Effect of electron transport properties on unipolar CdZnTe radiation detectors: LUND, SpectrumPlus, and coplanar grid

Device simulations of (1) the laterally contacted-unipolar-nuclear detector (LUND), (2) the SpectrumPlus, (3) and the coplanar grid made of Cd0.9Zn0.1Te (CZT) were performed for Cs-137 irradiation by 662.15 keV gamma-rays. Realistic and controlled simulations of the gamma-ray interactions with the CZT material were done using the MCNP4B2 Monte Carlo program, and the detector responses were simulated using the Sandia three-dimensional multi-electrode simulation program (SandTMSP). The simulations were done for the best and the worst expected carrier mobilities and lifetimes of currently commercially available CZT materials for radiation detector applications. For the simulated unipolar devices, the active device volumes were relatively large and the energy resolutions were fairly good, but these performance characteristics were found to be very sensitive to the materials properties. The internal electric fields, the weighting potentials, and the charge induced efficiency maps were calculated to give insights into the operation of these devices.