Work

Determination of electron‐hole pair creation energy in Cd 0.9 Zn 0.1 Te 0.98 Se 0.02 quaternary semiconductor for room‐temperature gamma‐ray detection

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: We report the first‐time measurement of the electron‐hole pair (ehp) creation energy ( W ehp ) in novel Cd 0.9 Zn 0.1 Te 0.98 Se 0.02 (CZTS) quaternary semiconductor. CZTS in single crystalline form is poised to be the future of large‐volume room‐temperature gamma‐ray detectors due to its excellent compositional homogeneity with highly reduced defects, high‐Z (atomic number) constituents, wide bandgap (1.6 eV), and superior charge transport properties. Despite a great deal of study of the material and device properties since its inception, the W ehp in CZTS has not been measured experimentally. Accurate determination of W ehp is essential for calibration of the spectrometer and other theoretical calculations. In this study we have used an absolute calibration approach, which is based on an iterative approach that yields the W ehp as the best‐fit parameter. Using a 241 Am alpha emitting radioisotope and a planar CZTS detector, the W ehp in CZTS was calculated to be 4.47 eV. The obtained value has been validated by accurately predicting the peak energy for gamma rays emitted by a 137 Cs source and read by a CZTS detector with different dimensions. The dependences of the calculated W ehp value on the detector dimensions, type of interaction, and effect of charge trapping are also discussed.

Source: Electronics Letters

DOI: 10.1049/ell2.70007

Authors: Sandeep K. Chaudhuri, Ritwik Nag, Utpal N. Roy, Ralph B. James, Krishna C. Mandal

Institutions: University of South Carolina, Savannah River National Laboratory

Language: English

Topic: Advanced Semiconductor Detectors and Materials

Subfield: Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,540