Influence of zone purification process on TlBr crystals for radiation detector fabrication

Thallium bromide (TlBr) is a wide gap compound semiconductor and is a promising material for fabrication of nuclear radiation detectors. In this study, the conventional zone refining method was employed to reduce the concentration of impurities in the TlBr crystals. In order to evaluate the efficiency of the zone purification, the zone purification process was repeated up to 300 times. The resistivity, the charge transport properties, and the spectroscopic performance of TlBr detectors fabricated from the crystals zone purified 1 time, 100 times, and 300 times were compared in this study in order to clarify the effectiveness of the zone purification process.