ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Electrical resistivity and photoluminescence of lead iodide crystals

M. Matuchová, K. Žďánský, M. Svatuška, J. Zavadil, and O. Procházková

Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Chaberská 57, 182 51 Prague, Czech Republic

E-mail: Marie.Matuchova@tiscali.cz

Received: 8 January 2006  Revised: 2 August 2006  Accepted: 10 August 2006

Abstract: Direct synthesis of lead iodide, a promising material for X-ray and γ detectors operating at room temperature, was developed and optimized. The influence of admixture of rare earth elements Ce, Ho, Gd, Yb, Er, and Tb in concentrations 0.05–0.5 at. % on the quality of prepared PbI₂ was investigated. Zone melting was employed in order to increase the lead iodide purity. Electrical and optical properties of PbI₂ samples were assessed on the basis of the measurement of electrical resistivity and low-temperature photoluminescence. The electrical resistivity of synthesized samples varied from 10⁹ Ω cm to 10¹¹ Ω cm and occasionally it was increased up to 10¹³ Ω cm.

Keywords: zone melting - PbI₂ - electrical resistivity - photoluminescence - rare elements

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.2478/s11696-006-0092-y

Chemical Papers 61 (1) 36–40 (2007)