Oxygen-doped ZnTe phosphors for synchrotron X-ray imaging detectors

Z. T. Kang, H. Menkara, B. K. Wagner, C. J. Summers, R. Durst, Y. Diawara, G. Mednikova, T. Thorson

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

ZnTe:O powder phosphors were successfully prepared by a dry synthesis process using gaseous doping and etching media. It was found that dry doping by O 2 through ball-milling was an effective way to synthesize ZnTe:O powder phosphors and produced a red emission centered at 680 nm with a decay time of 1.1 μs. The emission intensity of dry O 2-doped samples was three times more intense than from ZnO-doped samples, possibly due to a more uniform distribution of oxygen substitution on tellurium sites. The samples annealed in a 95% N 2/5% H 2 forming gas atmosphere exhibited a x-ray luminescent efficiency five times higher than did powders annealed in vacuum or N 2 atmosphere. This enhancement was attributed to the removal of surface tellurium oxides. ZnTerO phosphor screens were prepared with x-ray luminescence efficiencies equivalent to 56% of ZnSe:Cu,Ce,Cl and 76% of Gd 2O 2S:Tb screens under 17-keV radiation. An x-ray imaging resolution of 2.5 lines/mm was resolved, the same as that measured for commercial ZnSe:Cu,Ce,Cl and Gd 2O 2S:Tb screens. These results indicate that ZnTe:O is a promising phosphor candidate for synchrotron x-ray imaging applications.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1262-1266
Number of pages5
JournalJournal of Electronic Materials
Volume35
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2006
Externally publishedYes

Funding

The authors thank Dr. Brent Carter for the assistance with the XPS measurements. This work was supported financially by the Molecular Beam Consortium. Z.T. Kang was supported by the Robert G. Shackelford Graduate Fellows Program.

FundersFunder number
Robert G. Shackelford Graduate Fellows Program

    Keywords

    • Phosphor
    • Photoluminescence
    • X-ray imaging
    • ZnTe

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