Radiation Detectors for Medical Imaging

Chapter 1

CdZnTe and CdTe Crystals for Medical Applications

Csaba Szeles

1.1 CdTe and CdZnTe for Medical Applications

CdTe and CdZnTe semiconductor detectors are solid-state devices that provide direct conversion of the absorbed gamma-ray energy into an electronic signal. Many of the advantages of these detectors for medical applications stem from this inherent energy discrimination and photon-counting capability. In addition, the high radiation stopping power and resulting high detection efficiency, low leakage current at room temperature, good charge transport of the photon-generated carriers, and the favorable chemical and mechanical properties that allow the fabrication of pixelated detectors enable the manufacture of sophisticated X-ray ...