Fisher information analysis of depth-of-interaction estimation in double-sided strip detectors

Electron and holes, produced by the absorption of a gamma-ray photon in the depletion region of a semiconductor detector, drift towards their respective electrodes under the influence of the electric field created by a bias potential difference applied between the contacts. Carrier transport has an important impact on the signals observed with compound semiconductors such as CdTe and CdZnTe, as these materials are known to suffer from non-negligible trapping effects. Trapping causes the carrier-induced charge on the anodes and cathodes to become a function of where the electrons and holes are generated via the gamma-ray interaction in the crystal. The mean drift length of the charge carriers, and thus the significance of the effects of trapping, can be at least partially controlled by changing the magnitude of the applied bias voltage. Selection of operating bias voltage can therefore provide us a means to tune the sensitivity to gamma-ray depth-of-interaction (DOI).