Performance Characteristics of Cdte Gamma-Ray Spectrometers

Abstract

The use of cadmium telluride (CdTe) semiconductor nuclear detectors is continuing to expand into new areas because of their unique properties which include room temperature operation and high detection efficiency. In addition, they remain the material of choice in many critical applications such as nuclear medicine and power plant monitoring because of their reputation for reliability and long term stability1. CdTe is by far the most developed of the compound semiconductors used in nuclear detector applications and it offers a number of significant benefits to researchers, clinicians and engineers who have special requirements relating to size, sensitivity and operating temperature.Recently, there have been improvements in the growth of the crystalline material and in the fabrication procedures which have resulted in better performance and in the ability to produce arrays. This article describes the physical and electronic properties of CdTe nuclear detectors, discusses how the crystal growth and device fabrication procedures can affect these properties, and compares the performance to CdZnTe detectors.

The relative importance of energy resolution for quantitative /sup 99m/Tc SPECT imaging

“…This result is useful to those interested in devcloping room temperature semiconductor detectors such as CdTc and CdZnTe for cardiac nuclear medicine systcms. These detectors can already achieve 5 lteV energy resolutio11 [8]; so, development effort would likely be more profitable if it is directed towards optimizing other aspeck of detector performance.…”

The relative importance of energy resolution for quantitative /sup 99m/Tc SPECT imaging

“…This result is useful to thosc interested in developing room temperature semiconductor detectors such as CdTe and CdZnTe for cardiac nuclear medicine systems. These detectors can already achieve 5 keV energy resolution [8]; so, development effort would likely be more profitable if it is directed towards optimizing other aspects of detector performance.…”