Title :
Room temperature CdZnTe and HgI2 detectors for hard X-ray astrophysics
Author :
Parsons, A. ; Lisse, C.M. ; Stahle, C.M. ; Gehrels, N. ; Teegarden, B.J. ; Babu, S. ; Cao, N. ; Shu, P.
Author_Institution :
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
fDate :
30 Oct-5 Nov 1994
Abstract :
There is a great need in hard X-ray and gamma-ray astrophysics for large area, room temperature, lightweight, semiconductor detectors that have comparable energy resolution to germanium without the inconvenient cooling requirements. Recent improvements in the quality of cadmium zinc telluride (CdZnTe) and mercuric iodide (HgI2) materials have brought room temperature semiconductors to the point where real astrophysics applications may seriously be considered. Future astrophysics instruments will be described, including PoRTIA, a small engineering prototype balloon instrument that will make material dependent background measurements at balloon altitudes. In addition to application oriented detector development, basic issues such as detector spectral performance, noise, thermal behavior and bulk transport properties in CdZnTe have also been studied. Preliminary results from this CdZnTe detector research will be presented
Keywords :
X-ray astronomy; X-ray detection; astronomical instruments; cadmium compounds; mercury compounds; semiconductor counters; ternary semiconductors; zinc compounds; CdZnTe; HgI2; PoRTIA; application oriented detector development; bulk transport properties; detector spectral performance; energy resolution; gamma-ray astrophysics; hard X-ray astrophysics; large area room temperature lightweight semiconductor detectors; material dependent background measurements; noise; prototype balloon instrument; room temperature CdZnTe detectors; room temperature HgI2 detectors; thermal behavior; Astrophysics; Energy resolution; Gamma ray detection; Gamma ray detectors; Germanium; Instruments; Semiconductor materials; Temperature; X-ray detection; X-ray detectors;
Conference_Titel :
Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference, 1994., 1994 IEEE Conference Record
Conference_Location :
Norfolk, VA
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-2544-3
DOI :
10.1109/NSSMIC.1994.474495
