The radiation detection efficiency and spectral resolution of mercuric iodide detectors can be improved significantly by
increasing the volume of the detectors and by using a pixellated anode structure. Detector bodies with a thickness of
nominally 10 mm and an active area of approximately 14 mm x 14 mm have been used for these experiments. The
detectors were cut from single crystals grown by the physical vapor transport method. The cut surfaces were polished
and etched using a string saw and potassium iodide solutions. The Palladium contacts were deposited by magnetron
sputtering through stainless steel masks. The cathode contact is continuous; the anode contacts consist of an array of
11 x 11 pixels surrounded by a guard ring. The resistance between a pixel and its surrounding contacts should be larger
than 0.25 Gohm. The detector is mounted on a substrate that makes it possible to connect the anode pixels to an ASIC,
and is conditioned so that it is stable for all pixels at a bias of -3000 Volts. Under these conditions the spectral resolution
for Cs-137 gamma rays (662 keV) is approximately 5% FWHM. When depth sensing correction methods are applied,
the resolution improves to about 2% FWHM or better. It is expected that the performance of the devices can be
improved by the careful selection of crystal parts that are free of structural defects. Details of the fabrication
technologies will be described. The effects of material inhomogeneities and transport properties of the charge carriers
will be discussed.
When bias is applied to a mercuric iodide detector with planar contacts, placed in a light-tight enclosure, the leakage
current initially increases with increasing bias, as can be expected for a semiconductor detector. At some value of the
bias however, the current starts to decrease sharply, and reaches very low values when the bias is further increased. This
phenomenon of negative differential conductivity has been observed previously in high-bandgap semiconductors with
deep electron and hole traps. This combination of traps can provide an effective recombination channel which reduces
the number of free electrons and holes at high electric fields.
It is suggested in this paper that mercuric iodide contains a set of traps with the required properties in the form of doubly
ionized mercury interstitials and iodine vacancies. These traps are incorporated in the single crystals by the processing
methods used to obtain the pure material and by the presence of mercurous iodide in the synthesized material.
The main advantage of this behavior is the apparent low leakage current of the detectors at high fields (1000 V/mm) at
ambient temperatures. The disadvantage is that carriers generated by ionizing radiation will also be subject to this
recombination process, so that complete charge collection may be impaired. Additional details of this hypothesis will be
presented for discussion.
The performance of semiconductor radiation detectors is a function of electronic properties which are in turn related to crystallographic quality. In this paper we used devices from <100> and <110> growth regions of several different HgI2 crystals grown by the PVD method. We measured I/V characteristics of HgI2 devices over the range of +/-1000V. Voltages were ramped at different rates and at a range of temperatures (-70oC to +20oC) and the dark current decreased with temperature. Several devices exhibited negative differential resistance indicating field enhanced trapping and/or the formation of high-field domains. These devices exhibited NDR at both positive and negative voltages and it was observed that the current peak reduced with repeated cycling of positive bias indicating the reduction of carriers with time. After applying a negative bias, the current peak on the positive bias increased dramatically indicating that the traps were repopulated. These experimental results were modeled with several analytical expressions of conduction processes, considering both semiconductor and insulator models, e.g., Frenkel-Poole, Schottky, and space-charge-limited emission, toward lending insight to mechanisms resulting in HgI2 detector conditioning.
The transport properties of electrons and holes in mercuric iodide determine the performance of detectors. The relatively low levels of these properties limit the volume of detectors with high spectral resolution that can be fabricated and leads to long pulse collection times. These transport parameters can be increased by optimizing the material processing, the crystal growth, and the detector fabrication. This paper will present our own results obtained by analysis of individual pulse shapes. The values for the mobilities generally measured are between 60-90 cm2/Vsec for electrons and 2-4 cm2/Vsec for holes. These results will be compared with the values published by other investigators. Possible reasons for the differences in the reported values will be discussed and explanations will be suggested.
We investigated bulk-grown HgI2 crystals to better understand the nature of crystallographic defects and strain/stress in different growth regions of the crystal and their affect on the performance of HgI2-based radiation detectors. Double-axis and triple-axis high-resolution x-ray diffraction were used to characterize the mosaic structure and strain in HgI2. Rocking curves revealed significant mosaic spreading in <110> growth regions exhibiting X-defects versus X-defect-free <100> growth regions. Both <110> and <100> growth regions exhibited little strain (~0.01%). We report the narrowest rocking curves (~ 9 arcsec) to date on HgI2 as a result of the resolution of the instrument (~ 6 arcsec). Raman spectroscopy was used collaboratively to confirm little residual stress in the crystals. We developed a growth rate ratio (chi) and show this geometric model used to describe crystal shape and regions of <100> and <110> growth. Optical characterization of X-defects are presented and discussed. Further the influence of crystallographic defects and strain on radiation detector performance are discussed.
The effects of elevated temperatures on the spectral performance of a planar mercuric iodide (HgI2) gamma ray detector were evaluated at 25°C, 35°C, 45°C and 55°C using two test isotopes. 137Cs at 662 keV and 241Am at 59 keV. Spectral analysis was used to determine the spectral parameters (i.e. %FWHM of the full energy peak, the peak channel position and the peak to background ratio). Spectral performance degraded slightly with increasing test temperatures, but recovered on returning to ambient conditions. The results demonstrate that temperature excursions up to 55°C minimally degrade the spectral performance of mercuric iodide detectors.
The recent technological developments and availability of mercuric iodide detectors have made their application for astronomy a realistic prospect. Mercuric iodide, because of its high resistivity and high density, can be used in a variety of astronomy instrumentation where high spectral resolution, low noise levels, stability of performance, resistance to damage by charged particles and overall ruggedness are of critical importance. X-ray detectors with areas of 12 to 100 mm square and 1 mm thickness have absorption efficiencies approaching 100% up to 60 keV. The spectral resolution of these detector's ranges from 400 eV to 600 eV at 5.9 keV, depending on their area, and the electronic noise threshold is less than 1.0 keV. Gamma ray detectors can be fabricated with dimensions of 25 mm x 25 mm x 3 mm. The spectral resolution of these detectors is less than 4% FWHM at energies of 662 keV. Because of the high atomic numbers of the constituent elements of the mercuric iodide, the full energy peak efficiency is higher than for any other available solid-state detector that makes measurements up to 10 MeV a possibility. The operation of gamma ray detectors has been evaluated over a temperature range of -20 through + 55 degrees Celsius, with only a very small shift in full energy peak observed over this temperature range. In combination with Cesium Iodide scintillators, mercuric iodide detectors with 25 mm diameter dimensions can be used as photodetectors to replace bulky and fragile photomultiplier tubes. The spectral resolution of these detectors is less than 7% FWHM at 662 keV and the quantum efficiency is larger than 80 % over the whole area of the detector.
An evaluation of the spectral performance of eight planar mercuric iodide (HgI2) gamma-ray detectors under continuous bias voltage for a duration of up to 2000 hours has demonstrated the high degree of long-term stability of mercuric iodide as a radiation detector material. Spectral parameters determined in this evaluation include the %FWHM, the peak-to-valley and peak-to-background ratios, the gain stability of the full energy peak, and the preamplifier offset voltages. Isotopes with three distinct energies were used for these measurements: 137Cs (662 keV), 57Co (122 keV) and 241Am (59 keV). The spectra were analyzed and spectral parameters were generated using Robwin, a spectral analysis program developed by Constellation Technology. Robwin performs simultaneous non-linear fitting of several key elements of the spectrum, emphasizing the continuum for the entire spectrum, the photopeak response function of all lines in the spectrum, the relative intrinsic efficiency of the detector and the photopeak resolution width. These findings provide further support for the widespread use of mercuric iodide as a room temperature semiconductor radiation detector material for energy spectrometry.
An understanding of compensation and trapping in Cd1-xZnxTe and HgI2 is necessary in order to improve the size and spectroscopic performance of radiation detectors fabricated from these materials. Although several electron and hole traps have been identified, very little is currently understood about the effect of specific carrier traps on the mean free path of the charge carriers. Characterization techniques such as Thermally Stimulated Current (TSC) or Thermoelectric Emission Spectroscopy (TEES) have been used for trap identification, while time-of-flight techniques have been employed to determine carrier mobility and lifetime but it has proven difficult to correlate the results of these independent measurements. Furthermore, these characterization methods are complicated by the need to make electrical contacts to the material. Here we report on contactless, thermally stimulated lifetime measurements performed on detector-grade Cd1- xZnxTe (x approximately 0.1) and HgI2 crystals using a microwave cavity perturbation method. The microwave technique is complimentary to contact-based methods and provides both trap identification and lifetime determination in a single measurement. The results provide evidence of lifetime-limiting deep traps in these materials. The trap activation energies and the minimum detrapping times are estimated and the results are compared to previous TSC and TEES investigations.
Mercuric Iodide is a preferred candidate material for truly room-temperature radiation detectors because of its large electronic bandgap (2.1 eV) and the high atomic number of its constituent elements, which results in a high photopeak efficiency. The spectroscopic performance of the detectors is determined by the electronic transport properties of the material which depends on the purity and the structural homogeneity of the single crystals from which the detectors are fabricated. Recent advances in purification and crystal growth have made it possible to fabricate routinely large, stable gamma ray and X-ray detectors and counters.
Low temperature (4.2 K) photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL) measurements were performed on mercuric iodide (HgI2) crystals that were surface-doped with either iodine or mercury. Two methods of treatment were used to achieve the surface doping. The first is the direct immersion of HgI2 samples into potassium iodide (KI) aqueous solution saturated with iodine or immersion into elemental mercury liquid. The second is the storage of HgI2 crystals under either iodine or mercury vapor. Certain features in the PL spectra were correlated with the stoichiometry of the HgI2/ crystals modified by the surface doping. It was also found that if HgI(subscript 2 was exposed to air, an iodine deficient surface layer would form within a one-day period due to the preferential loss of iodine. Finally, the behavior of a broad emission band in the PL spectra and its implication in the fabrication of high quality HgI2 nuclear detector is discussed.
A system is under development in which surface quality of a growing bulk mercuric iodide crystal is monitored by video camera at regular intervals for early detection of growth irregularities. Mercuric iodide single crystals are employed in radiation detectors. A microcomputer system is used for image capture and processing. The digitized image is divided into multiple overlapping sub-images and features are extracted from each sub-image based on statistical measures of the gray tone distribution, according to the method of Haralick. Twenty parameters are derived from each sub-image and presented to a probabilistic neural network (PNN) for classification. This number of parameters was found to be optimal for the system. The PNN is a hierarchical, feed-forward network that can be rapidly reconfigured as additional training data become available. Training data is gathered by reviewing digital images of many crystals during their growth cycle and compiling two sets of images, those with and without irregularities.
Bruce Steiner, Ronald Dobbyn, David Black, Harold Burdette, Masao Kuriyama, Richard Spal, Lodewijk Van den Berg, Archibald Fripp, Richard Simchick, Ravindra Lal, Ashok Batra, David Matthiesen, Brian Ditchek
Irregularities in three crystals grown in space and four terrestrial crystals have been compared by high resolution monochromatic synchrotron x-radiation diffraction imaging. For two of the materials, mercuric iodide and lead tin telluride, features consistent with the presence of additional phases in terrestrial samples have been suppressed in the comparable crystals grown in microgravity. Comparison of the images of highly purified terrestrial mercuric iodide with those of lower purity space and terrestrial material suggests specific detector performance models. These models ascribe the improved performance of detectors made from space-grown mercuric iodide to reduction in a widely dispersed impurity phase rather than to extreme macroscopic lattice regularity. While the general grain structure of lead tin telluride is not strongly affected by growth in microgravity, the subgrain uniformity of the space crystal is substantially higher than that of the comparable terrestrial crystal. The greater uniformity is associated with suppression of the second phase that appears to be characteristic of the terrestrial crystal examined.
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