Tissue-equivalent dosimeter

Abstract

Radiation dosimeters are disclosed whereby a passive multilayer substrate is provided to confer tissue equivalence. In an example embodiment, a multilayer substrate is formed over a semiconductor-based radiation sensing layer, where the multilayer substrate includes at least one low-atomic-number layer of having an effective atomic number that is smaller than that of water, and at least one high-atomic-number layer having an effective atomic number that is greater than that of water. The low-atomic-number layers and high-atomic-number layers are provided with respective thicknesses and compositions for modulating the dependence of the signal produced by the radiation dosimeter on photon energy, such that the signal, when calibrated to provide a measure of dose, exhibits approximate tissue-equivalence over a prescribed photon energy range. The multilayer substrate may be configured such that tissue equivalence is provided over an energy range including diagnostic and therapeutic energy ranges, spanning, for example, 20 keV to 5 MeV.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.