Novel ZnO:Al contacts to CdZnTe for X- and gamma-ray detectors

Roy, U. N.; Mundle, R. M.; Camarda, G. S.; Cui, Y.; Gul, R.; Hossain, A.; Yang, G.; Pradhan, A. K.; James, R. B.

doi:10.1038/srep26384

Novel ZnO:Al contacts to CdZnTe for X- and gamma-ray detectors

Journal Article · Tue May 24 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Scientific Reports

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/srep26384· OSTI ID:1624837

Roy, U. N. ^[1]; Mundle, R. M. ^[2]; Camarda, G. S. ^[3]; Cui, Y. ^[3]; Gul, R. ^[3]; Hossain, A. ^[3]; Yang, G. ^[3]; Pradhan, A. K. ^[2]; James, R. B. ^[3]

Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); DOE/OSTI
Norfolk State Univ., Norfolk, VA (United States). Department of Engineering
Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

CdZnTe (CZT) has made a significant impact as a material for room-temperature nuclear-radiation detectors due to its potential impact in applications related to nonproliferation, homeland security, medical imaging and gamma-ray telescopes. In all such applications, common metals, such as gold, platinum and indium, have been used as electrodes for fabricating the detectors. Because of the large mismatch in the thermal-expansion coefficient between the metal contacts and CZT, the contacts can undergo stress and mechanical degradation, which is the main cause for device instability over the long term. Here, we report for the first time on our use of Al-doped ZnO as the preferred electrode for such detectors. The material was selected because of its better contact properties compared to those of the metals commonly used today. Comparisons were conducted for the detector properties using different contacts and improvements in the performances of ZnO:Al-coated detectors are described in this paper. These studies show that Al:ZnO contacts to CZT radiation detectors offer the potential of becoming a transformative replacement for the common metallic contacts due to the dramatic improvements in the performance of detectors and improved long-term stability.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0012704

OSTI ID:: 1624837

Journal Information:: Scientific Reports, Journal Name: Scientific Reports Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 6; ISSN 2045-2322

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Determining the sub-surface damage of CdTe single crystals after lapping Šik, O.; Škvarenina, L.; Caha, O. Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics, Vol. 29, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-018-9002-7	journal	March 2018
l -Alanine capping of ZnO nanorods: increased carrier concentration in ZnO/CuI heterojunction diode Indubala, E.; Dhanasekar, M.; Sudha, V. RSC Advances, Vol. 8, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1039/c7ra12385j	journal	January 2018
Influence of heat treatment of the base material on the electrical properties of anisotyped heterojunctions n -ZnO:Al/ p -CdZnTe Maistruk, E. V.; Orletsky, I. G.; Ilashchuk, M. I. Semiconductor Science and Technology, Vol. 34, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6641/ab0a1c	journal	March 2019

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