Cadmium zinc telluride

Cadmium zinc telluride , chem. Cd _(1-x) Zn _x Te, trade name CZT , is an alloy of the two materials cadmium telluride and zinc telluride . It is a direct semiconductor that is used as a detector material for gamma radiation , which is produced, among other things, in radioactive processes , and for X-rays . Further applications are in the area of terahertz radiation .

Radiation detectors convert X-ray or gamma quanta into electrons , which can then be evaluated by subsequent electrical signal processing. In contrast to comparable materials such as germanium, CZT has the advantage of working at room temperature in this application . Germanium as a radiation detector has to be cooled with liquid nitrogen for this application . As a sensor, CZT can easily be made into different shapes and geometries depending on the application.

Depending on the mixing ratio of the two basic substances, the band gap is between 1.4  eV and 2.2 eV. The commercially available alloy Cd _0.9 Zn _0.1 Te, as used in gamma radiation detectors, has a band gap of 1.572 eV, for example.

For use in the field of terahertz radiation, CZT has a high electro-optical coefficient , which means that the refractive index of the material can be influenced by an external electric field , also known as the photorefractive effect . Furthermore, CZT is almost transparent in the infrared range , which allows applications as an optical modulator .

Individual evidence

1. ^ TE Schlesinger, JE Toney, H. Yoon, EY Lee, B .A. Brunett, L. Franks, RB James: Cadmium zinc telluride and its use as a nuclear radiation detector material . In: Materials Science and Engineering: R: Reports . tape 32 , no. 4–5 , 2001, pp. 103-189 , doi : 10.1016 / S0927-796X (01) 00027-4 .
2. ↑ About CZT ( Memento of the original from February 15, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Endicott Interconnection, requested on January 1, 2012, engl. 
3. ↑ Semiconductor Detector Material Properties ( Memento of the original dated August 7, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 54 kB), requested on January 1, 2012, engl.