Effects of dislocation walls on charge carrier transport properties in CdTe single crystal

Radiation detectors for medical imaging at room temperature have been developed thanks to the availability of large chlorine-compensated cadmium telluride (CdTe:Cl) crystals. Microstructural defects affect the performance of CdTe:Cl radiation detectors. Advanced characterization tools, such as Ion Beam Induced Current (IBIC) measurements and chemical etching on tellurium and cadmium faces were used to evaluate the influence of sub-grain-boundaries on charge carrier transport properties. We performed IBIC imaging to correlate inhomogeneities in charge collection for both types of charge carrier with distribution of dislocation walls in the sample. This information should help improve performance in medical imaging applications. © 2013 Elsevier B.V