X-ray radiation plays an important role in medical procedures ranging from diagnostics to therapeutics. Due to the harm such ionizing radiation can cause, it has become common practice to closely monitor the dosages received by patients. To this end, precise online dosimeters have been developed with the dual objectives of monitoring radiation in the region of interest and improving therapeutic methods. In this work, we evaluate GaN thin film high electron mobility heterostructures with sub-mm(2) detection areas as x-ray radiation detectors. Devices were tested using 40-300 kV Bremsstrahlung x-ray sources. We find that the photoconductive device response exhibits a large gain, is almost independent of the angle of irradiation, and is constant to within 2% of the signal throughout this medical diagnostic x-ray range, indicating that these sensors do not require recalibration for geometry or energy. Furthermore, the devices show a high sensitivity to x-ray intensity and can measure in the air kerma rate (free-in-air) range of 1 µGy s(-1) to 10 mGy s(-1) with a signal stability of ±1% and a linear total dose response over time. Medical conditions were simulated by measurements of device responses to irradiation through human torso phantoms. Direct x-ray imaging is demonstrated using the index finger and wrist sections of a human phantom. The results presented here indicate that GaN-based thin film devices exhibit a wide range of properties, which make them promising candidates for dosimetry applications. In addition, with potential detection volumes smaller than 10(-6) cm(3), they are well suited for high-resolution x-ray imaging. Moreover, with additional engineering steps, these devices can be adapted to potentially provide both in vivo biosensing and x-ray dosimetry.
We present the real-time x-ray irradiation response of charge and pH sensitive solution gate AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors. The devices show stable and reproducible behavior under and following x-ray radiation, including a linear integrated response with dose into the μGy range. Titration measurements of devices in solution reveal that the linear pH response and sensitivity are not only retained under x-ray irradiation, but an irradiation response could also be measured. Since the devices are biocompatible, and can be simultaneously operated in aggressive fluids and under hard radiation, they are well-suited for both medical radiation dosimetry and biosensing applications.
Due to its remarkable tolerance to high energy ionizing radiation, GaN has recently attracted attention as a promising material for dosimetry applications. However, materials issues that lead to persistent photoconductivity, poor sensitivity, and requirements for large operational voltages have been hurdles to realization of the full potential of this material. Here we demonstrate that the introduction of a two-dimensional electron gas channel, through the addition of AlGaN/GaN heterointerfaces, can be used to create intrinsic amplification of the number of electrons that can be collected from single ionization events, yielding exceptionally large sensitivities in ultralow dose rate regimes. Furthermore, anomalous photo-responses, which severely limit response times of GaN-based devices, can be eliminated using these heterostructures. Measurements using focused monochromatic synchrotron radiation at 1-20 keV, as well as focused 20 MeV protons, reveal that these devices provide the capability for high sensitivity and resolution real time monitoring, which is competitive with and complementary to state-of-the-art detectors. Therefore, AlGaN/GaN heterostructure devices are extremely promising for future applications in fields ranging from high energy physics to medical imaging.
Gallium nitride has a remarkable tolerance to high energy ionizing radiation, but its full potential has not yet been realized due to material issues that lead to persistent photoconductivity, poor sensitivity, and requirements for large operational voltages. However, J. D. Howgate et al. (pp. ) demonstrate that the introduction of a two‐dimensional electron gas channel, through the construction of AlGaN/GaN heterointerfaces, can be used to create “photomultiplier” equivalent amplification, while eliminating persistent photoconductivity, under operation with single volt bias at room temperature. These results are extremely promising for future ionizing radiation detector technologies for applications ranging from high energy physics to medical imaging. This is demonstrated on the front cover image, where a 3 × 3 mm flashlight bulb was scanned with ultra‐low dose rate (thousands of photons per second) focused X‐rays, clearly revealing the 50 μm thick spiral filament and the cavity in which it is mounted. Furthermore, such an image could be obtained within milliseconds via device miniaturization using conventional microelectronics techniques that allow for fabrication of integrated two‐dimensional pixel detectors. These extreme sensitivities could, for example, enable patient exposures to harmful ionizing radiation to be dramatically reduced or offer low power personal dosimeters capable of giving real‐time warning to radiation exposure.
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