Chalco-phosphate-based hard radiation detectors

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10379230-B2
Application number	US-201615578852-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 1, 2016
Priority date	Jun 3, 2015
Publication date	Aug 13, 2019
Grant date	Aug 13, 2019

Abstract

Methods and devices for detecting incident radiation, such as incident x-rays or gamma-rays, are provided. The methods and devices use high purity, high quality single-crystals of inorganic semiconductor compounds having the formula A2P2X6, where A represents Pb or Sn and X represents S or Se, as photoelectric materials.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for detecting incident radiation, the method comprising:
exposing a material comprising an inorganic compound having the formula A 2 P 2 X 6 , where A represents Pb or Sn and X represents S or Se, to incident gamma radiation, x-ray radiation, or a combination thereof, wherein the material absorbs the incident radiation and electron-hole pairs are generated in the material; and
measuring at least one of the energy or intensity of the absorbed incident radiation by detecting the generated electrons, holes, or both.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein A represents Pb.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein X represents Se.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the inorganic compound has a bandgap of at least 1.6 eV and an electrical resistivity of at least 10 10 Ω·cm at 23° C.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the inorganic compound has a bandgap of at least 1.7 eV and an electrical resistivity of at least 10 11 Ω·cm at 23° C.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein the material does not contain any impurity element at a concentration of greater than 2 ppm wt., other than impurity elements that are isoelectronic with Se.

7. The method of claim 2 , wherein the inorganic compound has a bandgap of at least 1.6 eV and an electrical resistivity of at least 10 10 Ω·cm at 23° C.

8. The method of claim 2 , wherein the inorganic compound has a bandgap of at least 1.7 eV and an electrical resistivity of at least 10 11 Ω·cm at 23° C.

9. The method of claim 2 , wherein the material does not contain any impurity element at a concentration of greater than 2 ppm wt., other than impurity elements that are isoelectronic with Se.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein X represents Se.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the inorganic compound has a bandgap of at least 1.6 eV and an electrical resistivity of at least 10 10 Ω·cm at 23° C.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the inorganic compound has a bandgap of at least 1.7 eV and an electrical resistivity of at least 10 11 Ω·cm at 23° C.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the material does not contain any impurity element at a concentration of greater than 2 ppm wt., other than impurity elements that are isoelectronic with the X element of the inorganic compound.

14. A device for the detection of incident radiation comprising:
a material comprising an inorganic compound having the formula A 2 P 2 X 6 , where A represents Pb or Sn and X represents S or Se;
a first electrode in electrical communication with the material;
a second electrode in electrical communication with the material, wherein
the first and second electrodes are configured to apply an electric field across the material; and
a detector configured to measure a signal generated by electron-hole pairs that are formed when the material is exposed to incident gamma radiation, x-ray radiation, or a combination thereof.

15. The device of claim 14 , wherein A represents Pb.

16. The device of claim 15 , wherein X represents Se.

17. The device of claim 16 , wherein the inorganic compound has a bandgap of at least 1.6 eV and an electrical resistivity of at least 10 10 Ω·cm at 23° C.

18. The device of claim 15 , wherein the inorganic compound has a bandgap of at least 1.6 eV and an electrical resistivity of at least 10 10 Ω·cm at 23° C.

19. The device of claim 14 , wherein X represents Se.

20. The device of claim 14 , wherein the inorganic compound has a bandgap of at least 1.6 eV and an electrical resistivity of at least 10 10 Ω·cm at 23° C.

Assignees

• Univ Northwestern

Inventors

• Kanatzidis Mercouri G
• Wang Peng L
• Wessels Bruce W
• Liu Zhifu

Classifications

• H01L31/115

  Electricity · mapped topic

• G01T7/00

  Details of radiation-measuring instruments · CPC title

• G01T1/24 Primary

  with semiconductor detectors · CPC title

• H01L31/032

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H10F77/12

  Active materials · CPC title