The use of high atomic number, room-temperature semiconductors for radiatio
n detectors always involves making compromises to optimize the performance
for specific applications. In recent years. a number of sophisticated devic
e configurations and a variety of new read-out methods have been developed
to extract the desired information from the detector signal. These approach
es have significantly mitigated the effects of the inherent deficiencies fo
und in available materials and have opened the way for promising new applic
ations. The benefits of such approaches and their limitations are reviewed
for CdTe and Cd1-xZnxTe (CZT) devices. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All r
ights reserved.