We describe the mode of operation of a detector for direct photon-electron conversion at room temperature, made of epitaxially grown GaAs. Contrary to bulk grown materials, epitaxial layers are free of defects, i.e. exhibit long lifetimes and high carrier mobilities, and have uniform electronic properties. However, the depleted zone is of limited extension, consequence of the level of the residual doping impurities, which are not compensated by defects. These detectors are adapted to X-ray imaging, in particular for low energy medical applications such as mammography, because of the availability of large areas (up to 4 inches in diameter), standard technological processes for making pixellated detectors and cost. However, charges in the neutral region can be collected by diffusion and we shall present data allowing to illustrate and evaluate this effect. Finally photocurrent measurements obtained under medical conditions demonstrate that, for the detector used, only a small fraction of the photocurrent originates from diffusing charges. They also show how a 120 μm thick GaAs epitaxial detector competes with a 0.5 mm thick CdZnTe detector.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.