Formed in April 2006 with several years of previous experience in the market, Mea-Prime combines technical understanding of crystal growth along with sound business practices specifically focused on Cadmium Telluride and its derivatives such as CdZnTe. The foundation of Mea Prime’s Market-Driven company ensures a lasting dedication to Research and Development combined with the mobility of a smaller company to provide unparalleled products and a high level of customer service to our customers.

Mea-Prime’s mission is to produce high quality Cadmium Telluride (CdTe), and Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CdZnTe or CZT) detectors. Thus Mea-Prime focuses solely on the production and quality of the material and detector chips made from them. This focus dissolves the conflict of interest inherent in companies who sell CZT to others but also use the material to produce their own line of competing end-user products such as Gamma Radiation Detectors, X-Ray Detectors, Infrared Imaging Systems, Astrophysics, Spectroscopy, Nuclear Radiation and Testing Apparatus, Solar Cells, Night Vision Systems, Medical Imaging Equipment, High Speed Circuitry, Protective Circuitry Systems and many others.

Technical Data:

Applicable as a large band gap semiconductor, CZT consists of a high atomic number providing good photo-efficiency and high material density ranging from 5.86 g/cc up to 5.95 g/cc for CdZn(20%)Te when assuming 100% density has been achieved with a <111> orientation stacking of the crystal. The wide band gap of CdTe and its CZT derivatives is very attractive providing for low noise operation at room temperature while a low chemical reactivity of the material provides considerable long-term stability of the final detector.

Currently, the high quality CZT material is available in the market only in small cubes (5 mm cubes up to 1 cm cubes maximum) due to production deficiencies in both quantity and quality of the material produced resulting from the various processes currently defining the market standard. The good detector qualities of CdTe and its CZT derivatives are thus counteracted by the limiting size of the material and amount available on the market. Thus, it is highly desirable to develop CdTe and CZT detectors as follows:

1. More than 1 cm in depth, 3-5 cm preferably, for increased efficiency in detection of energetic gamma rays.
2. Large area crystals.  Under current practices, smaller crystals are tiled together as instrumented by small footprint ASICS electronics. 
3. ~2% FWHM energy resolution at room temperature outperforming new scintillators such as LaBr.
4. Low cost.  Less expensive than Ge, LaCl/LaBr detectors.

The quality versus size counteraction amplifies three significant challenges for CZT products found in any size of the material. Should these challenges be overcome, the path to high quality, large CZT crystals produced in a repeatable economic fashion migrates from a mere game of chance among talented crystal producers to a purely scientific process capable of numerical and hence empirical growth prediction with the capacity of catering to the specific needs of each client’s application. 

1. For ternary semiconductors such as CZT, an increase in crystal size compounds the density of traps resulting in shorter carrier lifetimes.
2. Considerable macroscopic non-uniformities in crystals contribute to irregularities in crystal performances increasing randomization and reducing repeatability in production processes. 
3. Regardless of macroscopic defects, material properties vary over the volume of the detector. Twinning, dislocations, contamination and element stacking order in the crystal highly randomize performances considerably reducing product repeatability and leaving the production of high quality material to chance. 

Thus, there is a distinct need for improved production of high quality detector material which Mea-Prime is actively pursuing. Current growth techniques produce occasional good sections of CZT material which are mined from the boule and lock the manufacturer into a grow-and-select method rather than a build-to-specification method as is the case with Ge, PMTs, CZT, NaI and other types of detectors. Witnessed by the minimal number of U.S. companies involved in CZT production, improved growth methods alone will not do the job. Mea Prime is looking beyond the single change carrier detector techniques and post processing of detector information – current market techniques to overcome these problems intrinsic with CZT – to affect the actual materials involved and improve the detectors themselves.

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