Surface Passivation of CdZnTe Detector by Hydrogen Peroxide Solution Etching

The spectral resolution of room temperature nuclear radiation detectors such as CdZnTe is usually limited by the presence of conducting surface species that increase the surface leakage current. Studies have shown that the leakage current can be reduced by proper surface preparation. In this study, we try to optimize the performance of CdZnTe detector by etching the detector with hydrogen peroxide solution as function of concentration and etching time. The passivation effect that hydrogen peroxide introduces have been investigated by current-voltage (I-V) measurement on both parallel strips and metal-semiconductor-metal configurations. The improvements on the spectral response of Fe-55 and 241Am due to hydrogen peroxide treatment are presented and discussed.