Enriched high purity germanium detectors for the LEGEND-200 experiment: purification and characterization by quadrupole and high resolution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS)

F Ferella; S Nisi; M Balata; P Grabmayr; M Laubenstein; B Schwingenheuer; S Schönert

doi:10.1016/j.apradiso.2023.110904

Enriched high purity germanium detectors for the LEGEND-200 experiment: purification and characterization by quadrupole and high resolution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS)

Appl Radiat Isot. 2023 Oct:200:110904. doi: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2023.110904. Epub 2023 Jun 16.

Authors

F Ferella¹, S Nisi², M Balata², P Grabmayr³, M Laubenstein², B Schwingenheuer⁴, S Schönert⁵

Affiliations

¹ Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, I-67100, Assergi, AQ, Italy; Department of Physical and Chemical Sciences, University of L'Aquila, I-67100, L'Aquila, Italy. Electronic address: francesco.ferella@lngs.infn.it.
² Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, I-67100, Assergi, AQ, Italy.
³ Physikalisches Institut, Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, D-72076, Tübingen, Germany.
⁴ Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, D-69117, Heidelberg, Germany.
⁵ Physik Department, Technische Universität München, D-85748, München, Germany.

PMID: 37421746
DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2023.110904

Abstract

LEGEND-200 (Large Enriched Germanium Experiment for Neutrinoless ββ Decay) is a physics experiment at the Gran Sasso National Laboratories (LNGS) in Italy searching for neutrinoless double beta (0υββ) decay of ⁷⁶Ge using enriched high purity germanium (HPGe) detectors with a total mass of about 200 kg. During the production of germanium crystals, especially during the crystal cutting, a fraction of the enriched germanium remains as metal residues. To reuse these residual materials again for crystal growing, they must be efficiently purified. A special plant was built to purify and convert Ge metal to GeO₂. Quadrupole ICP-MS (Q-ICP-MS) and High Resolution ICP-MS (HR-ICP-MS) were used to characterize the starting materials, reaction and final products. The results of the analyses are presented here.

Keywords: Germanium; Germanium oxide; Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry; Neutrinoless double beta decay; Purification.