Development of a spectral model based on charge transport for the Swift/BAT 32K CdZnTe detector array

Abstract

The properties of 32K CdZnTe (4 x 4 mm(2) large, 2 rum thick) detectors have been studied in the pre-flight calibration of the Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) on-board the Swift Gamma-ray Burst Explorer (scheduled for launch in November 2004). In order to understand the energy response of the BAT CdZnTe array, we first quantify the mobility-lifetime (mu tau) products of carriers in individual CdZnTe detectors, which produce a position dependency in the charge induction efficiency and results in a low-energy tail in the energy spectrum. Based on a new method utilizing Co-57 spectra obtained at different bias voltages, the mu tau for electrons ranges from 5.0 x 10(-4) to 1.0 x 10(-2) cm(2) V-1 while the mu tau for holes ranges from 1.3 x 10(-5) to 1.8 x 10(-4) cm(2) V-1. We find that this wide distribution of mu tau products explains the large diversity in spectral shapes between CdZnTe detectors well. We also find that the variation of mu tau products can be attributed to the difference of crystal ingots or manufacturing harness. We utilize the 32K sets of extracted mu tau products to develop a spectral model of the detector. In combination with Monte Carlo simulations, we can construct a spectral model for any photon energy or any incident angle. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.