Recent advances in compound semiconductor radiation detectors

Recent developments in compound semiconductor detectors are reviewed, highlighting the latest spectroscopic performance from devices fabricated from a range of wide bandgap materials. Cadmium zinc telluride and cadmium telluride continue to dominate the field, with a range of prototype imaging detectors under development, principally for nuclear medicine and X-ray astronomy applications. Improvements in material quality and supply plus metal–semiconductor contact technologies are discussed, as is the continued development of single polarity charge sensing electrode structures. Other material systems are also reviewed, covering the latest results from intermediate-Z materials such as gallium arsenide and indium phosphide, and high-Z materials including mercuric iodide and thallium bromide. The technological challenges of these materials are summarised and the prospects for future imaging array detectors highlighted.