NUCLEAR I NSTRUMENTS AND METHODS 112 (1973) 219- 228 ; NORTH- HOLLAND PUBLI SHI NG CO.

CURRENT STATE OF THE ART IN SEMI CONDUCTOR DETECTORS

G. BERTOLINI, F. CAPPELLANI and G. RESTELLI
Joi nt Nuclear Research Center, Ispra, It al y
The highlights of the current state of the art in semiconductor
radiation detectors are reviewed. Most attention is devoted to
hyperpure-germanium and compound semiconductors. Only a
brief account of the most impressive achievements obtained in
Si(Li) and Ge(Li) detectors in then given. Present and future role
of compound semiconductors and their competition with ger-
manium are discussed.
1. Introduction
The development of semiconductor radiation de-
tectors as spectrometers started in 1956 with the
first study of a germanium surface-barrier detector
as heavy-particle spectrometer by Mayer and Gossik' ).
Two years later came the analogous device in silicon
and with it the improvement of avoiding detector
cooling2). The need of higher detector sensitive thick-
ness was satisfied after the compensation of p-type
silicon by Li diffusion and drift, a technique demon-
strated by Pell in 19603). The low atomic number of
silicon makes it unsuitable for 7 spectroscopy. The
impass was overcome with the compensation of p-type
germanium by Freck and Wakefield in 19624), who
used a technique similar to that of Pell.
The coaxial structure of the device, proposed by
Miller in 1963 and first realized by Tavendale in 19655),
made it possible to construct large-volume Ge(Li)
detectors. Fr om this moment the j oi nt efforts in the
material improvements, detector technology and elec-
tronic amplifying chain produced a rapid increase in
the performance of these detectors.
The need of continuous cooling at liquid-nitrogen
temperature of Ge(Li) stimulated efforts to obtain
highly purified germanium crystals which avoid the
necessity of Li compensation. This was achieved by
Hall at General Electric in 1970 6,7). Using this material,
p- n j unction detectors with an active volume up to
some cm 3 and room-temperature stability for storage
have been rapidly developed.
The importance of a room-temperature operated
semiconductor having high atomic number pushed
some researchers to study wide-bandgap semiconductor
materials. In 1966 the first results on CdTe were
published by American a) and Russian groups9); in
1970, GaAs detectors were reported' ), and in 1972
preliminary studies appeared on the use of other
exotic semiconductors like HgI2, PbO, etc.' "12).
Table 1 shows some characteristics of the most
important semiconductors used in detector construc-
219
TABLE 1
Characteristics of semiconductors.
Semic. At. Density Bandgap Energy per
number (at. cm -a) (eV) e-h pair
(eV)
Si 14 5".02 1022 1.12 (300 K) 3.61 (300 K)
1.16 (77 K) 3.76 (77 K)
Ge 32 4.44 1022 0.74 (77 I<) 2.98 (77 K)
GaAs 31-33 2.21 x 1022 1.43 (300 K) 4.2 (300 K)
CdTe 48-52 3.04 1022 1.47 (300 K) 4.43 (300 K)
HgI2 80-53 2.54 102~ 2.13 (300 K) 6.5 (300 K)
SiC 14-6 1.9 1023 2. 4-3. 3(300K) 11.3 (300K)
tion. The research up to now conducted on compound
semiconductors is directed to the development of
devices: (1) capable of room- or higher-temperature
operation, and (2) possessing high atomic number for
most efficient ~-ray detection.
The present state of the art imposes a rather cautious
j udgement on the possibilities of compound semi-
conductors. In fact, for the development of a room-
temperature radiation detector, GaAs, CdTe and
finally HgI 2 do represent a real improvement over
traditional detectors. On the other hand, in spite of
their higher atomic number, a practical utilization of
these detectors in ~,-ray spectroscopy requires much
higher volumes then those up to now reached (some
cubic millimeters).
The effect of the atomic number on the peak-to-total
ratio and the detection efficiency is related to the linear
attenuation coefficients shown in fig. 1 ,2). A more
accurate evaluation should take into account also
multiple effects. This is shown in table 2, which gives
the calculated peak-to-total ratio and full-energy peak
efficiency for the case of a 1.0-MeV ~-ray beam incident
on detectors of different volume and different mate-
ria113). The beam diameter is assumed equal to that of
the detector (cylinder of height equal to the diameter).
V. ~- RAY, X- RAY COUNTI NG AND SPECTROMETRY PROBLEMS
220 G. BERTOLI NI et al.
TABLE 2
Peak- t o- t ot al rat i os and ful l -energy peak efficiencies. Phot on
energy = 1 MeV; beam di amet er = det ect or di amet er ; cylin-
drical det ect or wi t h di amet er = hei ght a3).
Mat eri al Vol ume Peak- t o- t ot al Ful l -energy peak
(cm 3) ratio efficiency
Ge
CdTe
HgI2
0.5 0.043 0.010
1.0 0.054 0.015
5.0 0.090 0.039
10.0 0.120 0.060
0.5 0.142 0.036
1.0 0.164 0.051
5.0 0.248 0.117
10.0 0.288 0.160
0.5 0.308 0.088
1.0 0.350 0.121
5.0 0.436 0.227
10.0 0.492 0.295
I O O C
IOC
I . -
Z
l a d
h
W
0
Z
0
F - 1 . 0
Z
I.--
p-
~0 . 1
w
Z
_ J
0.01
0.01 0.1 1.0 I 0 I 0 0
PHOTON ENERGY IN MeV
Fig. 1. Li near at t enuat i on coefficients for Si, Ge, CdTe and
HgI2. The densi t i es as s umed are respectively 2.34, 5.35, 6.06 and
6.4 g cm -3. The linear at t enuat i on coefficients for t he Compt on
i nt eract i on are al most t he same for CdTe and HgI z and have
been pl ot t ed as a single lineZ 2).
The calculations are performed in the approxi mat i on of
no leakage of bremsstrahlung phot ons and of secondary
electrons. This last condition should be taken into
account since the leakage of secondary electrons is
certainly an i mport ant parameter, together with charge
trapping, in limiting the peak-to-total ratio of the detec-
tors presently available. However, in the approxi-
mat i on of the calculations performed, the results show
the striking advantage that would be obtained with
such hi gh-Z materials. This is particularly evident for
HgIz ; it appears in fact that the peak-to-total ratio for
a 0.5-cm 3 device is about three times that obtainable
with a 10-cm 3 Ge detector.
Fut ure progress should tend to the achievement of
larger useful volumes (at least some hundreds mm 3
for HgI2 and some cm 3 for CdTe). This has to be
connected with the capability of the material to be
depleted with application of voltages of the order of
1000 V over distances of the order of 10 mm. This in
turn is related to the net impurity concentration in the
semiconductor.
It is difficult to set an ultimate limit to the energy
resolution attainable with compound-semi conduct or
detectors. A linewitdh comparabl e with that obtainable
in Si and Ge detectors has been measured only in
GaAs. For this material a Fano factor equal or less
than 0.18 has been evaluated14), that should be
compared with a value of 0.08 15) or less obtained for
elemental semiconductors (fig. 2). The compari son of
>
Z
0
I - -
:::D
_ J
o
bJ
G
t 0
0.1
0. 01
' ' ' ' " " 1 ' ' ' ~ ' " ' 1 . . . . . . . . I - - ' ' ' ' " " 1 - -
Ge(Li) SECTROMETERS
RESOLUTION
F : O. 1 2 \
o P E HL 8~ GOULDI NG F : ~
~
. 0 5
ASSUMI NG : 2 , 9 8 e V
L , , I , H[ , , , , l I Hi I I I I I u~L I J Ll l l l l l
I 0 I 0 0 I 0 0 0 IO, O0 0
ENERGY E r keV
Fig. 2. The resol ut i on measur ed at several energi es by Pehl and
Goul di ng 1~) usi ng a very smal l Ge(Li) detector. The circles are
measur ed l i newi dt hs; t he x ' s show t he val ues obt ai ned when t he
electronic noi se cont r i but i on is subt ract ed in quadr at ur e. The
lines show t he cont r i but i on expect ed f r om t he det ect or for several
assumed val ues of t he Fano factor15).
T H E ART IN SEMI CONDUCTOR DETECTORS 221
these two enables us to suppose that the statistical
contribution to the energy resolution (which sets the
ultimate limit) be not very dissimilar from t hat for
Si and Ge. This could be valid also for CdTe and
HgI2, for which the influence of severe t rappi ng
phenomena in the detectors presently available inhibits
any speculation on the ultimate energy resolution.
2. Si l i c o n and ge r mani um l i t hi um- dri f t ed det ect ors
2.1. Si(Li)
The most impressive application of these detectors
appears now to be in the field of very low energy
X-ray spectroscopy (0.2-20 keV). This results from a
continuous i mprovement in the energy resolution of
these detectors due essentially to the efforts of the
Berkeley group~7'~8). They have been able in fact to
i mprove the energy resolution of X-ray spectrometers
to about 100 eV, maki ng possible the separation of all
elements above carbon in the periodic table (fig. 3).
The i mprovement comes from the use of new detec-
t or configuration [ double guard-ring structuret9)] and
from suitable selection and mount i ng of the input
FET and the use of a pulsed light feedback system in
the preampl i fi er: ).
Using a 5 mm diameter and 3 mm thick Si(Li),
J aklevic and Goul di ng 18) were able to detect the K line
of carbon (277 eV). The measurement was performed
with the source in the cryostat. The detector entrance
window (gold surface barrier on compensat ed silicon)
had a thickness equivalent to 0.2 ym of silicon.
For practical applications where a higher geometrical
efficiency is needed, 300-ram 2 detectors are commer-
cially available with a resolution of 255 eV for 5.9-keV
X-rays.
2.2. Ge(Li)
The state of the art reached in germanium-crystal
production, detector technology and associated elec-
tronics has allowed to progressively increase the
detector active volume and the energy resolution.
In the low-energy range small-volume (1 cm 3)
detectors are available with energy resolution of t he
order of 200eV at 5. 9keV. Wi ndow thickness
(,-, 1 ym Ge) limits the use of Ge(Li) at very low energy
X-rays while for energies above 20- 30keV their
higher efficiency makes t hem preferable to Si(Li)
detectors. Energy resolutions below 2 keV at 1330 keV
are obtainable for a detector volume of the order of
40 cm 3.
The trapping of charge carriers remains the most
i mport ant fact or limiting the resolution perfor-
M g AI Si P U L S E R
' T T T T
~6o ,~ ~ ~ ~ . ~ ~ ~ ~
40. ~ ~ / ~ ~ . I . m l
x* I
20 x ~ ~ ~ 105eV \ F 91eV ~ I
1.0 1.5 2 0
ENERGY (keV)
Fig. 3. X-ray spect r um of Mg, AI, Si at low count i ng rate18).
mance of germani um lithium-compensated diodes.
Therefore the efforts are directed to the investigation
of the origin of trapping phenomena. After the first
attempts reported at the 1968 Ispra meeting 2) studies
are now systematically performed principally by the
Chal k River Group, the firm Hoboken and the Stras-
bourg Group21). No definitive conclusion can still be
derived from the results obtained.
The i mprovement in the material characteristics and
the capability of applying a high electric field which
reduces the t rappi ng effects, has allowed to increase
significantly the detector active volume preserving a
good energy resolution. As a mat t er of fact active
volumes well above 100 cm 3 have been reported for the
conventional coaxial structure by the St rasbourg and
Chalk River gr oups22' l s) ; large-volume detectors for
the planar configuration have been developped at
Harwel123) and 66-cm 3 pl anar detectors are now
commercially available.
The active detector volume is standardized as
1.33 MeV full energy peak counting efficiency with
respect to that of a 3" 3" NaI(T1) crystal (in percent)
with the source placed 25 cm away from the detector24).
Values above 20% are available for commercial
detectors. The shape of the sensitive zone of the
coaxial Ge(Li) can be complicated by the presence of
insensitive regions, which are detectable by careful
7-ray scanning of the detector 25) (fig. 4).
Efficiency-instability probl ems due to insensitive
zones are presently obj ect of investigation26' 27). Even
if this phenomenon is not demonst rat ed to be a general
probl em, it is worthwhile to be mentioned, because of
the importance, for users of these detectors, of possible
decline in efficiency with time.
Large-vol ume hollow-core coaxial detectors are
interesting for counting weak sources which may be
V. ~- RAY, X- RAY COUNTI NG AND SPECTROMETRY PROBLEMS
222 G. BERTOLI NI et al .
0
N
t o
t o _
0 2 z 6
r n m
I I I I
@
o, 1 2 0 0 V O L T
A~
e ~
o 3 3 3 VOLT
oa
o
o
FROM 122 keV FULL ENERGY PEAK EFFICIENCY ATTENUATION
o FROM 122 keV BEAM LONGITUDINAL SCANNING
A FROM 662 keY BEAM LONGITUDINAL SCANNING
Fig. 4. Shape of the sensitive zone of a coaxial Ge(Li) detector as determined by T-ray scanning25).
d
Z
Z
-r
O~
LJ
1 3 .
Z
0
I I I I 1 I I I I
Ge(Li) DE TE(3TOR GOR 59 (36
HOLLOW COAXIAL 44cm 3
SOURCE ~0 INSIDE DETECTOR
BIAS I700V
T.C 2/~s
id
. 7 3 k e y , 333 key
d
10
I I I
O 100 200
SUM PEAK
2506 keV
~
_4.4
key
I I I I I I
300 400 500 6OO 700 800
PULSEHEIGHT (CHANNEL NO.)
I
9OO
PULSER
\
I
I000
Fig. 5. Part of a 6Co spectrum measured with the source placed centrally in the hollow core of a 44-cm a detector. The absolute
efficiency at 1333 keV is 1.3% 28).
pl aced i nsi de t he det ect or. Wel l - t ype det ect or s have
been r epor t ed since 1966; however, t he best resul t s
have been obt ai ned at Chal k River2a), where a hol l ow
det ect or of 75 cm 3 useful vol ume wi t h a 31- mm cent ral
hol e has been const r uct ed.
Fi g. 5 shows t he v-ray spect r um measur ed wi t h a
44-cm 3 det ect or havi ng a hol l ow core of 19 mm in
di amet er . A final r emar k on Ge( Li ) det ect or s concer ns
t hei r par t i cul ar sui t abi l i t y as very l ow back gr ound
v-ray spect romet ers. I n fact t he amount of nat ur al or-
r adi oact i ve el ement s, present in t he ger mani um cryst al
and r esponsi bl e for t he i nt ri nsi c det ect or back gr ound
count i ng rat e has been eval uat ed in a 68-cm 3 Ge( Li )
det ect or t o be less t han 10 - 6 ppm atomic29). Thi s
al l owed t o obt ai n for this det ect or, l ocat ed in an
under gr ound l abor at or y and sui t abl y shi el ded, a
THE ART IN SEMI CONDUCTOR DETECTORS 223
10000
8 000-
~; 6 000-
z 4000-
g
2~lAm SOURCE
148 2
5turn THI CKl cm DIAMETER
525 VOLTS
PEAKING TIME 17 psec
2 0 0 0 ~ ~ / G e Ka ESCAPE PEAKS
2 4 6 8 1 o ~2 14 i ; i ~ 2 b 2 ~
ENERGY (keY)
Fig. 6. Low-energy part of an 241Am phot on spectrum t aken wi t h a hyperpure-Ge detector36).
2 '4 2 '6 2 ~
background counting rate as low as 0.09 counts
keV -1 h -a at 500 keV and 0.023 counts keV - I h -~ at
1000 keV.
3. Hyperpure-germanium detectors
Ger mani um crystals with an impurity concentration
of 101 at oms cm -3 can be used to produce detectors
with 1 cm thick depletion depth if a p- n j unction
is realized reverse biased at some hundreds volts.
Such a detector has the remarkabl e advant age of
avoiding lithium compensat i on with possibility of
storage at room t emperat ure without deterioration.
This was clearly indicated at the meeting held in
1966 in New York City3). The first report on the
DET 2012-1
32 cm 3 PLANAR
60Co SPECTRUM
(LINEAR SCALE)
V B : 4500 VOLTS
: 2 psec
. . . . . ~ _ J l
117 MeV
PULSER
58 KeW
1.33 MeV
2.34 KeW
FWHM
)L
Fig. 7. 6Co 7 spect r um t aken with a hyper pur e- Ge detector4O).
fabrication of detectors from high-purity Ge is due to
Borkowski and Kopp31). One year later the above-
indicated purity level was achieved by Hall at General
Electric 6) and more recently by a Berkeley Group32),
with considerable i mprovement in the performance of
detectorsT' 33-42). Several alternative methods have
been used in the detector fabrication basically consist-
ing in applying n and p+ contacts with care in order
to avoid cont ami nat i on of the germanium. For the n +
contact, lithium is generally used, which has been
proved to be quite free from precipitation phenomena
at least for a year15'36).
For the p+ contact a surface barrier 31,33,36) or an
ion-implanted contact 34'42) has been used to obtain
thin entrance window detectors. Solid-phase re-growth
processing has been used to fabricate p+ contacts on
high-purity Ge 43). The energy resolution of these
detectors is similar to that of lithium-drifted detectors
of equivalent size. Fig. 6 shows the low-energy part
of an Z 41Am phot on spectrum3~).
This detector, 1 cm in diameter and 5 mm thick,
exhibits an energy resolution of 180eV at 5.9 keV.
In the figure, Ge X-ray escape peaks are evident; this
limits the usefulness of a Ge spectrometer as an
analytical tool. Gamma spectroscopy has been
performed with planar detectors up to 32 cm 3 with a
resolution of 2.34 keV for 1.33 MeV (fig. 7) 4 0 ) .
The detector was prepared depleting for 2.1 cm a
5-cm diameter General Electric crystal.
Energy resolution at 1.33 MeV of 1.95 keV has been
reported for a 5.6-cm 3 coaxial detector39).
The timing properties of coaxial detectors made
V. ~] - RAY, X- RAY COUNTI NG AND SPECTROMETRY PROBLEMS
224 G. BERTOLINI et al.
from hyperpure germani um come out to be better
compared to those of Ge(Li) coaxial detectors. This has
been shown 44) to be a consequence of the modification of
the 1 / r distribution of the electric field by the fixed
space charge. This results in a higher and more uniform
field distribution in a large portion of the detector
volume. Electron- and e-spectroscopy have also been
successfully performed, as shown in figs. 8 32) and 942),
demonst rat i ng the achievement of a very thin entrance
window
4. Cadmium telluride
It has long been realized that the probl em hindering
a wide application of cadmi um telluride for radi at i on
i
_ I I
/
e K - - 9 7 6 k e Y B i 2 0 7
CONVERSION ELECTRONS -
THROUGH GOLD FACE _
D I O D E ~ 1 2 7 - 1 8 A -
~ , k ~ / ~ /
",r " f 4 5 m r n - -
" - - F WHM= 2 keV A u ~ L i "
5 0 0 V B I A S
eL t "
1048 keV _ 1064 keV
/ 1
^ n
q . . _ l I I I I I I I I L ~ I L e ~ l L
C H A N N E L : i f -
Fig. 8.207Bi electron-conversion spectrum taken with a hyperpure-
Ge detector32).
detection resides in the material purity and perfection
achievable. Research for a detector-grade material,
started some years ago at Hughes 8) and in the
U.S.S.R.9), and more recently j oined by the efforts of
other laboratories, G.E.45), Strasbourg CNRS 46) and
Tyco Lab.47), has however proceeded quite slowly.
The relatively high at omi c number of CdTe presents
an advantage over Ge for an efficient detection of ?
rays; however, presently the main advantage resides in
the possibility of operating the detector at room tem-
perature, the limited dimensions achieved being suffi-
cient for special applications.
Semi-insulating CdTe single crystals are prepared by
vapor-grown or Brigdman-grown technique at Hughes
and more recently at Tyco Lab. using t heTHM system
with a tellurium solvent; it is at present difficult to give
preference to one of the methods. Low-resistivity
material has been prepared at General Electric and at
Strasbourg CNRS by a sealed-ingot zone-refining
technique.
In the fabrication of the counters, satisfactory
results have been obtained with surface barriers and
more recently with ion-implanted contacts48).
Room-t emperat ure c~-ray spectra with a resolution
of 23 keV fwhm have been performed by Cornet
et al. 48) operating at room t emperat ure an 8-mm 2 low-
resistivity ion-implanted detector.
In phot on spectroscopy the highest resolution has
been reported by Bell and Waldt49). Using an 8-mm s
detector, these authors have obtained a resolution of
4% over the range 122-661 keV and demonst rat ed
detector linearity up to 1.5 MeV (phot opeak position
vs energy).
Sensitive volumes up to 200 mm 3 have been recently
obtained by Z anio 5) with a resolution of 7% at
1"
0
Z
0
lff
l O '
i i
Ca)
5. 486 MeV
~ " : : " f
/ ~/ / ' ' 5.~{
I ON I M P L A N T E D
p + - v - n + Ge
3. 10 l ( N O - N A ) / c m 3
t ' / mm.gOV,7'7 K
2~' ~m ~ F R O N T CONTACT
PULSER
% " . . .
B6 N b V '
16 k e V ~
, , o
P L L S E R
m
1 5 0 0 1 5 5 0
C H A N N E L
4 2
Fig. 9. 241Am c spectrum in logarithmic and linear scale; hyperpure-Ge detector ' ).
THE ART I N SEMI CONDUCTOR DETECTORS 225
Z
Z
<
3E
(Z:
UJ
(3-
Z
o
,r.
57Co
l h keV
gO O
STco " 122 keV
. .
Cd Te n - t y p e
-50"C, - 400 VOLTS . "
At CONTACTS
1 = 0 2 h A
AMP - TC 200 "
PREAMP- ORTEC 118 A
FWHM - 107 keY
K X- RAY
ESCAPE
22 keV 97 keV
i ' . , i
- .
i i i i I r
ENERGY ( k eV)
Fi g . 1 0 . 5 7 C0 y - r a y s p e c t r u m o b t a i n e d wi t h a c o o l e d Cd T e det ect or 45) .
136 keY
661 keV. Fig. 10 shows a 57C0 spectrum taken at
- 5 0 C with a 2 mm in diameter and 1 mm thick
detector45).
The room-temperature spectrum of a 50-mm 3
detector constructed at Hughes 51) and exposed to 137Cs
Y rays is shown in fig. 11.
5. Gallium arsenide
In recent years high-purity and high crystalline
perfection GaAs material has become available by
epitaxy techniques from the liquid or vapour phase.
Fig. 11. 137CsT-ray spect r um t aken wi t h a 50-mm 3 CdTe det ect or
at r oom temperature51).
Actually the crystal thickness attainable is less than
200/~m, typically being of the order of 50-100/~m if
crystalline perfection has to be preserved.
Thicker crystals made from boat- or Czochralski-
grown material are still not useful for detector con-
struction because of the presence of severe trapping,
as formerly observed in the unsuccessful efforts of
Harding et al.52), Kobayashi and Takayanagi 53) and
Akutagawa et al.54).
The energy gap of this material (1.43 eV) makes this
detector particularly suitable at room and above room
temperature as ~, electron and low-energy phot on
spectrometer, e.g. for biomedical applications.
Successful results on GaAs detectors as spectro-
meters have been reported previously by Eberhardt
et al. l) and subsequently by the same authors14'55'56),
by Hesse et al.57'sa), by Kobayashi et al. 59) and by
Gibbons and Howes6). All the detectors reported by
the above-mentioned authors, are surface-barrier type
prepared (mainly) from vapor- or liquid-phase grown
material. The sensitive thicknesses are seldom higher
than 70/~m for a useful area of few square millimeters
(up to 27 mm z, typically 5-8 ram2).
Optimum energy resolutions obtained are: 15.5 keV
for 5-MeV ~ particles, 40 keV at 120C6); 8 keV for
115-keV conversion electrons~9), 2.6 keV for 122-keV
photonsl4' Sa). These energy resolutions are improved,
by cooling the detector (130 K), to 16 keV for e' s,
1.3 keV for 84-keV electrons and 640 eV for 59, 6-keV
V. 7- RAY, X- RAY COUNTI NG AND SPECTROMETRY PROBLEMS
226 G. BERTOLI NI et al.
photons' 4). Figs. 12 and 13 14) give the X and
spectrum of the same source t aken with the detector
operated at room t emperat ure and at 122 K; the
X-ray escape peaks are evident. In conclusion, GaAs
detectors appear promising X-ray room-t emperat ure
spectrometers; however, their interest is mainly related
to their operability at human body temperature. In
fact a reasonable increase of the useful dimensions of
GaAs detectors appears a difficult goal to be achieved;
on the contrary, the actually available dimension is
well suited for biomedical applications like "i n vi vo"
measurements59). For example, a counter with deple-
25-
20-
z 1 5 -
( J
a_
z 5-
8
N p L p , 1 7 . 7 6
M
~ i I ~ N p - L y . 2 0 ' 8
160 200 300
2 q A m S O U R C E
(237Np X R A Y S )
C~As 12
TEMP= 295" K
BIAS = 8/-, V PULSER +
E SC P/ 2 o-t 1
4 0 0 ~ 5 0 0
C H A N N E L N U M B E R
Fig. 12. 341Am X - and 7-ray spect r um t aken with a GaAs
det ect or at r oom t emper at ur O4) .
Hg I~ DETECTOR
4 E 14
F I8 S OURCE 24~m
k e V
%
x
J
I..U
z
z
<
- r
o
t r
LIJ
CL
t J)
I--
Z
D
0
tO
2.4
0. 8
( u ) + I OOOV
MA I NL Y E L E CT RON
T RA V E RS A L
2 6 keV
5 9 . 5 keY
P UL S E R
IOO 200 300 4 0 0 500 6 0 0
CHA NNE L NUMB E R
tion depth from 30 to 60 #m and 6 mm 2 area, can be
operated at 40C with a /3 threshold energy of
20 keV 60).
6. Mercuri c iodide
The search for semiconductors that might offer
potential advantages for detector applications with
respect to Si and Ge has lead recently to the utilization
of Hgl 26 1' 62, 12).
This material was firstly introduced by Willig and
Rot h at the Strasbourg Conference on CdTe in 19716l)
and soon appeared very attractive because of the very
5,
2t'lAm SOURCE y - 5 9 54 ',
~ 4 _ N p . L I 3 ( 2 3 7 N p X _ R A Y S ) S~ ~E'R2(
: 1 7 " 7 6 G ~ a A s # 5 J L
z 3 T E M P . = 122 K t
B I A S = 1 0 0 V
0. 64~
o_ 2
9
_~ N p - L y - 5 9 " 5 4
o 1 20"8 y - 26 36 X-RAY
ESCAPES ""
o . . . . . . . . . . J l
300 500 700 900
CHANNEL NUMBER
Fig. 13. 241Am X- and ? - r ay spect r um t aken wi t h a GaAs
det ect or at 122 K 14).
f
PUL SER
(b) - I OOO V
MA I NL Y HOL E
T RA V E RS A L
IOO 200 3OO 4 0 0 5 0 0 6 0 0
CHA NNE L NUMB E R
Fig. 14. (a) Spect r um f r om a mercuri c-i odi de cryst al for X- and ? - r ays of "41Am i nci dent on t he negat i ve electrodes. (b) As in (a)
but wi t h t he 2al Am phot ons i nci dent on t he positive electrodO2).
THE ART IN SEMI CONDUCTOR DETECTORS 227
high Z (80 for Hg and 53 for I), and large bandgap
(2.13 eV at 300 K), which allows room-t emperat ure
operation.
Detectors of some mm z in area and thickness of
~0 . 8mm have been constructed directly putting
contacts by painting or evaporat i ng carbon onto two
faces of the crystal. These contacts were approxi mat el y
ohmic up to 104 V/ c m. The spectra obtained by such
conduction-type counters operated at r oom t emperat ure
show that spectrometry for y rays of less than 100 keV
is possible with an energy resolution of ~ 10 keV 12).
Fig. 14 shows the X- and y-ray spectrum of an
24tAm source t aken with a Hg[ 2 detector 0.8 mm
thick. In the spectrum at left, low-energy phot ons being
stopped near the negatively polarized surface, the
carriers maki ng the longest paths t hrough the crystal
are electrons. The traveling carriers are the holes in the
spectrum at right where the electrode polarization is
inverted. This result proves the presence of severe hole
trapping, which inhibits such crystals to be used for
spectrometry of higher-energy photons.
The i mprovement s are then strictly depending on
better met hods in the crystal growing, but all past
experience with compound semiconductors points to
the fact that i mprovement s in this field are quite
tedious and difficult to be achieved.
7. Si l i con carbide and diamond
Silicon-carbide detectors for high-temperature heavy-
particle spectroscopy have been developed since some
years mainly by a Westinghouse gr oup6 3) . However,
the most recent results are due to K6niger64). Charac-
teristics of this semiconductor are rather unique being
stable up to 2000C as opposed, for example, to HgI 2
which melts at 250C.
or-particle spectra have been recorded by detectors
of some mm 2 warmed up to 500C, but the energy
resolution attainable up to now allows only counting,
the limit being clearly imposed by the poor quality of
the material.
Recent interesting results have been reported by
Konor ova and Kozlov 65) for a di amond detector
(some mm 2 0.22 mm). ~ particles and electrons have
been detected with resolution at r oom t emperat ure of
4.5 % and 5 %, respectively. The investigation perform-
ed in the range up to 600C showed little change in
detector properties up to 200-300C.
8. Conclusions
The state of the art as it appears from the preceding
paragraphs can be compared with the excellent review
papers by Fowler and McMat h (J une 1971) 16) for
germani um detectors, of Miller (November 1971) 66 )
for compound semi-conductors and of Muggleton 67)
and Walter 6s) for X-ray spectrometers. I mpor t ant
advances are evident only for hyperpure-germani um
detectors. In fact the 7-cm 3 planar detector has prog-
ressed up to 32 cm 3 with a resolution of 2.34 keV fwhm
at 1.33 MeV. Improvement s have also been achieved
in the technology of the detector (groove detectors)
with gain in the energy resolution that is now equal to
that of Ge(Li) detectors of the same volume.
Among the new materials only GaAs detectors have
an energy resolution comparabl e with that of Si and Ge.
The detectors constructed from CdTe, Hg[ 2 and SiC
still show an energy resolution strongly limited by
t rappi ng phenomena.
Detectors made from hi gh-bandgap compound
semiconductors t oday find applications for ct-, electron-
and X-ray spectroscopy in fields where the possibility
of operating at r oom rempet at ure or above is of maj or
i mport ance compared to a very good energy resolution.
Concerning their use in 7-ray spectroscopy, these
materials, and HgI z especially, would offer a striking
advant age over germani um crystals. However, their
practical use would require the at t ai nment of detector-
grade crystals of some hundreds mm 3 for Hg[ 2 and
some cm 3 for CdTe; therefore the way to compete
with the present performance of germani um spectro-
meters appears rather long.
The authors gratefully acknowledge the help
received from many scientists who made available to
t hem preprints and unpublished results, in particular
I. L. Fowler, A. J . Tavendale, K. R. Z anio, P. Siffert,
W. R. Willing, J . Llacer, A. Coche, F. S. Goulding and
G. Gaggero
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Di scussi on
Dumitrescu: Can you specify t he reasons of t he efficiency
instability with time in Ge(Li) det ect ors?
Bertolini: No reasonabl e expl anat i on has been present ed up to
now for this phenomenon.
Martinelli: Are GaAs crystals commercially available and in
whi ch di mensi ons?
Bertolini: Det ect or-grade GaAs crystals are not j et commer-
cially available.
Spernol: Is there any devel opment in t he crystal count ers such
as di amond and ot hers which were st udi ed rat her extensively by
Van Heerden about 25 years ago ?
Bertolini: No devel opment has been report ed, since conduct i on
count ers are much mor e affected by i nhomogenei t y, current
noise and i ncompl et e charge collection t han j unct i on counters.
Spernol: In whi ch state are HPGe detectors delivered by t he
supplier. How are they handabl e in a normal l aborat ory and which
is their long-time behavi our under normal condi t i ons (bad or no
vacuum).
Bertolini: HPGe detectors are delivered in a high vacuum
cryost at with LN2 dewar, integral ion pump and cryosorpt i on
pumpi ng during operat i on. No det ect or degradat i on is report ed
and in t he case of accidental bad vacuum, vacuum rest orat i on
very oft en reestablishes det ect or performance.
Kokta: Whi ch is t he influence of t hermal cycles on HPGe
detectors.
Bertolini: HPGe det ect ors appear insensitive to t hermal cycles.