A New Solid Solution Approach for the Study of Self-Irradiating Damage in non-Radioactive Materials

Abstract

A new method to produce a model system for the study of radiation damage in non-radioactive materials is presented. The method is based on homogenously dissolving minute amounts of 228Th ions in thin films in a controllable manner using a small volume chemical bath deposition technique. This approach is demonstrated for PbS films. The properties of the PbS (228Th) solid solution film activity were investigated by monitoring the accompanying radioactive processes. Electrical resistivity studies were performed and decay-event damage accumulation was measured, followed by isochronal annealing which presented two annealing stages and another two sub-stages. This is the first report on self-irradiating damage studies in IV-VI semiconductors and the resulting films present a novel method for the analysis of dilute defect systems in semiconductor thin films.

Infrared photoconductivity and photovoltaic response from nanoscale domains of PbS alloyed with thorium and oxygen

“…Recently, Templeman et al [22,23] have reported a method to deposit polycrystalline thin films of PbS alloyed with thorium (Th) and oxygen [PbS(Th,O)] on n-type GaAs substrates. The original motivation for incorporating Thorium ions into the lead-sulfide was the investigation of radiation damages in PbS thin films [23]. Besides, it has been found that for high Th concentration (above ∼7%), nanoscale crystalline domains were created.…”

In situ Generated 212Pb-PSMA Ligand in a 224Ra-Solution for Dual Targeting of Prostate Cancer Sclerotic Stroma and PSMA-positive Cells

“… The decay chain of 228 Th to stable 208 Pb. Alpha-emission energies (E α ), beta-emission energies (E β ), recoil energies (E R ) and the half-lives for 228 Th and daughter nuclides are specified [ 21 ]. ( A higher resolution / colour version of this figure is available in the electronic copy of the article ).…”

Electroless Deposited Nickel Thin Films Alloyed with Thorium

“…Our research group has successfully developed a novel model system for studying radiation damage caused by processes similar to self-irradiation in PbS semiconducting thin films doped with radioactive thorium ( 228 Th) deposited by chemical bath deposition [43] and studied the resulted damage. [44,45] Aiming to extend the above methodology to metallic thin films, we have chosen Ni as a candidate model system due to two main advantages. i) Being a simple FCC metal, Ni is easier to be modeled for example by first-principles calculations (DFT).…”

“…To obtain crystalline films, postdeposition heat treatments were necessary and proper annealing procedures were developed, based on previous studies. [43][44][45][46][47][48][49] Hence, the procedure described in this manuscript constitutes a model system for the research of internal radiation damage in metallic thin films.…”