Significant sensitivity enhancement of single crystal CdSe x-ray detector by liquid nitrogen cooling

Abstract

Owing to the large x-ray attenuation coefficient, appropriate bandgap, high resistivity, and high mobility-lifetime (μτ) product, binary II–VI semiconductor CdSe is a promising x-ray detection material and it has exhibited excellent x-ray detection at room temperature (RT). For further improving the characteristics of CdSe x-ray detectors, the electrical properties of CdSe single crystals (SCs) grown through the pressure-assisted vertical Bridgman method and their x-ray detection performance have been investigated at RT and liquid nitrogen temperature (LNT), respectively. The significantly enhanced x-ray photocurrent and the prolonged response time of the devices operating at LNT indicate the photogenerated carrier lifetime could be increased by the enhanced trapping–detrapping effect obviously, and the μτ product of CdSe SCs increases from 1.39 × 10−5 to 5.34 × 10−4 cm2 V−1 with temperature lowering from RT to LNT. Meanwhile, an ultrahigh sensitivity of 5.24 × 106μC Gyair−1 cm−2 and an extremely low detection limit of 3.68 nGyair s−1 have been acquired by the CdSe SC based x-ray detectors at LNT, which is 140 times higher and 5.8 times lower than it has been at RT. Compared with conventional semiconductor x-ray detectors, the ultra-high sensitivity and extremely low detection limit of CdSe SC based detectors make their application prospects very promising.