Increasing the reliability of fabrication and handling of large high purity germanium detectors

A technique has been developed in the fabrication of high purity germanium gamma radiation detectors which consistently allows the application of large amounts of overvoltage. A chemically grown oxide layer to which Pd metallization adheres strongly forms a rugged surface barrier. Cycling temerature and between dry nitrogen and ambient air, changing contact fixtures, storage and transferring to different cryostats result in no significant changes in the initially good I-V and noise characteristics.