Fabrication of radiation detectors using compound semiconductors (TlBr, PbI2, BiI3)

We described the detectors which used compound semiconductor materials (TlBr, PbI2 and BiI3) except CdTe. In this report, nuclear radiation detectors have been fabricated from the TlBr, PbI2 and BiI3 crystals. These are attractive materials for room temperature radiation detectors because of their wide band gap energies and high photon stopping power. The TlBr crystal was grown by horizontal traveling molten zone (TMZ) method. The FWHM (full width at half maximum) for the 59.5, 122 and 662 keV γ-ray photo peak were obtained as 3.3, 8.8 and 29.5 keV at room temperature, respectively. In the case of the PbI2 radiation detector, pulse height spectra for 59.5 keV γ-rays from the 241Am source were experimentally observed with the detector fabricated from the sample grown by the TMZ method. Energy resolution of 5.1 keV FWHM was obtained. BiI3 crystals were grown by using commercially available powder by the vertical Bridgman technique. Energy resolution of 2.2 MeV FWHM for 5.48 MeV (241Am) α-particles was obtained by the radiation detectors fabricated from the BiI3 crystals. (author)