[en] Fully spectroscopic x/γ-ray imaging is now possible thanks to advances in the growth of wide-bandgap semiconductors. One of the most promising materials is cadmium zinc telluride (CdZnTe or CZT), which has been demonstrated in homeland security, medical imaging, astrophysics and industrial analysis applications. These applications have demanding energy and spatial resolution requirements that are not always met by the metal contacts deposited on the CdZnTe. To improve the contacts, the interface formed between metal and semiconductor during contact deposition must be better understood. Gold has a work function closely matching that of high resistivity CdZnTe and is a popular choice of contact metal. Gold contacts are often formed by electroless deposition however this forms a complex interface. The prior CdZnTe surface preparation, such as mechanical or chemo-mechanical polishing, and electroless deposition parameters, such as gold chloride solution temperature, play important roles in the formation of the interface and are the subject of the presented work. Techniques such as focused ion beam (FIB) cross section imaging, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and current  −  voltage (I–V) analysis have been used to characterize the interface. It has been found that the electroless reaction depends on the surface preparation and for chemo-mechanically polished (1 1 1) CdZnTe, it also depends on the A/B face identity. Where the deposition occurred at elevated temperature, the deposited contacts were found to produce a greater leakage current and suffered from increased subsurface voiding due to the formation of cadmium chloride. (paper)

[en] Cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) is the material of choice for high-energy room-temperature X-ray and γ-ray detectors. However, the performance of pixelated detectors is greatly influenced by the quality of CZT. Crystal defects and impurities are one source of shallow and deep level traps for charge carriers. Fluorescence lifetime of the recombination of optically excited charges may indicate the presence and type of defects and impurities in CZT. Fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) is used to examine the excited-state lifetime in CZT fabricated by different growth methods and conditions. The FLIM set-up analyzes luminescence emitted from the sample following photo excitation. Samples were optically excited above band gap with a pulsed laser (590 nm) for raster scanning a 220 x 165 μm² sample area. In-situ room-temperature photoluminescence (PL) and FLIM were recorded simultaneously. In order to analyze the FLIM data, two dominant charge carrier decay processes (τ₁, τ₂) were identified. The luminescence signal decays with a rapid lifetime of τ₁ ∼ 50-200 ps, and a large variety of long-lifetime components τ₂ were found in the range of 225-900 ps. CZT grown by multi-tube physical vapor transport (MTPVT) showed extremely long-lived recombination decay times up to 3.5 ns in the vicinity of the interface at growth start. Further away from this interface, the recombination lifetime was in the typical range of fast transitions similar to those found in detector-grade CZT fabricated by travelling heater method. Crystalline material quality strongly influences FLIM lifetime. Time-resolved transients of MTPVT-grown CZT compared with industry-leading detector grade CZT (dots: measured data; lines: fitted exponential decay curves). (copyright 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

[en] Highlights: • Gaseous fission products have been produced through neutron irradiation of highly-enriched uranium at NPL. • A high-resolution beta-gamma coincidence detection system has been used to measure the gaseous fission products. • This paper compares the expected isotopic activity ratios from nuclear decay-ingrowth calculations with measurements. • The ¹³⁵Xe half-life was determined through measurement and is in excellent agreement with the literature value. Gaseous fission products have been produced via thermal neutron irradiation of a highly-enriched uranium target and extracted using a custom gas processing system for measurement on a prototype, high-resolution β − γ coincidence detection system. The gas was extracted and measured in two stages in order to measure the prompt and β⁻–delayed fission products. This paper presents an overview of the system used to produce gaseous fission products, and the results of the advanced coincidence spectrometry techniques used to identify and quantify decays from the radionuclides produced, including the noble gases ⁸⁵Kr, ^85mKr, ⁸⁸Kr, ¹³³Xe, ¹³⁵Xe, ^133mXe and ^135mXe, as well as ¹³³I and ⁸⁸Rb. The measurements were validated by determination of the nuclear decay half-lives, specifically for the ground state decay of ¹³⁵Xe, which was found to be 9.15(49) hours and consistent with the literature value. This work demonstrates the UK capability to produce gaseous radionuclides for quality assurance and calibration purposes in Radionuclide Laboratories supporting the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT).

[en] Highlights: • Electroless deposition of gold onto CdZnTe creates a wide tellurium oxide interface region with a thin layer of CdCl₂. • Gold/gold telluride particulates exist within the electroless interface region. • Sputter deposition of gold onto CdZnTe creates a sharp interface between the gold layer and bulk CdZnTe. • Sputter deposition of gold onto CdZnTe creates no evidence of oxidation beyond that of the CdZnTe native oxide. • The IV response of mechanically polished CdZnTe with electroless contacts is symmetric, and with sputtered contacts is asymmetric. Cadmium zinc telluride (CdZnTe) is a leading sensor material for spectroscopic X/γ-ray imaging in the fields of homeland security, medical imaging, industrial analysis and astrophysics. The metal-semiconductor interface formed during contact deposition is of fundamental importance to the spectroscopic performance of the detector and is primarily determined by the deposition method. A multi-technique analysis of the metal-semiconductor interface formed by sputter and electroless deposition of gold onto (111) aligned CdZnTe is presented. Focused ion beam (FIB) cross section imaging, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) depth profiling and current-voltage (IV) analysis have been applied to determine the structural, chemical and electronic properties of the gold contacts. In a novel approach, principal component analysis has been employed on the XPS depth profiles to extract detailed chemical state information from different depths within the profile. It was found that electroless deposition forms a complicated, graded interface comprised of tellurium oxide, gold/gold telluride particulates, and cadmium chloride. This compared with a sharp transition from surface gold to bulk CdZnTe observed for the interface formed by sputter deposition. The electronic (IV) response for the detector with electroless deposited contacts was symmetric, but was asymmetric for the detector with sputtered gold contacts. This is due to the electroless deposition degrading the difference between the Cd- and Te-faces of the CdZnTe (111) crystal, whilst these differences are maintained for the sputter deposited gold contacts. This work represents an important step in the optimisation of the metal-semiconductor interface which currently is a limiting factor in the development of high resolution CdZnTe detectors.