High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! When semiconductor detectors are used in harsh radiation environments, defects begin to appear in the semiconductor crystal lattice as atoms become displaced because of the interaction with the high-energy traversing particles. These defects, in the form of both lattice vacancies and atoms at interstitial sites, have the effect of temporarily trapping the electrons and holes which are created when ionizing particles pass through the detector. Since it is these electrons and holes which drifting under an electric field produce a signal announcing the passage of a particle, when large amounts of defects are produced, detector signal can be strongly reduced leading to an unusable (dead) detector.