ABSTRACT
An introduction to Si(Li) detectors was given in Section 1.16. Here, we will discuss the manufacture of these detectors and various related topics in further detail. The previous comments on the response function, spectral artefacts, and contacts are, of course, general, but we will elaborate on these where they specifically apply to this type of detector. The Si(Li) detector has been the workhorse of x-ray spectroscopy since the late 1960s, and the literature on them is extensive, written mainly by the pioneers in government laboratories and large wellestablished companies under government contracts, mainly in the United States. The progress since the middle to late 1970s has been made inside the relatively small commercial companies that took over the role of manufacturing, and these innovations have not been well documented. This fascinating development will be discussed in Chapter 11, and here we will endeavour to describe the most state-of-the-art devices.
