The Rapid-Production of the High-Performance and Affordable Cadmium Telluride and Cadmium Zinc Telluride for Medical Imaging Applications.

1碲锌镉(CZT)和碲化镉的高空间分辨率和能量分辨率 与闪烁体相比，2(CdTe)在核医学和X射线方面提供了更好的图像质量 3种成像应用，即SPECT、PET、CT、骨密度测量、肿瘤学、牙科成像、机场 CZT和CdTe仍然是室温辐射探测的理想选择，但它是 5受低产量和长生产时间导致的高成本和可获得性的限制 6商业化生长技术，即移动加热法(THM)。但是，应用 威斯康星州立大学开发的加速坩埚旋转技术(ACRT)生长方法已被证明 8生产工业质量、高性能的CdTe/CZT。这种最近发展起来的生长方法不仅 9允许以与THM生长的材料相同的质量生长CdTe/CZT，但也以生长速度 10大约比THM快10-20倍。具体地说，用THM以以下速率生长CdTe/CZT 11每天大约1-3 mm，而由ACRT生长的CdTe/CZT可以更快地完成 每小时大约1-3毫米的12个速度。Tm生长的CdTe/CZT需要较低的生长温度 13个高质量的设备，这导致了高度非化学计量比的熔体，从而引发了对 14后处理。这些与CdTe/CZT晶体生长相关的主要挑战是 15使用ACRT克服。为了进一步发展ACRT的生长过程，这里提出了以下建议： 16晶体晶种在ACRT系统中用于镉，并将这一过程扩大到商业级水平，而 17继续改善用于高通量SPECT/CT应用的CdTe器件的性能。氯掺杂 18将进一步探索和优化，以实现高电阻率和高迁移率-寿命的CdTe器件。 19将生长大量的CdTe：CL钢锭，并将用这些钢锭生产器件(横条和 20个商业像素图案)。设备将发送给商业合作伙伴和客户进行验证 21努力整合到商业成像系统中。将设计、建造SPECT/CT系统原型， 22和图像将被收集。医疗/诊断成像市场预计到2010年将突破557亿美元 2025年。医学成像市场的利益相关者现在需要CdTe/CZT设备。这个项目的成果 24将显著降低工业级材料成本(&gt；3倍)，这是通过提高产量、减少 25生长时间，并消除了目前工业上使用的生长后退火热处理。随着速度的加快- 26生产时间和高性能的CdTe/CZT，(1)医学成像 27市场将终于有一个快速的周转时间和一致的高性能材料，可以很容易地 28获得，(2)预计CdTe/CZT的价格将降低3倍，以及(3)利益攸关方将有机会获得 29种价格实惠的高性能CdTe/CZT材料，可用于成像仪器和 30种其他辐射检测应用。

1 The high spatial-resolution and energy-resolution of cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) and cadmium telluride 2 (CdTe), compared to that of scintillators, offers superior image quality in Nuclear medicine and X-ray 3 imaging applications, i.e. SPECT, PET, CT, Bone Densitometry, Oncology, Dental imaging, Airport 4 security, etc. CZT and CdTe remain the desired choice for room-temperature radiation detection, but it is 5 limited by high-cost and availability resulting from low yield and long production times associated with 6 commercial growth techniques, i.e. the Traveling Heater Method (THM). However, the application of the 7 Accelerated Crucible Rotation Technique (ACRT) growth method developed at WSU has proven to 8 produce industrial quality, high-performance CdTe/CZT. This recently developed growth method not only 9 allows CdTe/CZT to be grown with the same quality as material grown by THM, but also at growth rates 10 approximately 10-20 times faster than THM. Specifically, CdTe/CZT is grown by THM at a rate of 11 approximately 1-3 mm per day, whereas CdTe/CZT growth by ACRT can be accomplished at much faster 12 rates of approximately 1-3 mm per hour. THM-grown CdTe/CZT requires a lower growth temperature for 13 high-quality devices, which results in highly off-stoichiometric melts, thereby inducing the need for 14 postprocessing. These major challenges associated with the crystal growth of CdTe/CZT have been 15 overcome using ACRT. It is proposed here to further develop the ACRT growth process by introducing 16 crystal seeding in the ACRT system for CdTe and scale this process to commercial-grade levels while 17 continuing to improve the CdTe device properties for high-flux SPECT/CT applications. Chlorine doping 18 will be further explored and optimized to achieve high resistivity and high mobility-lifetime CdTe devices. 19 Numerous CdTe:Cl ingots will be grown, and devices will be produced from these ingots (cross strip and 20 commercial pixel patterns). Devices will be sent to commercial partners and customers for validation in 21 effort to integrate into commercial imaging systems. A prototype SPECT/CT system will be designed, built, 22 and images will be collected. The medical/diagnostic imaging market is projected to cross $55.7 billion by 23 2025. Stakeholders in the medical imaging market need CdTe/CZT devices now. The fruition of this project 24 will be a significant reduction (>3x) of industrial-grade material costs by increasing the yield, reducing the 25 growth time, and eliminating post-growth anneal treatments currently used by industry. With the fast- 26 production time and high-performance of the CdTe/CZT produced in this effort, (1) the medical imaging 27 market will finally have a fast turnaround time and consistent high-performance material that can easily be 28 obtained, (2) a >3x price reduction is projected for CdTe/CZT, and (3) Stakeholders will have access to an 29 affordable, high-performance CdTe/CZT material that can be obtained for imaging instrumentation and 30 other radiation detection applications.