Novel electrode design for single-carrier charge collection in semiconductor nuclear radiation detectors

A new electrode configuration comprising a cathode, a small anode and a “control electrode” resulted in energy resolutions as low as 0.72% and photopeak efficiencies near unity at 511 keV with CdZnTe room temperature nuclear detectors. The control electrode transiently accepts a large fraction of charge that would otherwise be induced on the anode by mobile charges in transit and, in effect, enhances the near-field effect. Control electrode configurations are adaptable to both single-element detectors and multi-element arrays, and are compatible with existing semiconductor detector manufacturing technology.