SBIR Phase I: New Sensors for Biological Instrumentation

该小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目将对新材料进行研究，这些新材料将用作核医学仪器（PET和SPECT成像）中的闪烁探测器。工作将通过从已知是良好的分散剂的稀土卤化物组合物开始并考虑可能优化其性能的相关组合物来进行。通过组合具有相似物理性质（例如晶体结构、密度和晶格参数）的两种材料，可以产生具有工程带隙的组合物。这种类型的工作在半导体中很常见，但很少用于这样的应用。带隙是一个关键的闪烁体属性，因为它直接影响光输出。 这个项目将研究如何通过带隙工程来修改已知的晶体管，从而获得更理想的性能。计划进行快速、连续的测量。 劳伦斯伯克利国家实验室的一个团队将协助这项工作，他们在这一有前途的领域拥有丰富的经验。这项探测器技术工作的一个基本方面是，由于它正在开发工具，这项工作最终将应用于许多领域。 为医学开发的闪烁体可以很容易地使科学研究受益;可以通过产品评估技术提高工业生产率;并满足国家日益增长的安全需求。通过创造更好的医学工具，国家受益于更准确的医学图像，从而更早地诊断和更好地跟踪治疗。类似地应用于其他领域，提高辐射探测器的质量可以通过更高的精度、更大的覆盖区域（允许新的成像应用）以及通过使探测器更通用来增加对新市场的渗透来实现更快的测量。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will undertake a study of new materials that will find application as scintillation detectors in nuclear medicine instrumentation (PET and SPECT imaging). Work will progress by starting with rare earth halide compositions that are known to be good scintillators and consider related compositions that can possibly optimize their performance. By combining the two materials with similar physical properties (such as crystal structure, density and lattice parameters) it is possible to create compositions that have an engineered bandgap. Work of this type is commonly seen with semiconductors but rarely utilized for an application such as this. Bandgap is a critical scintillator property because of how it directly affects light output. This project will examine how known scintillators can be modified, through bandgap engineering, such that more desirable properties can be obtained. Rapid, successive measurements are planned. Aiding in the effort will be a team from Lawrence Berkeley National Lab with extensive experience in this promising field.An underlying aspect of this work in detector technology is that because it is developing tools, the work will ultimately be applied to many fields. Scintillators developed for medicine can readily benefit scientific research; can increase industrial productivity via product evaluation Technologies; and serve the Nation's growing security needs. By creating better tools for medicine, the Nation benefits from more accurate medical images, leading to earlier diagnosis and better tracking of treatments. Similarly applied to other fields, improving the quality of radiation detectors leads to faster measurements through greater accuracy, larger coverage areas that allow for new imaging applications, and increased penetration into new markets by making the detectors more versatile.