Abstract
The basic properties of high‐quality CVD diamond film make them very interesting for a wide range of detectors: they are radiation hard, provide fast signals, show very low leakage current even in high radiation environments, have excellent thermal properties and can be manufactured as free‐standing detectors. This paper will give an overview of recent test results on polycrystalline and single crystal CVD diamond detectors. Large polycrystalline CVD diamonds with a charge collection distance up to 300 μm have been tested and are used to build prototype tracking detectors and beam monitors at the moment. Further irradiation studies have been carried out using a 24 GeV proton beam to test samples up to a total fluence of 1.8 × 10^16^ protons/cm^2^. Measurements on several samples of single‐crystal CVD diamonds have shown full charge collection in the detector. Results of transient‐current measurements on single crystal CVD diamonds, which are used to determine the charge carrier mobility and lifetime, show the excellent electrical properties of this material. The paper will present several different applications of CVD diamond detectors, which benefit from the recent improvements of detector‐grade diamonds. They range from tracking in High Energy Physics experiments, to high‐speed Beam Conditions Monitor at the collider experiments up to CVD diamond detectors as beam diagnostic in proton cancer therapy. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)