H3D.Inc CZT

[James Luck]

Hello All!

Im glad to announce my new detector, its been a long time of playing email tag, phone tag, waiting for responses and decisions. In December of this past year a H3D CZT spectrometer found its way on to Ebay, welp i was attentive and bought it about right as it showed up. But it was not without its own issues Of course why else would it be on ebay.
When the unit arrived i tried powering it up, but could not talk to it. Their basic software is free to and is on the app store. So after exhausting all of my options i reached out to H3D for help, and this is where it takes a turn. I quickly was informed i bought on eBay a detector that was never formally sold by the company NUTS!. So what did i buy? Well the detector that found its way to Ebay was one H3D uses as a floor model for demonstrations at costumer facilities, and was lost in shipping when being sent back for repair. (My heart sank, I'm out my costs of course if i just bought stolen property). Well someone was looking out for me, after a few tense phone calls i was told the unit is mine. H3D learned ups dropped the ball and sold it at a equipment auction, where the Ebay seller bought it, and where i bought it on that sellers Ebay store.
Okay, but my unit is still broken. H3D explained i was missing some important accessories, like a formatted USB drive the unit uses to store data, and that the unit is used as a monitor to measure Trends. After a quote for repairs and service, my unit went off to them. And after a week of sweating waiting to hear if my unit is dead. i was sent back a working unit.

So my unit now lives in a fancy hardcase when not being used.

H3D Pelican.jpg

When in use it lives in my Lead pile, which is a work in progress. Money is still tight over here (i lost a job last October, and the job market was not polite to me over winter). None the less, the Lead piles isnt needed, in open air H3D gives HPGe a run for its money with 0.85% res for 662KeV. I also now have the Cal form to show.

H3D Cal.jpg

A quick spectra of thorium shows what the Unit can do, I'm still learning the software, but its something else compared to what I've ever had.

H3D_ThO2.jpg

My unit is a Model S100, it is a baseline unit with a 4.5cm^3 CZT. All of their detectors are 3D and are pixelated, Which allows compton imaging. My unit no longer operates like a S100, and instead operates like a M400 unit.
https://h3dgamma.com/s100.php



Thank you for viewing,
PS Dave if you find this, I'm greatly appreciative of your help though out this process.

[Sesselmann]

James,

Thanks for sharing and well done on acquiring the CZT detector - nice spectra too.

The 4.5 cm^3 CZT crystal is quite an impressive chunk...

I have been working on a CZT detector but, so far haven't succeeded, well I did get a spectrum, but it was barely better than a NaI detector - so it's back to the drawing board.

Your post has inspired me to keep trying..

Steven

[Rob Tayloe]

The resolution for these H3D CZT units is really, really good! Less than 1% FWHM at 662 keV is amazing. Shown below is a comparison between the H3D M400 CZT, HPGe, and LaBr3. Alas, such resolution does not come cheaply. I've recently been corresponding with folks at H3D to enquire about use of their CZT products for education and research. The M400 is around $44k USD; a unit with about a quarter of the sensitivity (the M100) is about $22k USD.

I reckon there have been a lot of sales to US Homeland Security, US National Labs, and the IAEA. It might be awhile before these units become available as "surplus" equipment.

https://h3dgamma.com/

Screenshot 2026-08-06 065900.jpg

[James Luck]

Rob,
The M100 is probably sufficient for most use case, and still the 4.5cm^3 CZT is larger then most you will find.


The M100 is the same volume as my S100 unit, now it does take some time on the higher energies to make a good peak. Especially above 1.5MeV, that is one down side to CZT. The higher volumes do offset this a little.
I do wonder what the price difference between a M100 or 400 unit is and the Newer Mirion Micro-Ge. Although the Micro-Ge is only 1cm^3 (ish) if my memory is right, and does require a MCA.

Although what I'm growing to really like is how portable the H3D is, and its ease of use in the field. Quickly it can be deployed, and usually within 5 minutes I'm pulling a Spectra. Does its resolution beat HPGe (No) but its nice not worrying about Cryogenic temperatures. Also while H3D says i can use the S100 in the rain (im not sure ill take them up on that) Their products seem to be more ruggedized.
If you have a use case for one i don't think their price is that bad for what you get.