Process Development and First Cryogenic Operation of Compact Germanium Ring-Contact HPGe Prototypes

TL;DR

This paper reports the successful fabrication and cryogenic testing of prototype germanium ring-contact detectors, establishing a foundation for scalable, low-background HPGe detectors for rare-event experiments.

Contribution

It demonstrates a reliable process for creating and operating germanium ring-contact prototypes, advancing the development of scalable low-background detectors.

Findings

Prototypes biased stably at 77 K with stable depletion onset near 340 V.

Full-energy peaks identified from $^{241}$Am and $^{137}$Cs sources.

Established a proof-of-principle process for geometry-specific GeRC development.

Abstract

Rare-event experiments such as LEGEND-1000 require high-purity germanium (HPGe) detectors with excellent energy resolution, low electronic noise, and scalable low-background packaging. The germanium ring-contact (GeRC) concept addresses this need through a recessed ring-and-groove electrode geometry intended to preserve point-contact-like low-capacitance signal formation in larger crystals. However, reliable GeRC fabrication has remained unproven because the non-planar groove geometry complicates machining, surface recovery, conformal passivation, and especially the eventual formation of a robust lithium-diffused outer contact. We report the fabrication and first cryogenic operation of two compact n-type GeRC process-validation prototypes produced from in-house HPGe crystals at the University of South Dakota. An optimized workflow was developed for core drilling, groove cutting, non-planar polishing, conformal amorphous-germanium (a-Ge) encapsulation, Al patterning, and GeRC-specific cryogenic mounting. Two independent sputtering systems were used to test whether the thin-film sequence remains operable across substantially different deposition environments. At 77~K, both devices biased stably, showed an inferred depletion onset near 340~V from a pulser-based capacitance proxy consistent with electrostatic modeling, and produced identifiable full-energy peaks from $^{241}\mathrm{Am}$ and $^{137}\mathrm{Cs}$. These results establish a proof-of-principle process and readout baseline for geometry-specific GeRC development. They do not yet constitute a deployment-ready large-mass GeRC technology, but they define the foundation for the next step: integrating conformal lithium-paint deposition and controlled diffusion on the ring-and-groove topology.