Description
The Mirion Ultra-LEGe detector extends the performance range of Ge detectors down to a few hundred electron volts, providing resolution and peak-to- background ratios once thought to be unattainable with semiconductor detectors. The Ultra-LEGe detector retains the high-energy efficiency intrinsic to germanium detectors because of the high atomic number (Z), combined with a relatively high thickness (5-10 mm), and thus covers an extremely wide range of energies. The graph in Figure 2 below compares the efficiency on the high-energy side of the X-ray spectrum of a 5 mm thick germanium detector to typical silicon based detectors.
Conventional Ge detectors, including those made especially for low energies, suffer from poor peak shape and efficiency below 3 keV. This characteristic, once thought to be fundamental to Ge, prohibited use of Ge detectors in most analytical x-ray applications. Mirion has developed detector fabrication techniques which have eliminated these problems. The resulting Ultra-LEGe detector, delivers the intrinsic efficiency and resolution advantages of germanium without the disadvantages of the conventional germanium detector.
Applications
- XRF
- XAS (XAFS, EXAFS, XANES)
- X-ray spectroscopy