Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-tn8tq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-25T12:58:15.985Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Synthetic diamond devices for radiotherapy applications: Passive and active dosimetry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Caroline Descamps
Affiliation:
cdescamps23@yahoo.fr, CEA Saclay, DRT/DETECS/SSTM/LTD, Bat 451, Pce 78, Gif sur yvette, 91191, France, 0033169088959, 0033169087679
Dominique Tromson
Affiliation:
dominique.tromson@cea.fr, CEA Saclay, LIST - DETECS/SSTM/LTD, Gif sur yvette, 91191, France
Christine Mer
Affiliation:
christine.mer@cea.fr, CEA Saclay, LIST - DETECS/SSTM/LTD, Gif sur yvette, 91191, France
Milos Nesladek
Affiliation:
milos.nesladek@cea.fr, CEA Saclay, LIST - DETECS/SSTM/LTD, Gif sur yvette, 91191, France
Philippe Bergonzo
Affiliation:
philippe.bergonzo@cea.fr, CEA Saclay, LIST - DETECS/SSTM/LTD, Gif sur yvette, 91191, France
Get access

Abstract

For all its remarkable properties, diamond is well known as an interesting material for radiation detection and more particularly for medical uses. Natural diamond use for detection application is limited because of its high cost and the severe gem selection needed to fabricate reproducible and reliable devices. The recent progress of the chemical vapour deposition (CVD) technique offers new possibilities in the fabrication of ionisation chambers as well as thermoluminescent dosimeters for the particular field of radiotherapy. This paper presents the use of CVD diamond for both applications.

For the use of diamond for TL applications, the purpose of this study was to control the trapping levels in the material with deliberate incorporation of impurities in CVD diamond film during the growth.

For ionisation chamber fabrication, the aim was to purposely incorporate defects (with nitrogen incorporation) in the material in order to better understand the modification of the charge transport during irradiation. The first results obtained when the device is used to monitor the beam fluency of a medical accelerator facility are presented here.

For both applications, several preliminary dosimetric parameters were probed and namely the reproducibility of the response, the linearity of the signal with the dose, and for TL dosimeters, both the optical and thermal fadings were carefully studied. Results are extremely encouraging and lead to interesting prospects for the use of diamond for dosimetry.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

[1] Planskoy, B. (1980). “Evaluation of diamond radiation dosimeters.” Physics in Medicine and Biology. May 25(3): 519–32Google Scholar
[2] Guerrero, MJ., Tromson, D., et al. (2004). “Requirements for synthetic diamond devices for radiotherapy dosimetry applications.” Diamond and Related Materials. Nov. Dec. 13(11-12): 2046–51.Google Scholar
[3] Marczewska, B., Olko, P., et al. (2002). “CVD diamonds as thermoluminescent detectors for medical applications.” Radiation Protection Dosimetry 100(1-4): 485–8.Google Scholar
[4] De-Angelis, C., Onori, S., et al. (2002). “An investigation of the operating characteristics of two PTW diamond detectors in photon and electron beams.” Medical Physics. Feb. 29(2): 248–54.Google Scholar
[5] Ramkumar, S., Buttar, C. M., et al. (2001). “An assessment of radiotherapy dosimeters based on CVD grown diamond.” Nuclear Instruments & Methods in Physics Research, Section A Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment 460(2-3): 401–11.Google Scholar
[6] Whitehead, AJ., Airey, R., et al. (2001). “CVD diamond for medical dosimetry applications.” Nuclear Instruments & Methods in Physics Research, Section A Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment 460(1): 20–6.Google Scholar
[7] Bruzzi, M., Bucciolini, M., et al. (2002). “Deep levels in CVD diamond and their influence on the electronic properties of diamond-based radiation sensors.” Physica Status Solidi A. Oct. 193(3): 563–71.Google Scholar
[8] Bergonzo, P., Tromson, D., et al. (2003). “Radiation detection devices made from CVD diamond.” Semiconductor Science and Technology. March 18(3): S10512.Google Scholar