New Approaches for Making Large-Volume and Uniform CdZnTe and CdMnTe Detectors

Although CdZnTe (CZT) and CdMnTe (CMT) materials are leading contenders for room-temperature semiconductor detectors, nonetheless, both materials have limitations hindering their full usage in producing economical, uniform, large-volume devices due to their grain/twin boundaries, material purity, secondary-phase Te defects and material segregation. We tried to prevent the generation of twin and subgrain boundaries to achieve large-volume CZT crystals by means of local temperature control between the CZT melt and quartz crucible. Also, we have expanded the understanding of the electrical and structural properties of coherent/incoherent twin boundaries. The high residual impurities in the starting source materials, especially in manganese, were identified as obstacles against obtaining high-performance CMT detectors. We found that purifying manganese telluride (MnTe) via a floating Te melt-zone very effectively removes impurities, leading to better detectors. CMT detectors fabricated with purified material give a 2.1% energy resolution for 662 keV with a $^{137}$ Cs gamma source without any electron-loss corrections. Secondary-phase Te defects deteriorate detector performance due to incomplete charge collection caused by charge trapping. In situ growth interface studies reveal the thermo-migration of Te inclusions to CZT melts and the dependence of Te-inclusion size on the cooling rate. The effective segregation coefficient of Zn in the CdTe host is nearly 1.3, so about 5%–6% of Zn deviation was reported in Bridgman-grown CZT (Zn $,=$ 10% ingots. Such uncontrolled Zn variations cause a significant variation of the band-gap throughout the ingot and, consequently, affect the nonuniformity of the detectors\´ responses. Practically, this means that manufacturers cannot cut the ingot parallel to the crystal growth direction. We also de- onstrated that the segregation of Zn can be controlled by creating particular thermal environments after growth.