Recent Progress in Direct X-Ray Detectors Based on Metal Oxide Wide Bandgap Semiconductors: A Review

The direct conversion of X-ray irradiation using a semiconductor material is an emerging technology in medical diagnosis, material sciences, and industrial nondestructive testing. The wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductors with excellent electronic/optical properties, high breakdown field, high stability, and high radiation resistance are appealing options for X-ray detection applications. This article presents a comprehensive review of the applications of inorganic WBG semiconductors for X-ray detection in the past several decades. Different architectures of direct X-ray detectors, which are based on varied wide bandgap semiconductors, including metal oxides (Ga2O3, Bi2O3, PbO, and ZnO) and operate on different working principles, are introduced and discussed systematically. Finally, the possible challenges and opportunities in the future development of WBG semiconductors-based direct X-ray detectors are discussed.