  Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CZT) achieves excellent spatial resolution and good
energy resolution over the broad energy range from several keV into the MeV
energy range. In this paper we present the results of a systematic study of the
performance of CZT detectors manufacturered by Orbotech (before IMARAD)
depending on surface preparation, contact materials and contact deposition. The
standard Orbotech detectors have the dimension of 2.0 x 2.0 x 0.5 cm. They have
a pixellated In anode with 8 x 8 pixels and a monolithic In cathode. Using the
same CZT substrates several times, we have made a direct comparison of the
performance of different contact materials by replacing the cathode and/or the
anode contacts with several high-workfunction metals. We present the
performance of the detectors and conclude with an overview over our ongoing
detector optimization.

Astrophysics