Scintillator assembly for alpha radiation detection and an associated method of making
AssigneeMartin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc.
InventorsRobert J. Lauf, Stephanie A. McElhaney, John B. Bates
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Abstract
A scintillator assembly for use in conjunction with a photomultiplier or the like in the detection of alpha radiation utilizes a substrate or transparent yttrium aluminum garnet and a relatively thin film of cerium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet coated upon the substrate. The film material is applied to the substrate in a sputtering process, and the applied film and substrate are annealed to effect crystallization of the film upon the substrate. The resultant assembly provides relatively high energy resolution during use in a detection instrument and is sufficiently rugged for use in field environments.
Claims21
A scintillator assembly for the detection of alpha radiation comprising:
- a multicrystalline scintillating film of cerium doped yttrium aluminum garnet;
- and
- a chemically inert, to cerium doped yttrium aluminum garnet, optically transparent substrate upon which the multicrystalline scintillating film is deposited.
A scintillator assembly for the detection of alpha radiation comprising:
- a substrate of a chemically inert, to cerium doped yttrium aluminum garnet, optically transparent material having a surface;
- and
- a multicrystalline scintillating film which is relatively thin in comparison to the thickness of the substrate, said film being deposited on the surface of the substrate so as to provide a front surface for said assembly against which particles desired to be detected impinge, and at least some of the multicrystalline scintillating film is epitaxially aligned with the substrate.
A method of constructing a scintillator assembly for the detection of alpha radiation comprising the steps of:
- providing an optically transparent substrate which is chemically inert to cerium doped yttrium aluminum garnet, and
- depositing a multicrystalline scintillating film of cerium doped yttrium aluminum garnet onto the substrate so that at least some of the multicrystalline scintillating film is epitaxially aligned with the substrate.
A method of constructing a scintillator assembly for the detection of alpha radiation comprising the steps of:
- providing a substrate of optically transparent yttrium aluminum garnet;
- sputtering a multicrystalline scintillating film of cerium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet onto the substrate;
- and
- annealing the scintillator assembly to encourage grain growth of the multicrystalline scintillating film.
A method of constructing a scintillator assembly for the detection of alpha radiation comprising the steps of:
- providing a substrate of a chemically inert optically transparent material having a surface;
- depositing a multicrystalline scintillating film onto the substrate surface;
- and
- annealing the scintillator assembly to encourage grain growth and correct discrepancies in the oxygen stoichiometry of the multicrystalline scintillating film.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.