Gamma Spectroscopy Using

the HPGe Detector

Name : M. N. S. Fernando
Date : 19th of September, 2017
 Purpose

The main purpose of this practical was to be familiar with the use of high purity Germanium
detector for measurement of gamma rays.

1
 Introduction and Theory

In gamma ray spectroscopy, there are two main types of detectors that are used to measure
gamma radiation. And they are,
1. Scintillation detectors and
2. Semiconductor detectors.
The key component of a scintillation detector is the scintillation material that yields a
scintillation when a gamma ray incidents on it. The most common material is, NaI doped with
Thallium. The scintillation is proportional to the energy of the incident gamma ray but is too
small to be measured using the measuring equipment. Therefore, it is converted to a current
and is amplified using a photo multiplier tube (PMT), the output of which is fed to the multi-
channel analyser (MCA). The MCA displays the output in the form of a graph of counts versus
energy (counts on the y-axis and the energy on the x-axis). A typical MCA has 1024 channels
in which each channel corresponds to a very narrow energy range.
A semiconductor detector differs from a scintillation detector principally from its key
component, which is a semiconductor. An electric field is applied to the semiconductor and
approximately for every 3ev of energy absorbed from the incident gamma rays, an electron-
hole pair is created. Because of the externally applied electric field, these pairs move towards
the electrodes, generating a pulse. This is fed to the counter, the output of which is then sent to
the computer. Unlike in the multi-channel analyser, data is much easier to be analysed in this
case, since analysis is done by a software which will return all the necessary values such as the
area under the peak, FWHM etc.

Figure 1 - Schematic Diagram of a Semiconductor Detector

HPGe detectors have advantages as well as drawbacks compared to scintillation detectors. The
advantages include the low ionising energy required to generate electron-hole pairs, simplicity
of operation and most importantly high resolution. Their drawbacks compared to scintillation
detectors are poor efficiency, very low operating temperatures that need to be achieved using
N2 and high cost of operation etc. However, HPGe detectors are still preferred over scintillation
detectors due to their very high resolution.

2
To find the current activity of the used sources, the following equation was used (equation 1).

Where, A = Current activity

A0 = Original Activity
λ = ln |2|/t1/2

To find the efficiency corresponding to each peak, the following equation was used (equation
2).

Where, E = Efficiency
Z = Area under the photo-peak
A = Activity
R = Abundance
t = Time

3
 Methodology

Experiment 1

1. First, the Cs-137 source was inserted into the detector and gamma spectrometry was run
for 100s using software “Genny”.
2. After having saved the obtained data, the manufactured date, half life and original activity
of the source were noted down.
3. Steps 1 and 2 were repeated for the sources Am-241, Co-60, Na-22, Ba-133 and Eu-152.
4. After that the area under the photo-peak, channel number, counting time and the FWHM
values were obtained from the software and were noted down.
5. Finally, the graph of Efficiency versus Energy was plotted.

Experiment 2

1. First, the standard samples of U, Th and K were inserted one at a time and gamma
spectrometry was run for 600s, while noting down the area under photo-peaks and the
boundary channel numbers of each peak corresponding to each sample.
2. Thereafter, the geological sample was inserted and the areas under the photo-peaks
corresponding to each of the channel number ranges obtained in the first step were noted
down.
3. After that, an empty container was inserted and areas under the photo-peaks obtained in the
first step were measured, to calculate the background radiation.

4
 Results and Calculations

Experiment 1

Source Original Activity (kBq) Date of Manufacture

Cs-137 383.6 July, 1984
Am-241 323.1 July, 1984
Co-60 37 September, 2015
Na-22 37 September, 2015
Ba-133 37 September, 2015
Eu-152 386.6 July, 1984

The current activity of each source was calculated using Equation 1 and the efficiency was
calculated using Equation 2.

Source Channel Area Time Current Abundance FWHM Gamma Efficiency

number (S) Activity (kev) Ray
(kBq) Energy
(kev)
Cs-137 802 10765 100 178.98 82% 3.585 662 0.0733%
Am- 61 7364 100 323.1 36% 3.207 59.5 0.0633%
241
Co-60 1425 1008 100 28.41 100% 3.898 1172 0.0355%
1618 947 100 100% 4.074 1332 0.0333%
Na-22 619 3754 100 21.71 181% 5.601 510 0.0955%
1548 721 100 100% 5.239 1274 0.0332%
Ba-133 91 2321 100 32.43 3.011
366 1036 100 3.153
431 2868 100 2.854
Eu-152 142 6355 100 71.20 2.746
416 2788 100 2.858
1170 506 100 3.359
1709 541 100 4.013

The graph of Efficiency versus Energy is attached to the end of this report.

5
Experiment 2

Sample Mass (g) Activity Channel Area Time (S)

(Bqkg-1) number
RGU 169.5432 4940 739 2306 600
2143 329 600
RGTh 155.5069 3250 707 1010 600
3175 285 600
RGK 177.9521 41000 1774 769 600
RGeological 369.64 - 707 4834 600
739 1668 600
1774 29 600
2143 187 600
3175 1462 600
Blank - - 707 0 600
container 739 0 600
1774 15 600
2143 1 600
3175 4 600

Sample Channel Background

number Corrected
Area
RGU 739 2306
2143 328
RGTh 707 1010
3175 281
RGK 1774 754
RGeological 707 4834
739 1668
1774 14
2143 186
3175 1458

In each sample, the area under the photo-peak per unit time, is proportional to the activity.
This relation is used to find out the activity of each element in the geological sample.

RGU
2306 + 328
∝ 4940 𝐵𝑞𝑘𝑔 𝑥 169.5432𝑥10 𝑘𝑔 → (𝑎)
600
For the corresponding region of the geological sample,

6
 1668 + 186
∝ 𝐴 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐺𝑒𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑆𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒 → (𝑏)
600

By (b)/(a);
𝐴 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐺𝑒𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑆𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒 = 589.52 𝐵𝑞

RGTh
281 + 1010
∝ 3250 𝐵𝑞𝑘𝑔 𝑥 155.5069 𝑥 10 𝑘𝑔 → (𝑐)
600
For the corresponding region of the geological sample,

4834 + 1458
∝𝐴 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐺𝑒𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑆𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒 → (𝑑)
600

By (c)/(d);
𝐴 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐺𝑒𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑆𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒 = 2463.176 𝐵𝑞

RGK
754
∝ 14000 𝐵𝑞𝑘𝑔 𝑥 177.9521 𝑥 10 𝑘𝑔 → (𝑒)
600
For the corresponding region of the geological sample,

1668 + 186
∝ 𝐴 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐺𝑒𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑆𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒 → (𝑓)
600

By (e)/(f);
𝐴 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐺𝑒𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑆𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒 = 46.258 𝐵𝑞

Total activity of the geological sample = 589.52 + 2463.176 + 46.258

= 3098.95 Bq
The specific activity of the sample (i.e. for 1 kg) = (3098.95/396.64) x 1000 Bqkg-1
=
7813.004 Bqkg-1

7
 Discussion

The HPGe detector generally possesses a relatively low efficiency compared to a scintillation
detector. However, their resolution power is way greater than that of a scintillation detector. A
scintillation detector has 1024 channels, but an HPGe detector has 4 times that number of
channels. Thus, the photo-peaks that can’t be separated (i.e. multiple peaks that are overlapped
and displayed as one peak) using a scintillation detector can easily be separated and analysed
using an HPGe detector. This is the main reason why the HPGe is used.
But it has major drawbacks. It can’t be operated at room temperature and its operating
temperature is around 77K. Such low temperatures cannot be achieved using conventional
cooling methods, therefore N2 has to be used. That makes its operating cost higher and more
tedious.
In addition to all that, the unit cost of the HPGe detector too is much higher than that of a
scintillation detector.
But regardless of all these drawbacks, the HPGe is widely used by researchers etc., solely due
to its high resolution power.
The counter used for the practical was multiport-II and the software used for analysis was
“Genny”.

8
 References

https://fundamentaljournals.org/ijfps/downloads/11_IJFPS_June_2011_42-46.pdf - 29th of
September, 2017