Halide Perovskite Thin Films for Neutron and X-Ray Detection

The need for high-efficiency wide-area coverage radiation detectors is essential in applications related to nuclear medicine, industrial imagining, environmental monitoring, spacecraft applications, and homeland security, among others. In all of these applications, the detector material interacts with high-energy particles or photons, while operating at high electric fields. The material should also show negligible leakage current, high resistivity, and be able to scale. Cesium lead bromide (CsPbBr3) is an excellent candidate that needs most of these requirements. CsPbBr3 has excellent electric, optical, and spectroscopic properties, while stable under extreme operating conditions. These properties make CsPbBr3 an ideal material for high-energy radiation detectors. However, the use of CsPbBr3 for charged particle and photon sensing is normally limited to single crystals. This is primarily due to the lack of deposition techniques for thick CsPbBr3 films, which is necessary for high-energy radiation sensing. This chapter shows methods that allow the deposition of thick CsPbBr3 films with controlled thickness and composition for high-energy radiation sensing. The close-space sublimation (CSS) process discussed allows the deposition of stoichiometric and high-quality CsPbBr3 films while allowing reduced defects and large grains with high deposition rates. Alpha particles, neutron, and X-ray sensing using a p-n diode are also presented. This chapter demonstrates the potential of inorganic perovskite films for alpha, neutron, and X-ray detectors in perovskite thin films.