have a finite life, especially when detecting heavy particles, because of radiation damage. Silicon and germanium are quite different in their ability to convert [[gamma ray]]s to electron showers.

[[Semiconductor detector]]s for high-energy particles are used in large numbers. Because of energy loss fluctuations, accurate measurement of the energy deposited is of less use.