Large-area mercuric iodide photodetectors

This article discusses the limits of the active area of mercuric iodide photodetectors imposed by the size of available crystals, electronic noise, and the uniformity of charge carrier collection. Theoretical calculations of the photodetector electronic noise are compared with the experimental results. Different entrance contacts were studied including semitransparent palladium films and conductive liquids. HgI2 photodetectors with active area up to 4 sq cm are matched with NaI(Tl) and CsI(Tl) scintillation crystals and are evaluated as gamma radiation spectrometers