Effect of burst and recombination models for Monte Carlo transport of interacting carriers in a-Se x-ray detectors on Swank noise

Purpose: The authors describe the modification to a previously developed Monte Carlo model of semiconductor direct x-ray detector required for studying the effect of burst and recombination algorithms on detector performance. This work provides insight into the effect of different charge generation models for a-Se detectors on Swank noise and recombination fraction. Methods: The proposed burst and recombination models are implemented in the Monte Carlo simulation package, ARTEMIS, developed by Fang et al. ["Spatiotemporal Monte Carlo transport methods in x-ray semiconductor detectors: Application to pulse-height spectroscopy in a-Se," Med. Phys. 39(1), 308-319 (2012)]. The burst model generates a cloud of electron-hole pairs based on electron velocity, energy deposition, and material parameters distributed within a spherical uniform volume (SUV) or on a spherical surface area (SSA). A simple first-hit (FH) and a more detailed but computationally expensive nearest-neighbor (NN) recombination algorithms are also described and compared. Results: Simulated recombination fractions for a single electron-hole pair show good agreement with Onsager model for a wide range of electric field, thermalization distance, and temperature. The recombination fraction and Swank noise exhibit a dependence on the burst model for generation of many electron-hole pairs from a single x ray. The Swank noise decreased for the SSA compared to the SUV model at 4 V/mu m, while the recombination fraction decreased for SSA compared to the SUV model at 30 V/mu m. The NN and FH recombination results were comparable. Conclusions: Results obtained with the ARTEMIS Monte Carlo transport model incorporating drift and diffusion are validated with the Onsager model for a single electron-hole pair as a function of electric field, thermalization distance, and temperature. For x-ray interactions, the authors demonstrate that the choice of burst model can affect the simulation results for the generation of many electron-hole pairs. The SSA model is more sensitive to the effect of electric field compared to the SUV model and that the NN and FH recombination algorithms did not significantly affect simulation results. (C) 2014 American Association of Physicists in Medicine.