New semiconductor scintillators ZnSe(Te,O) and integrated radiation detectors based thereon

Data are presented on properties of a new type of scintillator based on isovalently doped crystals of zinc selenide. Depending upon concentration of activating dopants Te and O, the wavelength of the luminescence maximum is 590-640 nm, response time is 1-50 μs, and afterglow level after 5 ms is not more than 0.01-0.05%. Conversion efficiency is 3-6% higher, and radiation stability is ~1000 times higher than for CsI(Tl) crystals. Accounting for their optical and physical properties, this type of scintillator is the most suitable for tomography uses in “scintillator-photodiode” detectors. The combination of semiconductor properties and characteristics of a highly efficient scintillator, which is observed in ZnSe(Te), makes it possible to create integrated scintielectronic detectors of X-ray radiation of the type “photosensitive heterostructure A^IIB^VI -semiconductor scintillator ZnSe(Te).” Detectors of charged particles and ultraviolet radiation based on the Schottky barrier structure of “metal-nZnSe(Te)” have been also developed, with quantum efficiency of 0.3-0.4 electron/quantum in the region 0.20-0.47 μm