Advances in semiconductor photodetectors for scintillators

Semiconductors photodetectors have long seemed an attractive alternative for scintillation detection, but only recently have semiconductor photodiodes been proven suitable for some room temperature applications. There are many applications, however for which the performance of standard silicon p-i-n photodiodes is not satisfactory. This article reviews recent progress in two different families of novel semiconductor photodetectors: (1) wide bandgap compound semiconductors and (2) silicon photodetectors with enhanced signal-to-noise ratio. The compounds discussed and compared in this paper are HgI2, PbI2, InI, TlBr, TlBr1-xIx and HgBr1-xIx. The paper will also examine unity gain silicon drift diodes and avalanche photodiodes with maximum room temperature gain greater than 10 000.