Large Development and Application Value of Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CZT) Crystals, with China's Production Capabilities Gradually Improving
Cadmium zinc telluride (CdZnTe), abbreviated as CZT in English, does not exist in nature and is a synthetic material formed by combining three elements—tellurium, zinc, and cadmium—with other trace elements for crystal growth. According to the 2022-2027 In-depth Market Research and Development Prospect Forecast Report on China's Cadmium Zinc Telluride Crystal Industry released by New Sino Research, CZT crystal is a wide-bandgap II-VI group semiconductor material with excellent optoelectronic properties, spectral resolution, and high-resolution potential, applicable under room-temperature conditions. It is a third-generation semiconductor material of strategic significance in cutting-edge technology.
CZT crystals can detect infrared rays, X-rays, γ-rays, other high-energy rays, and nuclear radiation. Under room temperature, they convert X-ray and gamma-ray photons into electronic signals, enabling the production of room-temperature X-ray and γ-ray detectors. In medical imaging equipment, these detectors deliver higher-clarity images while significantly reducing radiation exposure. Beyond healthcare, civil applications include instrumentation, non-destructive testing, nuclear security, and environmental monitoring. In military fields, CZT is used for infrared detection in weaponry, while in scientific research, it aids astrophysics and particle physics studies.
The above analysis highlights the substantial development and application value of CZT crystals. Research on CZT crystals began in the early 1990s, and by the early 2000s, advancements in crystal growth technology made large-size CZT crystal growth feasible, driving commercialization. Purity is critical to CZT performance, and larger crystals reduce costs and expand applications, so research on growth techniques continues to advance.
In China, a team from Northwestern Polytechnical University first solved multiple challenges in raw material synthesis, growth technology, and process flow in November 2014, producing high-performance CZT crystals with internationally advanced properties. The Chinese government has strongly supported the industry: in December 2014, the National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and other agencies jointly issued the Implementation Plan for Key Material Upgrading Projects, aiming to industrialize CZT semiconductor materials and devices for high-energy ray detection by 2016, with an annual production capacity of 40 million mm³ and large-scale applications in industrial CT and specialized detectors.
According to New Sino analysts, China's CZT crystal industry is gradually industrializing through technological breakthroughs and policy support. Major domestic producers include Detac and Ray研 Technology (Ruiyan Technology), with Detac being the world's third company capable of industrial-scale CZT crystal production. In February 2022, CZT single-crystal rods and wafers produced by Chengyu New Materials passed testing by the Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences. These developments demonstrate China's growing production capabilities and an expanding industry scale. To standardize development, the national standard Specification for Cadmium Zinc Telluride Monocrystalline Materials for X-ray and Gamma-ray Detectors was implemented in September 2021. Overall, China's CZT crystal industry faces a promising future.
