Imaging X-ray spectrometer

A semiconductor detector array, comprising:

• a wafer (10) of a semiconducting material having a low intrinsic majority charge carrier concentration;
• a grid of metal diffused traversely by thermal migration between one pair of opposed surfaces of said semiconductor wafer (10);
• said grid having a plurality of intersecting walls (16, 18) extending between and terminating in said opposed surfaces, said walls defining a plurality of discrete cells (14) in said semiconducting material;
• and
• a plurality of electrodes (20) spaced apart from said grid of metal diffused traversely between and terminating in said opposed surfaces, each of said electrodes (20) being located in different cells of said cells (14).

A semiconductor detector array as comprising:

• a wafer (10) of a semiconducting material having a low intrinsic majority charge carrier concentration, wherein said wafer has a thickness of a predetermined dimension which insures photo-electron interaction in the bulk of the silicon for X-ray energy in the range between 0.5 and 30 Kev;
• a grid of metal diffused transversely by thermal migration between one pair of opposed surfaces of said semiconducting wafer (10);
• said grid having a plurality of intersecting walls (16, 18) extending between and terminating in said opposed surfaces, said walls defining a plurality of discrete cells (14) in said semiconducting material;
• a plurality of electrodes (20) spaced apart from said grid of metal diffused transversely between and terminating in said opposed surfaces, each of said electrodes (20) being located in different cells of said cells;
• and
• means (22, 26, 28) for applying a forward bias to said grid walls (16, 18) and a reverse bias to said electrodes (20) for providing charge carrier depletion to extend between said opposed surfaces in each of said discrete cells.