Performance of EPI diodes as dosimeters for photon beam radiotherapy

In this work we present the preliminary results about the performance of an epitaxial (EPI) diode as on-line dosimeter for photon beam radiotherapy. The diode used was processed at University of Hamburg on n-type 75 μm thick epitaxial silicon layer grown on a highly doped n-type 300 μm thick Czochralski (Cz) silicon substrate. The measurements were performed with a diode which not received any type of pre-dose. In order to use this device as a dosimeter, it was enclosed in a black polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) probe. The diode was connected to an electrometer Keithley 6517B in the photovoltaic mode. During all measurements, the diode was held between PMMA plates, placed at 10.0 cm depth and centered in a radiation field of 10 x 10 cm2, with the source-to-surface distance (SSD) kept at 100 cm. The short-term repeatability was measured with photon beams of 6 and 18 MV energy by registering five consecutive current signals for the same radiation dose. The current signals induced showed good instantaneous repeatability of the diode, characterized by a smallest coefficient of variation (CV) of 0.21%. Furthermore, the dose-response curves of the diode were quite linear with the highest charge sensitivity achieved of 5.0 μC/Gy. It worth noting that still remains to be investigated the pre-dose influence on epitaxial silicon diode response in radiotherapy photon beam dosimetry, the long term stability and the radiation hardness of these diodes for absorbed doses higher than that investigated in this work. All these studies are under way. (author)