Characterization of coplanar grid CZT detectors with highly collimated X-ray beam

CdZnTe detectors demonstrated great potentials for detection of gamma radiation. However, energy resolution of CdZnTe detectors is significantly affected by uncollected holes which have low mobility and short lifetime. To overcome this deleterious effects upon energy resolution special detector designs have to be implemented. The most practical of them are the small pixel effect device, the co-planar grid device, and the virtual Frisch-grid device. We routinely use a highly collimated high-intensity X-ray beams provided by National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) facility at Brookhaven National Laboratory to study of CdZnTe material and performances of the different types of devices on the micron-scale. This powerful tool allows us to evaluate electronic properties of the material, device performance, uniformity of the detector responses, effects related to the device's contact pattern and electric field distribution, etc. In particular, in this paper we present new results obtained from the performance studies of 15×15×7.5 mm³ coplanar-grid devices coupled to readout ASIC. We observed the effect of the strip contacts comprising the grids on the energy resolution of the coplanar-grid device.