Characterization of a segmented printed circuit board (PCB) as a standard for absorbed dose to water from alpha‐emitting radionuclides
Authors: Khan Ahtesham Ullah , Radtke Jeff , DeWerd Larry 
Published: January 2024

Background

Our previous work introduced and evaluated a standard for surface absorbed dose rate per unit radioactivity to water from unsealed alpha‐emitting radionuclides used in targeted radionuclide therapy (TRT). An overall uncertainty over 4.0% at k = 1 was reported for the absorbed dose to air measurements, which was partially attributed to the rotational alignment uncertainty in the geometrical setup.

Purpose

A printed circuit board (PCB) with a segmented guard was constructed to align the extrapolation chamber (EC) and the source plates using a differential capacitance technique. The PCB EC aimed to enhance the repeatability of the ionization current measurements. The PCB EC was evaluated using a thin film 210Po source. The measured absorbed dose to air cavity was compared with the Monte Carlo (MC) calculations. Using the extrapolation method, the surface absorbed dose rate to water was calculated.

Methods

The PCB EC was constructed with a 4.50 mm diameter collector surrounded by four sectors and a guard electrode. The sectors were isolated for rotational alignment and later connected to the guard for ionization current measurements. A bridge circuit measured differential capacitance between opposing sectors, and a hexapod motion stage rotated the source substrate to minimize the differential capacitance. The EC was evaluated using a 210Po source with a 3.20 mm diameter and 1.253 Ci radioactivity. MC simulations were performed to calculate the , , and correction factors. Ionization current measurements were performed for air gaps in the 0.3–0.525 mm range and surface absorbed dose rate to water was calculated.

Results

Rotational offsets of up to 3.0° were found and the current repeatability was found to increase with the absorbed dose to air uncertainty calculated to be ∼2.0%. Using the capacitance method, the effective EC diameter was measured to be 4.53 mm. The recombination, polarity, and electrometer corrections were reported to be within 1.00% across all measurement trials. The MC‐calculated correction factors were calculated to be much larger than the recombination and polarity correction factors. The average , , and corrections were calculated to be 1.063, 0.9402, and 2.136, respectively. The MC‐calculated absorbed dose to air was found to overestimate the absorbed dose by over 4.00% when compared with the measured absorbed dose to air. The surface absorbed dose rate to water was calculated to be Gy/s/Bq with an overall uncertainty of 4.07%.

Conclusions

The constructed PCB EC was deemed suitable as an absorbed dose standard. A repeatable rotational alignment was achieved using the differential capacitance technique. The metal electrodes on the PCB made a difference of < 1.00% on the backscatter correction when compared to the EC comprised of polystyrene‐equivalent collector. A 20% difference in the surface absorbed dose rate to water was found between the two ECs, which is attributed to the cavity diameter differences leading to different magnitudes of dose fall‐off along the lateral direction.