Abstract
A High Purity Germanium (HPGe) detector is a high-resolution detector, used for gamma-ray spectroscopy. One such HPGe detector of our laboratory was showing poor resolution either due to malfunctioning of components or vacuum. This detector being a sophisticated instrument need to be operated in an environment with adequate cooling and humidity control. The optimum conditions such as maintaining liquid Nitrogen filling in Dewar at proper time and holding capacity of Dewar and humidity control environment could not be maintained due to lockdown conditions during the pandemic. This disrupted the functioning of the detector resulting in poor performance and poor resolution. One reason for such a behaviour is attributed to the condensation of moisture at the feed through points of High Voltage and failures of components such as preamplifier and Field Effect Transistor (FET). Transportation of the detector for repairs to France involves lengthy procedures, additional expenditure, custom clearance and safe transit. The possibility of performing the detector repair with the available facility on premise was explored. The repair involved breaking of vacuum in Clean room Facility, availability of Variac, Vacuum gauge, Dry Nitrogen, Helium leak detector, Liquid nitrogen, Temperature sensor with controller, Turbomolecular pump, Vacuum plunger etc. The diagnosis of cascading failure of components in the germanium detector and their rectification to restore its functionality with desired performance has been discussed in the present paper.
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