Defect Antiperovskite Compounds Hg3Q2I2 (Q = S, Se, and Te) for Room-Temperature Hard Radiation Detection.

The high Z chalcohalides Hg3Q2I2 (Q = S, Se, and Te) can be regarded as of antiperovskite structure with ordered vacancies and are demonstrated to be very promising candidates for X- and γ-ray semiconductor detectors. Depending on Q, the ordering of the Hg vacancies in these defect antiperovskites varies and yields a rich family of distinct crystal structures ranging from zero-dimensional to three-dimensional, with a dramatic effect on the properties of each compound. All three Hg3Q2I2 compounds show very suitable optical, electrical, and good mechanical properties required for radiation detection at room temperature. These compounds possess a high density (>7 g/cm3) and wide bandgaps (>1.9 eV), showing great stopping power for hard radiation and high intrinsic electrical resistivity, over 1011 Ω cm. Large single crystals are grown using the vapor transport method, and each material shows excellent photo sensitivity under energetic photons. Detectors made from thin Hg3Q2I2 crystals show reasonable response under a series of radiation sources, including 241Am and 57Co radiation. The dimensionality of Hg-Q motifs (in terms of ordering patterns of Hg vacancies) has a strong influence on the conduction band structure, which gives the quasi one-dimensional Hg3Se2I2 a more prominently dispersive conduction band structure and leads to a low electron effective mass (0.20 m0). For Hg3Se2I2 detectors, spectroscopic resolution is achieved for both 241Am α particles (5.49 MeV) and 241Am γ-rays (59.5 keV), with full widths at half-maximum (FWHM, in percentage) of 19% and 50%, respectively. The carrier mobility-lifetime μτ product for Hg3Q2I2 detectors is achieved as 10-5-10-6 cm2/V. The electron mobility for Hg3Se2I2 is estimated as 104 ± 12 cm2/(V·s). On the basis of these results, Hg3Se2I2 is the most promising for room-temperature radiation detection.