Photon counting devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017323923-A1
Application number	US-201615268646-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 19, 2016
Priority date	May 4, 2016
Publication date	Nov 9, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

Described herein are semiconductor materials suitable for direct conversion of ionizing radiation to electron hole pairs. The material described herein have improved high-flux photon counting performance and lower photocurrent leakage compared to typically used semiconductors.

First claim

1 . A photon counting device comprising
a direct conversion layer of at least 1 mm thickness and comprising a Group II-VI semiconductor layer of Formula I:
A Te y Se (1-y)   I;

wherein A is Cd, Zn, Hg, Mg, or Mn, or a combination thereof; and y ranges from 0 to 1.

2 . The photon counting device of claim 1 wherein A is Cd x Zn (1-x) , and x ranges from 0 to 1.

3 . The photon counting device of claim 2 , wherein x is about 0.9.

4 . The photon counting device of claim 1 , wherein y is about 0.9.

5 . The photon counting device of claim 1 , wherein the Group II-VI semiconductor is a CZT semiconductor wherein up to about 10% of Te is replaced with Se.

6 . The photon counting device of claim 1 , wherein Formula I is
Cd (0.9) Zn (0.1) Te (0.9) Se (0.1) .

7 . The photon counting device of claim 1 , wherein the Group II-VI semiconductor layer is located between a cathode electrode and an anode electrode.

8 . The photon counting device of claim 7 , further comprising a metal oxide layer deposited between the Group II-VI semiconductor layer and the cathode electrode, wherein the metal oxide is selected from the group consisting of aluminum oxide (Al 2 O 3 ), gallium oxide (Ga 2 O 3 ), hafnium oxide (HfO 2 ), zirconium oxide (ZrO 2 ), magnesium oxide (MgO) and combinations thereof.

9 . The photon counting device of claim 8 , wherein the metal oxide comprises Al 2 O 3 , MgO, or a combination thereof.

10 . The photon counting device of claim 8 , wherein the metal oxide comprises Al 2 O 3 .

11 . An X-ray imaging device comprising a photon counting device of claim 1 .

Assignees

• Gen Electric

Inventors

• Choi Jongwoo

Classifications

• H01L27/14659 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L31/02966

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L27/1462

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L31/115

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L31/022408

  Electricity · mapped topic