(Fine-Pixel) imaging CdZnTe arrays for space applications

The compound Cadmium-Zinc-Telluride (CdZnTe) offers great promise for astrophysics. As crystal quality improves, the challenge for imaging array development is to derive electrode geometries and readout electronics to satisfy particular applications and to understand how the material will perform in the space environment. An overview of the requirements for CdZnTe imaging detectors at the focus of hard-x-ray grazing-incidence telescopes will be given together with the status of current array developments.