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We present our measurements of (Cd,Mn)Te photoconductive detectors (PCDs), fabricated for the goal of measuring both the temporal and spectral dependences of X-ray emissions generated from laser-illuminated targets during the inertial confinement fusion experiments. Our Cd{sub 1-x}Mn{sub x}Te (x = 0.05) single crystals, doped with V, were grown using a vertical Bridgman method and, subsequently, annealed in Cd for the highest resistivity ({approx}10{sup 10} {Omega}cm) and a good mobility-lifetime product ({approx}10{sup -3} cm{sup 2}/V). The 1-mm- and 2.3-mm-thick detectors were placed in the same housing as two 1-mm-thick diamond PCDs. All devices were pre-screened by a 7.6-mm-thick Be X-ray filter with a frequency cutoff of 1 keV. The incident shots from the OMEGA laser were 1-ns-long square pulses with energies ranging from 2.3 kJ to 22.6 kJ, and the PCDs were biased with 5000 V/cm. The response amplitudes and rise times of our (Cd,Mn)Te PCDs were comparable with the diamond detector performance, while the decay times were 4 to 10 times longer and in the 2-5 ns range. We observed two X-ray emission events separated by 1.24 ns. The first was identified as caused by heating of the target and creating a hot corona, while the second one was from …

Te inclusions existing at high concentrations in CdZnTe (CZT) material can degrade the performance of CZT detectors. These microscopic defects trap the free electrons generated by incident radiation, so entailing significant fluctuations in the total collected charge and thereby strongly affecting the energy resolution of thick (long-drift) detectors. Such effects were demonstrated in thin planar detectors, and, in many cases, they proved to be the dominant cause of the low performance of thick detectors, wherein the fluctuations in the charge losses accumulate along the charge's drift path. We continued studying this effect using different tools and techniques. We employed a dedicated beamline recently established at BNL's National Synchrotron Light Source for characterizing semiconductor radiation detectors, along with an IR transmission microscope system, the combination of which allowed us to correlate the concentration of defects with the devices performances. We present here our new results from testing over 50 CZT samples grown by different techniques. Our goals are to establish tolerable limits on the size and concentrations of these detrimental Te inclusions in CZT material, and to provide feedback to crystal growers to reduce their numbers in the material.

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We consider that semi-insulating (Cd,Mn)Te crystals may well successfully replace the commonly used (Cd,Zn)Te crystals as a material for manufacturing large-area X- and gamma-ray detectors. The Bridgman growth method yields good quality and high-resistivity (10{sup 9}-10{sup 10} {Omega}-cm) crystals of (Cd,Mn)Te:V. Doping with vanadium ({approx} 10{sup 16} cm{sup -3}), which acts as a compensating agent, and annealing in cadmium vapors, which reduces the number of cadmium vacancies in the as-grown crystal, ensure this high resistivity. Detector applications of the crystals require satisfactory electrical contacts. Hence, we explored techniques of ensuring good electrical contacts to semi-insulating (Cd,Mn)Te crystals. Our findings are reported here. Before depositing the contact layers, we prepared an 'epi-ready' surface of the crystal platelet by a procedure described earlier for various tellurium-based II-VI compound crystals. A molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) apparatus was used to deposit various types of contact layers: Monocrystalline semiconductor layers, amorphous- and nanocrystalline semiconductor layers, and metal layers were studied. We employed ZnTe heavily doped ({approx} 10{sup 18} cm{sup -3}) with Sb, and CdTe heavily doped ({approx} 10{sup 17} cm{sup -3}) with In as the semiconductors to create contact layers that subsequently enable good contact (with a narrow, tunneling barrier) to the Au layer that …

Various internal defects, such as Te inclusions, twin boundaries, dislocation, etc., are prevalent in as-grown CdZnTe (CZT) crystals, which affect the charge transport properties of CZT crystals and, therefore, worsen the performance of CZT detectors. In order to develop high quality CZT detectors, it is imperative to clarify the effects of internal defects on the charge transport properties of CZT. Simple flood illumination with nuclear radiation source cannot reveal the nature of highly localized defects in CZT. Therefore, at Brookhaven's National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS), we have developed a unique testing system for micro-scale defect investigation of CZT, which employs an X-ray beam collimated with the spatial resolution as small as 3 x 3 {micro}m{sup 2}, a microscopic size comparable to the scale of common defects in CZT. This powerful tool enables us to investigate the effect of internal defects on charge transport properties of CZT in detail.

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We suggest that (Cd,Mn)Te is a suitable material for fabricating gamma- and X-ray detectors. Our investigations, reported here, are focused on producing high-quality (Cd,Mn)Te crystals with high resistivity (10{sup 9} {Omega}-cm) by the Bridgman method. As-grown, undoped (Cd,Mn)Te crystals are typically p-type, signifying that they contain excess Cd vacancies (acting as acceptors), accumulated during growth. Doping with vanadium atoms, which function as compensating centers, results in a semi-insulating material (Cd,Mn)Te:V. Properly annealing the platelets in cadmium vapors at uniform temperature reduces the number of cadmium vacancies, and lowers the level of the vanadium doping required for compensation. We found that annealing in cadmium vapors not only decreases the concentration of the native cadmium vacancies but also improves the crystal's quality. Infrared observations of the interior of the samples show that annealing in a temperature gradient perpendicular to the platelet has an additional effect, viz., the tellurium precipitates migrate towards the side where the temperature is higher. We demonstrate, with IR pictures of monocrystalline (Cd,Mn)Te:V platelets cut parallel to the (111) crystal planes, the influence on tellurium inclusions and precipitates of various conditions of annealing in cadmium vapors.

A new two-dimensional thermal neutron detector concept that is capable of very high rates is being developed. It is based on neutron conversion in {sup 3}He in an ionization chamber (unity gas gain) that uses only a cathode and anode plane; there is no additional electrode such as a Frisch grid. The cathode is simply the entrance window, and the anode plane is composed of discrete pads, each with their own readout electronics implemented via application specific integrated circuits. The aim is to provide a new generation of detectors with key characteristics that are superior to existing techniques, such as higher count rate capability, better stability, lower sensitivity to background radiation, and more flexible geometries. Such capabilities will improve the performance of neutron scattering instruments at major neutron user facilities. In this paper, we report on progress with the development of a prototype device that has 48 x 48 anode pads and a sensitive area of 24cm x 24cm.