Review of mercuric iodide technology development

The applications of mercuric iodide detectors in instruments for the detection and measurement of nuclear radiation are gradually increasing because of the increased sensitivity of the detectors made from this material. Experiments were performed to improve the quality of the purified material from which single crystals are grown and detectors are fabricated. In addition, the processes to cut the single crystals into detector-size elements and to apply the electrodes have been optimized. This paper describes the developments of the process technology and analysis that have occurred during the past two years, and some applications that illustrate the use of mercuric iodide detectors for monitoring of stored nuclear materials, medical applications, and hand-held spectrometers