Medical cyclotron solid target preparation by magnetron sputtering technique
Hanna Skliarova, Sara Cisternino, Gianfranco Cicoria, Mario Marengo, Emiliano Cazzola, Giancarlo Gorgonic, Vincenzo Palmieri
National Institute of Nuclear Physics-Legnaro National Laboratories (INFN-LNL), Italy (Hanna Skliarova, Sara Cisternino, Vincenzo Palmieri); “S. Orsola-Malpighi” Hospital, Medical Physics Department, Bologna, Itlay (Gianfranco Cicoria, Mario Marengo); “Sacro Cuore” Hospital, Cyclotron and Radiopharmacy Department, Negrar (Verona), Italy (Emiliano Cazzola, Giancarlo Gorgoni); University of Padova, Italy (Vincenzo Palmieri)
Poster
We have no conflict of interest to declare.
Magnetron sputtering technique is proposed as an innovative method for the deposition of target material onto appropriate backing plate in order to provide high density, high thickness uniformity and high adherence to the backing. This technique is well-known for thin film deposition and not for thick films because of the presence of intrinsic stress that can compromise the performance of the target. In the present work a method to deposit thick stress-free films on different backing materials was developed, optimizing the fundamental deposition parameters: sputtering gas pressure, substrate temperature and using multilayer deposition. This method is proposed for the realization of Mo-100 and Y-nat solid targets for the low-energy medical cyclotron production of Tc-99m and Zr-89 respectively. The combination of all three optimized sputtering parameters allowed to obtain 100 um thick Mo targets with good thermomechanical stability under the beam of a medical cyclotron with a power density >1 kW/cm2. For Y material, instead, targets of up to 70 um thickness were realized optimizing only the sputtering pressure, without forced heating of the substrate.