Defect Structure and Spectroscopic Properties of CdTe-based X- and Gamma-Ray Detectors

The defect structure of CdTe single crystals and spectrometric properties of the CdTe-based Schottky diode-type X/γ-ray detectors with MoO
x
electrical contacts were studied in order to investigate and understand the roles of structure defects and their effect on the final detector performance. A complex of the crystal surface processing techniques, including preliminary chemical and ion surface etching, laser surface irradiation, metallization and chemical passivation, were employed during contact preparation and electrode formation. The X-ray diffraction investigations of the defect structure of the CdTe crystals and CdTe-based heterostructures were carried out on every stage of the detector fabrication. The correlation between the defect structure of CdTe substrates or MoO
x
/p-CdTe/MoO
x
Schottky-diodes and the detector characteristics was established.