Mean free paths of charge carriers in CZT crystal

The asymmetrical distortion of the Cadmium Zinc Telluride ((CZT) energy spectrum is mainly caused by the hole trapping in the CZT crystal, and it can be characterized by the mean free path of hole. The mean free paths of the charge carriers in the CZT crystal can be extracted from fitting the peak shape of the measured energy spectrum. The energy spectra of γ-rays from 241Am, and that of α particles from 238Pu were measured with a CZT with 5×5×5 mm3. The mean free path of the electron was determined from the bias dependence of α-particle response. The energy spectra of γ-ray were simulated with EGSnrc code, in which Hecht equation was included, and the mean free path of the hole was determined by comparing the measured spectrum with the simulated one. The energy spectrum of 662 keV γ-ray was measured with the CZT detector, and it was compared with the simulated spectrum, in which newly determined mean free paths of the electron and the hole were used.