Large diameter lithium compensated silicon detectors for the NASA Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) mission

Fabrication of the 100 mm diameter, 3 mm thick lithium-compensated silicon, Si(Li), detectors for the Cosmic Ray Isotope Spectrometer (CRIS) instrument on board the ACE satellite required development of: new float-zone silicon growing techniques, new Si(Li) fabrication procedures, and new particle beam testing sequences. These developments are discussed and results are presented that illustrate the advances made in realizing these CRIS Si(Li) detectors, which, when operational in the CRIS detector telescopes, will usher in a new generation of cosmic-ray isotope spectrometers.