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Elementary Analysis Of Line Shapes And Energy Resolution In Semiconductor Radiation Detectors

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2011

J. E. Toney ,
T. E. Schlesinger ,
B. A. Brunett  and
R. B. James
J. E. Toney
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213
T. E. Schlesinger
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213;
B. A. Brunett
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213;
R. B. James
Affiliation:
Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, CA 94550
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Abstract

We have used an elementary statistical technique to derive a closed-form expression for the hole-tailing line shape produced by photoelectric absorption of monoenergetic radiation in a semiconductor X-ray/γ-ray detector. In the case of compound semiconductors, where the drift length for electrons is much greater than that for holes, the line shape is given by a type of power law, except for a small region very near the photopeak. This analytical result agrees well with Monte Carlo simulations and is used to extract approximate μτ products from a 57Co pulse height spectrum. We also present an expression for the maximum obtainable energy resolution of a semiconductor detector in the presence of leakage current noise and intrinsic statistical fluctuations as a function of material parameters, along with a chart of the optimal band gap as a function of temperature and photon energy. Based on these considerations, the optimal band gap for room-temperature operation is approximately 2.0 eV.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 487: Symposium I – Semiconductors for Room-Temperature Radiation II , 1997 , 193
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1998

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References

1. Franzen, W. and Cochran, C.W. in Nuclear Instruments and their Uses, edited by Snell, A.H., (Wiley, New York, 1962), p. 3.Google Scholar
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3. Toney, J.E., Uniformity and Defects in Cadmium Zinc Telluride with Application to Nuclear Radiation Detectors (doctoral dissertation, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, 1998).Google Scholar
4. Toney, J.E., Schlesinger, T.E. and James, R.B., submitted to IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci. (1997).Google Scholar