Improved High Z, Wide Band Gap Semiconductors through Modeling and Experiment
- Radiation Monitoring Devices, Inc., Watertown, MA (United States)
Nuclear Nonproliferation officers, first responders, and security personnel need to detect and identify radioactive materials. Gamma-ray spectrometers provide the information needed for these missions, however, most detectors are either too expensive (e.g., CZT and LaBr3) or inconvenient (e.g., cryogenic Ge) for wide spread use, or suffer from performance limitations such as inadequate energy resolution, which hinder identification (e.g., NaI(Tl) and CsI(Tl)). Advances in new and emerging room-temperature, semiconductor nuclear spectrometer materials are slow due to the unguided “trial-and-error” processes typically used for developing and optimizing materials. The effort proposed here will develop a theoretical framework to understand these materials and guide the optimization process to dramatically reduce the time to bring new detectors to market. RMD, in collaboration with Sandia National Laboratory, MIT and Northwestern University, are investigating a combined modeling and experimental approach to accelerate the development of new and emerging detector materials by addressing critical aspects of dopants, impurities, defects, and ionic mobility that can dominate semiconductor performance. This project is focusing on high-Z, wide-bandgap halide semiconductors, which have become a new class of promising detector materials. We will apply this combined modeling and experimental approach to a relatively mature material, thallium bromide (TlBr) and a new, promising semiconductor, cesium lead bromide (CsPbBr3). In Phase I we successfully investigated two approaches, one to investigate and understand the materials and electronic causes of the instability seen in some TlBr detectors, and one to investigate and understand the cause of the high conductivity observed in CsPbBr3 detectors. As a result, we have identified paths to improve the quality of both semiconductor materials. Phase II will continue to focus on understanding and controlling the causes that impact performance so that the approaches being developed can be used for improving existing materials as well as developing other new semiconductor materials.
- Research Organization:
- Radiation Monitoring Devices, Inc., Watertown, MA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- DOE Contract Number:
- SC0020943
- OSTI ID:
- 1779718
- Type / Phase:
- SBIR (Phase I)
- Report Number(s):
- C21-07_FR; RMD C21-07
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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