Study of silicon microstrips detector quantum efficiency using mathematical simulation

The paper shows the results from the application of mathematical simulation to study the quantum efficiency of a microstrips crystalline silicon detector, intended for medical imaging and the development of other applications such as authentication and dating of cultural heritage. The effects on the quantum efficiency of some parameters of the system, such as the detector-source geometry, X rays energy and detector dead zone thickness, were evaluated. The simulation results were compared with the theoretical prediction and experimental available data, resulting in a proper correspondence. It was concluded that the use of frontal configuration for incident energies lower than 17 keV is more efficient, however the use of the edge-on configuration for applications requiring the detection of energy above this value is recommended. It was also found that the reduction of the detector dead zone led to a considerable increase in quantum efficiency for any energy value in the interval from 5 to 100 keV.(author)