ABSTRACT
The term solid state detector is usually reserved for those devices which detect the ionization produced by charged particles. Photographic emulsions were much used in early days of particle physics. A method of registering the track of an ionizing particle is used in the devices known as Nuclear Solid State Track Detectors. The passage of a fast ionizing particle through a semiconductor will result in the production of many electron-hole pairs. The operation of most semiconductor devices depends on the behaviour at an interface between dissimilar regions, of which the most basic example is the junction between a p-type and an n-type region. Improvements in the technology of semiconductor growth have permitted the growth of very high purity germanium crystals which have essentially the properties of intrinsic germanium without any compensation. The compensation will give a low overall density of carriers and so an acceptably low background current.
