Development of 2cm-square Hamamatsu avalanche photodiodes for high-resolution X-rays and γ-rays detection

The avalanche photodiodes (APDs) have attracted considerable attention in various field of experimental physics, but their uses are still limited in only a few experiments, possibly due to their small surface areas. Here, we report the development of the large-area (similar to 20 mm square) APDs, for future applications to high-resolution X-rays and gamma-rays detection. We have made two prototypes of reverse-type APDs based on different concepts, one consists of a 2 x 2 array of 10 x 10 mm(2) pixels (APD1) and the other is a monolithic pixel of 19 x 19mm(2) size (APD2) to achieve a large effective area. By comparing the dark current and gain characteristics at room temperature (+20 degrees C) and lightly cooled environment (-20 degrees C), we quantitatively discussed the origin of predominant noise source at different temperatures. As a performance demonstration of newly developed APDs. we made a scintillation gamma-ray detector consisting of a 20 x 20 x 5mm(3) CsI(Tl) crystal and a 2cm-square APD. The best FWHM energy resolution of 8.5 +/- 0.2% were obtained for 662 keV gamma-rays at room temperature. Similarly, the best FWHM energy resolution of 8.5 0.2% were obtained for 122 keV gamma-rays at lightly cooled environment. We showed that the minimum detectable energy for scintillation light was 15 keV at 20 degrees C and less than 5 keV at -20 degrees C. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.