Speaker
Description
Compressed semiconductors have recently emerged as a promising materials platform for scalable, low-cost, and high-performance X-ray detection, offering an attractive alternative to conventional single-crystal technologies. By enabling dense detector architectures through powder compaction, this approach opens new opportunities for simplified device fabrication while maintaining excellent optoelectronic functionality.
In this talk, we present recent progress in developing compressed direct X-ray detectors based on several classes of materials, highlighting both key achievements and future perspectives.
First, we discuss our pioneering work on bismuth-based hybrid materials, which demonstrated that compacted polycrystalline semiconductors can achieve efficient X-ray detection with remarkable sensitivity and operational stability. These results established compressed Bi-based materials as a viable detector concept, revealing the important role of defect tolerance, high atomic number constituents, and pressure-induced improvements in charge transport and interparticle connectivity.
Building on this concept, we extend the compressed detector strategy to lead-free double perovskite materials, focusing on environmentally benign alternatives with enhanced chemical robustness. We highlight recent results on vacancy-ordered and double perovskite Cs₂AgBiBr6, showing how compositional engineering combined with mechanical densification and sintering can yield stable detectors with encouraging sensitivity, low dark currents, and promising long-term performance. These studies underline the broader potential of perovskite-inspired compounds for sustainable radiation detection.
Finally, we present emerging results on binary semiconductor pellets based on Antimony trisulfide, a highly attractive earth-abundant absorber combining strong X-ray attenuation, benign composition, and favorable semiconductor properties. We show how compressed Sb₂S₃ detectors provide a new pathway toward simple and scalable detector architectures, while also raising important questions regarding grain-boundary transport, trap-mediated processes, and optimization of pressure-assisted microstructures.
Across these material systems, we identify common principles governing compressed detector operation, including particle interfaces as functional transport pathways, pressure-induced tuning of electronic properties, and the interplay between microstructure, ionic/electronic transport, and detector metrics. We discuss how these insights can guide the next generation of compressed detectors toward higher sensitivity, lower detection limits, and improved temporal response.
Looking forward, compressed semiconductors may evolve from a proof-of-concept concept into a versatile detector platform, particularly when combined with mechanochemical synthesis, compositionally complex materials, and scalable pellet-processing routes. We outline future directions toward fully lead-free, high-performance, and manufacturable X-ray detectors, emphasizing the opportunities of compressed materials to bridge fundamental materials discovery with practical radiation sensing technologies.