The company: Kromek spun out of Durham University’s Department of Physics in 2003. It was initially known as Durham Scientific Crystals but changed its name in 2008. Kromek is active in the nuclear detection, medical imaging and security screening markets. Its group headquarters is at NETPark, but it also has offices in Germany and the USA. It started with two employees in 2003 and now has over 100 in its workforce. It floated on AIM in 2014.
In short: The company specialises in creating semiconductor materials from Cadmium Zinc Telluride, which have applications in gamma rays and X-rays. Its technology includes bottle scanners for airports that can classify liquids accurately in under 30 seconds and a lightweight detector that can identify hazardous radiation sources in the environment.
The material: Cadmium Zinc Telluride is a semiconductor material that is widely used in digital and spectral radiation detectors. It is better at picking up X-rays than silicon and can operate at room temperature, unlike materials such as germanium that require cooling with liquid nitrogen. However, the material is typically hard to produce on a commercial scale as it is difficult to produce sufficient volume at a reasonable price. Com