ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is to describe semiconductor sensors used for direct X-ray detection. In the first section, we describe typical X-ray detection applications and resulting sensor requirements. In the second section, we will contrast traditional scintillator detectors with modern direct conversion detector technology using semiconductor detectors. In the third section, we will analyze direct conversion sensors and contrast Si, Ge, GaAs, CdTe and CZT semiconductor materials. We will show why semiconductor sensors are typically the best choice, in particular for high-count and/or high-energy applications. In the fourth section, we will discuss requirements of the sensor electronics required to read signals generated by the direct conversion sensors and demonstrated some example of usage of semiconductor sensors in NDT, medical imaging including CT and baggage scanning. Most of these examples are directly applicable to X-ray diffraction technologies.
