Fri, 12 Dec 2025

Fri, 12 Dec 2025 'It's amazing' – the wonder material very few can make

Just a handful of companies can make cadmium zinc telluride, a material with powerful properties.
The CZT material itself has many other uses, including X-ray telescopes, radiation detectors, and airport security scanners. It is highly sought-after due to its unique properties, which allow it to detect tiny photon particles with incredible precision. However, manufacturing CZT is notoriously difficult, requiring a complex process involving small furnaces that heat up a special powder to create single-crystal structures. This process takes weeks, resulting in high demand for the material and limited supply. Kromek, a British company, is one of only a few firms capable of producing CZT, with the new scanner at Royal Brompton Hospital being one of its most recent applications. The material's other uses include detecting explosives at airports and scanning checked baggage. Despite the high demand for CZT, getting hold of it can be challenging due to the complexities involved in manufacturing it. Prof Henric Krawczynski from Washington University in the US has used the material before but is currently struggling to source thin pieces of CZT required for his space telescopes. Dr Arnab Basu from Kromek notes that high demand and limited supply have created difficulties for his company. CZT-based detectors are also set to be installed at Diamond Light Source research facility in Oxfordshire, UK, as part of a major upgrade costing £500 million. The detectors will allow researchers to probe materials with higher precision and accuracy, leading to breakthroughs in fields such as materials science.
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