A spectroscopic Monte-Carlo model to simulate the response of pixelated CdTe based detectors

A fully spectroscopic Monte Carlo model has been developed to predict the spectroscopic performance of pixelated CdTe based detectors. The model incorporates photon attenuation by the photoelectric effect, Compton scattering and Rayleigh scattering. Charge transport equations are used to simulate the size of the electron cloud, approximated by a symmetrical two-dimensional Gaussian distribution, as it drifts to be read out at the detector anode. Direct comparisons are made between simulated data and experimentally acquired spectra from a 1 mm thick CdTe sensor coupled to the HEXITEC detector ASIC. The probability of an absorbed photon leading to charge sharing across pixels as a function of incoming photon energy is investigated. The charge cloud size was found to be dominated by cloud growth during drift for photon energies <100 keV. Furthermore, the portion of charge sharing events due to fluorescence from within the CdTe sensor is calculated-these events are distinguished from regular charge sharing events since their energy response differs. The model described is shown to give a good estimate of the total probability of charge sharing for energies up to 140 keV. CdTe sensor thickness, bias voltage, pixel size and electronic noise threshold can be adjusted to model a range of detector architectures.