Silicon carbide detectors for sub-GeV dark matter

Griffin, Sinéad M.; Hochberg, Yonit; Inzani, Katherine; Kurinsky, Noah; Lin, Tongyan; Yu, To Chin

Abstract

We propose the use of silicon carbide (SiC) for direct detection of sub-GeV dark matter. SiC has properties similar to both silicon and diamond but has two key advantages: (i) it is a polar semiconductor which allows sensitivity to a broader range of dark matter candidates; and (ii) it exists in many stable polymorphs with varying physical properties and hence has tunable sensitivity to various dark matter models. We show that SiC is an excellent target to search for electron, nuclear and phonon excitations from scattering of dark matter down to 10 keV in mass, as well as for absorption processes of dark matter down to 10 meV in mass. Combined with its widespread use as an alternative to silicon in other detector technologies and its availability compared to diamond, our results demonstrate that SiC holds much promise as a novel dark matter detector.

Citation

Griffin, S. M., Hochberg, Y., Inzani, K., Kurinsky, N., Lin, T., & Yu, T. C. (2021). Silicon carbide detectors for sub-GeV dark matter. Physical Review D, 103(7), Article 075002. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.103.075002

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 5, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Apr 6, 2021
• Publication Date: Apr 1, 2021
• Deposit Date: Mar 19, 2025
• Journal: Physical Review D
• Print ISSN: 2470-0010
• Electronic ISSN: 2470-0029
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 103
• Issue: 7
• Article Number: 075002
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.103.075002
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/46736051
• Publisher URL: https://journals.aps.org/prd/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevD.103.075002