Characterization of high-purity germanium detectors with amorphous germanium contacts in cryogenic liquids

Abstract

For the first time, planar high-purity germanium detectors with thin amorphous germanium contacts were successfully operated directly in liquid nitrogen and liquid argon in a cryostat at the Max-Planck-Institut für Physics in Munich. The detectors were fabricated at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of South Dakota, using crystals grown at the University of South Dakota. They survived long-distance transportation and multiple thermal cycles in both cryogenic liquids and showed reasonable leakage currents and spectroscopic performance. Also discussed are the pros and cons of using thin amorphous semiconductor materials as an alternative contact technology in large-scale germanium experiments searching for physics beyond the Standard Model.

Comparison of the X-ray tube spectrum measurement using BGO, NaI, LYSO, and HPGe detectors in a preclinical mini-CT scanner: Monte Carlo simulation and practical experiment

“…To acquire images at two different X-ray energy levels, gas detectors, solid-state X-ray detectors (amorphous silicon and germanium), scintillator-based detectors are used for measurement/detection of X-ray intensity (Pfeiffer et al, 2020;Åslund et al, 2010;Alvarez et al, 2004). Owing to the superior energy resolution of the high-purity germanium detector, this detector could be an excellent option for dual-energy CT imaging (Panth et al, 2020).…”

Implication of the Temperature-Dependent Charge Barrier Height of Amorphous Germanium Contact Detector in Searching for Rare Event Physics

“…This model was applied to a-Ge contacts on HPGe detectors as well [38]. Leakage current is directly proportional to temperature as reported in these studies [18][19][20][21][34][35][36][37][38][39].…”

“…Several papers have been published on the investigation of the CBH of rectifying contacts by studying the current-voltage (I-V) or capacitance-voltage (C-V) characteristics [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]. In this study, we have used the I-V characteristics at different temperatures.…”

Monte Carlo simulation of NaI(Tl) detector and GRAVEL deconvolution for biological, geological samples and their dosimetry evaluation

“…For that reason, pre-knowledge of the incident radiation source is recommended. Usually, the high purity germanium (HPGe) detectors are the most famous spectrometer for gamma ray-spectrometry [3][4][5][6]. It is due to the strong resolving power, very close to the Fano limit [7], that is very suitable as a detection system for the spectra analysis.…”