KEYWORDS: Sensors, Weapons of mass destruction, Homeland security, System identification, Polarization, Platinum, Ions, Electric field sensors, Detector arrays, Defect detection
We present the results from testing over 100 5x5x12 mm3 TlBr detectors configured as 3D position-sensitive virtual Frisch-grid (VFG) detectors with platinum contacts. The primary objective was to comprehensively understand factors limiting performance and long-term response variations in these detectors. The incorporation of 3D position sensitivity allowed us to monitor internal changes in charge collection efficiency after applying voltage, and to correlate them with device performance changes. The biased detectors underwent defect distribution alterations due to electric field-enhanced ion migration. Our results are based on an extensive dataset obtained from TlBr crystals produced by Radiation Monitoring Devices (RMD). These measurements were part of our development of a handheld isotope identifier based on an array of position-sensitive TlBr detectors, supported by the Department of Homeland Security, Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office. The majority of the detectors exhibited a common trend of performance improvement within 1-2 weeks, stabilization for some period of time, then a slow degradation; however, some detectors deviated from this pattern.
Thallium bromide (TlBr) is a promising material for room temperature gamma radiation detection due to its high density, high atomic number, and wide bandgap. Additionally, TlBr has a cubic crystal structure and melts congruently at a relatively low temperature. Advances in material purification, crystal growth and device processing have led to improved material quality including a significant increase in the mobility-lifetime product of electrons in TlBr. This has enabled single carrier collection devices with thicknesses of 1 cm and beyond. The arrays have been flip-chip bonded to carrier boards using a low temperature curing conductive polymer. In this paper we report on results from planar and pixelated devices. Planar TlBr devices with dimensions of 12 mm × 12 mm × 7 mm exhibit an energy resolution ranging from 3% to 5% FWHM at 662 keV when using a shaping time of 2 s. The energy resolution in planar devices improves with a reduction of the shaping timing consistent with the expected amelioration of the depth dependence. The 1-cm thick pixelated arrays, with a pitch of 1.72 mm, produce an energy resolution in the anode spectrum ranging from 1.8% to 4.4%, without applying depth corrections. This work presents spectra from a selected pixel for 133Ba and 57Co irradiation. Measurements of the room-temperature stability of the planar and pixelated detectors show that the position of the 662-keV photopeak is stable over a period of ~200 days, but the shape of the photopeak in the anode spectra exhibits small changes. These detectors show promise for applications in radio-isotope identification devices and for medical imaging.
TlBr is a promising material for room-temperature semiconductor gamma-ray detectors currently under development by several groups around the world. TlBr has the optimal combination of properties: high atomic number, high density, high mu-tau product, low Fano factor, and lower fabrication cost compared to other materials. The presence of crystal defects and ionic drift-diffusion enchained by the electric field affects the performance of today’s TlBr detectors. As a bias is applied across a detector, a defect distribution inside starts changing due to ion migration. The changes appear to be most pronounced in the first weeks of applying a bias to newly-manufactured crystals during the “conditioning” period. The 3-D position-sensitive detectors provide an opportunity to investigate these processes and their effects on the device performance and on corrections applied to the spectrum. Here, we present results from analyzing response changes in TlBr crystals under applied biases using position-sensitive capacitive Frisch-grid detectors.
This work has been supported by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office, under competitively awarded contract 70RDND18C00000024. This support does not constitute an express or implied endorsement on the part of the Government.
We have previously made improvements to the longevity of TlBr semiconductor gamma ray detectors by applying electrodes having the mixed semiconductor composition Tl(Cl,Br) via surface treatments in HCl, leading to a significant enhancement to the lifetime of the detectors. In order to examine the electron transport properties more closely, we have monitored the first-derivative of the cathode waveform (being proportional to velocity and number of carriers) as a function of time and the point of the gamma-interaction. The observed decay in this signal, especially at lower voltage, would naturally be interpreted as the usual trapping phenomenon. However, this phenomenon alone is not able to account for the observed waveforms, most dramatically for the case of increasing signal as the electrons approach the anode, for waveforms originating at the cathode. After detailed consideration of alternative explanations, the cathode waveform data has been interpreted in terms of a non-uniform field owing to variation in the resistivity as a function of position. We have interpreted the shape of the decay as a “built-in” resistivity profile and have further verified this interpretation by reversing the sense of the field (which as expected reverses the “sense” of the waveform). We modeled this effect in order to quantitatively deduce the resistivity profile and are currently working to relate the waveform observations to the relative orientation of the crystal growth direction and the applied electrodes.
High purity, CVD grown diamond is a good candidate material for beta particle detection at elevated temperature in the
presence of a gamma ray background. Due to its wide band gap, low noise detector operation is possible at temperatures
in excess of 200 °C. Its low atomic number limits its gamma-ray interaction probability. Stacked diamond detectors
operated in coincidence can further reduce background due to gamma-ray interactions. In addition, high charge carrier
mobility and high breakdown voltage enable high count rate operation. In this paper we report on gamma-ray and beta
particle detection of CVD diamond detectors with thickness ranging from ~ 0.1 mm to 0.5 mm. CVD grown diamond
materials were acquired from Element Six. Planar devices were fabricated by depositing Au/Cr contacts by thermal
evaporation. Measurements of single diamond detectors and stacked detectors operated in coincidence as well as
measurements at elevated temperatures are presented in this paper.
Thallium based chalcogenide and halide semiconductors such as Tl4HgI6, TlGaSe2, Tl6SeI4 and Tl6SI4 are promising materials for room-temperature hard radiation detection. They feature appropriate band gaps, high mass densities and facile growth technology. However, these materials are being plagued by the Tl oxides impurity from Tl precursor or Tl containing binary precursors, which leads to problems including tube breakage, parasitic nucleation and detector performance deterioration. In this work, we present a facile way to chemically reduce Tl oxidations, and then eliminate oxygen impurity by adding high-purity graphite powder during synthesis and crystal growth. We also further investigated the reactivity between Tl oxides and graphite. The detector performance of Tl6SeI4 crystal was dramatically improved after lowering/removing the oxygen impurities. This result not only indicates the significance of removing oxygen impurity for improving detector performance. Our results suggest that the chemical reduction method we developed by adding carbon powder during synthesis is highly effective in substantially reducing oxygen impurities from Tl containing materials.
Lithium Indium Selenide (LiInSe2) has been under development in RMD Inc. and Fisk University for
room temperature thermal neutron detection due to a number of promising properties. The recent advances
of the crystal growth, material processing, and detector fabrication technologies allowed us to fabricate
large detectors with 100 mm2 active area. The thermal neutron detection sensitivity and gamma rejection
ratio (GRR) were comparable to 3He tube with 10 atm gas pressure at comparable dimensions. The
synthesis, crystal growth, detector fabrication, and characterization are reported in this paper.
Degradation of room temperature operation of TlBr radiation detectors with time is thought to be due to electromigration of Tl and Br vacancies within the crystal as well as the metal contacts migrating into the TlBr crystal itself due to electrochemical reactions at the metal/TlBr interface. Scanning Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) in combination with sputter depth profiling was used to investigate the metal contact surface/interfacial structure on TlBr devices. Device-grade TlBr was polished and subjected to a 32% HCl etch to remove surface damage and create a TlBr1-xClx surface layer prior to metal contact deposition. Auger compositional depth profiling results reveal non-equilibrium interfacial diffusion after device operation in both air and N2 at ambient temperature. These results improve our understanding of contact/device degradation versus operating environment for further enhancing radiation detector performance.
TlBr radiation detector operation degrades with time at room temperature and is thought to be due to electromigration of Tl and Br vacancies within the crystal as well as the metal contacts migrating into the TlBr crystal itself due to electrochemical reactions at the metal/TlBr interface. X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) was used to investigate the metal contact surface/interfacial structure on TlBr devices. Device-grade TlBr was polished and subjected to a 32% HCl etch to remove surface damage prior to Mo or Pt contact deposition. High-resolution photoemission measurements on the Tl 4f, Br 3d, Cl 2p, Mo 3d and Pt 4f core lines were used to evaluate surface chemistry and non-equilibrium interfacial diffusion. Results indicate that anion substitution at the TlBr surface due to the HCl etch forms TlBr1-xClx with consequent formation of a shallow heterojunction. In addition, a reduction of Tl1+ to Tl0 is observed at the metal contacts after device operation in both air and N2 at ambient temperature. Understanding contact/device degradation versus operating environment is useful for improving radiation detector performance.
Four thallium bromide planar detectors were fabricated from materials grown at RMD Inc. The TlBr samples were prepared to investigate the effect of guard ring on device gamma-ray spectroscopy performance, and to investigate the leakage current through surface and bulk. The devices’ active area in planar configuration were 4.4 × 4.4 × 1.0 mm3. In this report, the detector fabrication process is described and the resulting energy spectra are discussed. It is shown that the guard ring improves device spectroscopic performance by shielding the sensing electrode from the surface leakage current, and by making the electric filed more uniform in the active region of the device.
Thermal neutron detectors in planar configuration were fabricated from B2Se3 (Boron Selenide) crystals grown at RMD Inc. All fabricated semiconductor devices were characterized for the current-voltage (I-V) characteristic and neutron
counting measurement. In this study, the resistivity of crystals is reported and the collected pulse height spectra are
presented for devices irradiated with the 241AmBe neutron source. Long-term stability of the B2Se3 devices for neutron detection under continuous bias and without being under continuous bias was investigated and the results are reported. The B2Se3 devices showed response to thermal neutrons of the 241AmBe source.
Device-grade TlBr was subjected to various chemical treatments used in room temperature radiation detector fabrication
to determine the resulting surface composition and electronic structure. Samples of as polished TlBr were treated
separately with 2%Br:MeOH, 10%HF, 10%HCl and 96%SOCl2 solutions. High-resolution photoemission measurements
on the valence band electronic structure and Tl 4f, Br 3d, Cl 2p and S 2p core lines were used to evaluate surface
chemistry. Results suggest anion substitution at the surface with subsequent shallow heterojunction formation. Surface
chemistry and valence band electronic structure were further correlated with the goal of optimizing the long-term
stability and radiation response.
Thallium bromide (TlBr) has been under development for room temperature gamma ray spectroscopy due to high density, high Z and wide bandgap of the material. Furthermore, its low melting point (460 °C), cubic crystal structure and congruent melting with no solid-solid phase transitions between the melting point and room temperature, TlBr can be grown by relatively simple melt based methods. As a result of improvements in material processing and detector fabrication over the last several years, TlBr with electron mobility-lifetime products (μeτe) in the mid 10-3 cm2/V range has been obtained. In this paper we are going to report on our unipolar charging TlBr results for the application as a small animal imaging. For SPECT application, about 5 mm thick pixellated detectors were fabricated and tested. About 1 % FWHM at 662 keV energy resolution was estimated at room temperature. By applying the depth correction technique, less than 1 % energy resolution was estimated. We are going to report the results from orthogonal strip TlBr detector for PET application. In this paper we also present our latest detector highlights and recent progress made in long term stability of TlBr detectors at or near room temperature. This work is being supported by the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) and the Department of Energy (DOE).
TlBr is a material of interest for use in room temperature gamma ray detector applications due to is wide bandgap 2.7 eV
and high average atomic number (Tl 81, Br 35). Researchers have achieved energy resolutions of 1.3 % at 662 keV,
demonstrating the potential of this material system. However, these detectors are known to polarize using conventional
configurations, limiting their use. Continued improvement of room temperature, high-resolution gamma ray detectors
based on TlBr requires further understanding of the degradation mechanisms. While high quality material is a critical
starting point for excellent detector performance, we show that the room temperature stability of planar TlBr gamma
spectrometers can be significantly enhanced by treatment with both hydrofluoric and hydrochloric acid. By
incorporating F or Cl into the surface of TlBr, current instabilities are eliminated and the longer term current of the
detectors remains unchanged. 241Am spectra are also shown to be more stable for extended periods; detectors have been
held at 2000 V/cm for 52 days with less than 10% degradation in peak centroid position. In addition, evidence for the
long term degradation mechanism being related to the contact metal is presented.
Thermal neutron detectors in planar configuration were fabricated from LiInSe2 and B2Se3 crystals grown at RMD Inc.
All fabricated semiconductor devices were characterized for the current-voltage (I-V) characteristic and neutron
counting measurement. Pulse height spectra were collected from 241AmBe (neutron source on all samples), as well as
137Cs and 60Co gamma ray sources. In this study, the resistivity of all crystals is reported and the collected pulse height
spectra are presented for fabricated devices. Note that, the 241AmBe neutron source was custom designed with
polyethylene around the source as the neutron moderator, mainly to thermalize the fast neutrons before reaching the
detectors. Both LiInSe2 and B2Se3 devices showed response to thermal neutrons of the 241AmBe source.
Thallium bromide (TlBr) and related ternary compounds, TlBrI and TlBrCl, have been under development for room
temperature gamma ray spectroscopy due to several promising properties. Due to recent advances in material
processing, electron mobility-lifetime product of TlBr is close to Cd(Zn)Te's value which allowed us to fabricate large
working detectors. We were also able to fabricate and obtain spectroscopic results from TlBr Capacitive Frisch Grid
detector and orthogonal strip detectors. In this paper we report on our recent TlBr and related ternary detector results
and preliminary results from Cinnabar (HgS) detectors.
Many materials used in radiation detectors are environmentally unstable and/or fragile. These properties are frustrating
to researchers and add significantly to the time and cost of developing new detectors as well as to the cost of
manufacturing products. The work presented here investigates the properties of HgS. This material was selected for
study based partly on its inherent stability and ruggedness, high density, high atomic number, and bandgap. HgS is found
in nature as the mineral cinnabar. A discussion of the physical properties of HgS, experimental characterization of
natural cinnabar, and initial radiation detection results are presented along with a discussion of potential crystal growth
techniques for producing crystals of HgS in the laboratory.
TlBr is a promising semiconductor for gamma-ray detection at room temperature, but it has to be extremely pure to
become useful. We investigated the purification and crystal growth of TlBr to improve the mobility and lifetime of
charge carriers, and produce TlBr detectors for radioisotopic detection. Custom equipment was built for purification and
crystal growth of TlBr. The zone refining and crystal growth were done in a horizontal configuration. The process
parameters were optimized and detector grade material with an electron mobility-lifetime product of up to 3x10-3 cm2/V
has been produced. The material analysis and detector characterization results are included.
Thallium bromide (TlBr) is a compound semiconductor with high density, high atomic numbers and wide
bandgap. In addition, recent results indicate that the mobility-lifetime product of electrons can be quite high,
approaching the values for CdTe and CZT. These properties make TlBr a very promising material for nuclear radiation
detector at room temperature. In this paper we report on our investigation of the performance of planar TlBr detector
under high flux x-rays irradiation. This study proposes an alternate contact method that reduces the polarization effects,
and the afterglow for a wide range of high flux applications.
Large-size CZT single crystals of up to 300 cm3 have been grown at Yinnel Tech. These crystals were produced into radiation detectors with excellent performances, leading to enhancements in both energy resolution and detector efficiency.
Recent results have shown that capacitive Frisch grid structures significantly improve spectroscopic performance of planar CZT detectors especially at higher energies. This paper presents results obtained with larger detectors than those previously reported on. Devices with various aspect ratios and grid length-to-device thickness ratios were fabricated and evaluated. A FWHM energy resolution of approximately 2% at 662 keV was obtained for a device with dimensions of 5 mm x 5 mm x 9.2 mm.
Recent progress has been made in the development of the Modified Vertical Bridgman (MVB) technique for the growths of 3-inch diameter CZT crystals for fabrication of x-ray and gamma-ray detectors to operate at room temperature. 40% and 80% of the ingots have the single crystal volumes over 300cm3 and 100 cm3 per ingot respectively. Defects (such as Cd-vacancies, Indium dopants and purity) in CZT have been systematically studied. Detectors fabricated from these CZT ingots showed sharp energy resolution and good uniformity.
Further progress has been made in the development of the Modified Vertical Bridgman method for the growth of CdZnTe crystals for fabrication of x-ray and gamma-ray detectors to operate at room temperature. Specifically, the diameter of the grown ingots has been increased from 2 to 3 inches. High quality, large volume (up to 6 in3) twin-free single crystals have been produced. Detectors fabricated with this material show sharp energy resolution and good uniformity.
We have developed a simultaneous CT/SPECT imager using a single Cd0.9Zn0.1Te detector in pulse counting mode. Pulse height energy discrimination is used to separate the CT and SPECT data. In pulse counting mode the x-ray flux into the detector must remain below 3 105cps for a linear count rate response. Our SPECT images compare to current clinical systems but our CT images have poor contrast resolution due to the low x-ray flux used to reduce the total photon flux in the detector and pulse pile-up. We are investigating a current mode operation of the detector to obtain high-resolution CT images. Count rate linearity measurements show three orders of magnitude increase in the maximum count rate of the detector and promises to improve the quality of our CT images from the system. Ultimately, interlaced CT/SPECT data could be obtained with no loss in the quality of the SPECT images, and with a significant improvement in the CT images.
We report on device fabrication and testing of CZT grown by the Modified Vertical Bridgman (MVB) method. Several samples of single-crystal MVB grown CZT were obtained from Yinnel Tech. Both single element devices and 2-dimensional arrays were fabricated. Resistivity and electron mobility-lifetime product were measured, and pulse height spectra were recorded for various isotopic sources. Arrays 5 mm thick and an array 1.13-cm thick were evaluated.
This paper describes the preliminary results obtained from our study of optical and electrical properties of BiI3 crystals. The bismuth iodine polycrystals were grown using commercial starting material by vertical Bridgman method. For our measurements we used only single crystal samples that were cut out from grown crystals perpendicular to C6-axis.
Titanium dioxide (TiO2) films have been deposited on SnO2 coated glass substrates by screen-printing. Film morphology and structure have been characterized by scanning electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction and BET analysis. Dye-sensitized TiO2 photoelectrochemical cells have been assembled and characterized. Cells sensitized with anthocyanin and a ruthenium complex have been investigated. A 0.77 cm2 ruthenium dye sensitized cell with 6.1% power conversion efficiency under Air Mass (AM1.5) conditions was obtained. Results obtained with a pure anthocyanin dye and dye extracted from blackberries were compared. Finally, a natural gel was found to improve the stability of anthocyanin sensitized cells.
In this paper, characterization of new, planar silicon avalanche photodiode arrays for high-resolution PET applications is discussed. High gain, monolithic 4 X 4 element APD arrays (2 mm pixels) have been fabricated using planar processes. These devices were characterized by measuring their gain (> 103), quantum efficiency (60% at LSO emission) and noise (200 eV FWHM). Energy and timing resolution of these APDs were also measured by coupling them to LSO scintillators (2 X 2 X 10 mm) and were found to be 12% and 4 ns, respectively. An APD array was also coupled to a matching LSO array and successful experiments were conducted to identify the crystal which scintillated. Finally, initial experiments to measure depth of interaction have also been performed.
In this paper, we discuss recent progress that has been made in the development of high resolution X-ray imaging detectors using photoconducting films of lead iodide (PbI2). PbI2 is a wide bandgap semiconductor with high X- ray stopping efficiency. We have been investigating thick films of lead iodide which can be prepared in large areas in a cost effective manner. These films can be coupled to readout technologies such as amorphous silicon flat panel arrays and vidicon tubes to produce X-ray imaging detectors for applications such as mammography, fluoroscopy, X-ray diffraction and non-destructive evaluation. Recent results obtained when these PbI2 films are coupled to 512 X 512 flat panel a-Si:H array are reported. This includes dark current, signal and resolution measurements. Properties of lead iodide films which are relevant to imager performance are also discussed.
In this paper, a novel approach for developing a large area, high spatial resolution x-ray imaging detector is discussed. This approach integrates the flat panel amorphous silicon readout technology with the polycrystalline lead iodide photoconductive x-ray detection technology. This Pbl2 detector design is promising because it provides high x-ray stopping efficiency, high efficiency conversion of x-ray energy into electronic change, high signal amplitude due to efficient collection of these changes, and high spatial resolution due to electro-static focusing of these changes. We have designed and fabricated prototype 2' X 2' imagers with 200 micrometers pixels (256 X 256 elements) using this approach. The performance of these imagers is characterized by measuring their dark current, x-ray induced signal amplitude, spatial resolution, and uniformity of response. Some basic properties of lead iodide films are also evaluated and presented.
Anticoincidence detectors are required for a variety of satellite instruments, including high energy gamma-ray telescopes, in order to differentiate ambient background radiation from signals of interest. Presently, most anticoincidence systems use scintillators coupled to photomultiplier tubes. We have demonstrated that it is now possible to use very high gain solid state avalanche photodiodes (APDs) as photodetectors for this application. A single APD coupled to a 30 cm multiplied by 30 cm multiplied by 0.95 cm plastic scintillator tile demonstrated 100% detection efficiency for minimum ionizing particles, with a low false positive rate. Multiple APDs enhance the signal to noise ratio in addition to providing redundancy. Relative to PMTs, APDs are compact, low power, and mechanically robust devices. Ground test data of APDs for anticoincidence shields is presented.
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