Growth of InI single crystals for nuclear detection applications

We have developed a procedure to purify, synthesize and grow InI single crystals using the Bridgman technique. The commercial product of InI from Alfa Aesar (99.998% InI or 4 N) was zone refined by 50 passes of a zone-heater at 420 degrees C, traveling at 2 cm/h (the melting point of InI is 360 degrees C). InI was also synthesized using high purity In and I-2 by vapor transport technique. The grown InI single crystal showed a clear band edge excitonic emission around 2.02 eV at 6 K using photoluminescence ;measurement. The resistivities of InI detectors were found to be similar to 2 x 10(9) and 1 x 10(8) Omega cm for zone refined and vapor synthesized starting materials, respectively. The InI detector formed by Pd-Pd contact showed clear peak of alpha particle detection at room temperature using Am-241 source. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.