Semiconductor drift detectors for X- and gamma-ray spectroscopy and imaging

The semiconductor drift detectors (SDDs) show basic advantages, in terms of spectroscopic resolution and detection rate, with respect to other semiconductor detectors. These advantages are strictly related to the very low values of the output capacitance of these devices. In this paper the working principles and the performance of the SDDs are presented and the most recent devices (“droplet type” SDDs and monolithic arrays of SDDs) are introduced. The requirements of front-end electronics for the readout of the SDDs signals are then discussed and the most recent implementations (pulsed-reset preamplifiers, multi-channel ASIC readout circuits) are introduced. Some relevant applications of SDDs in the field of X-ray spectroscopy for material analysis and for nuclear physics experiments, and in the field of gamma-ray imaging, are presented as a conclusion.