Thermoluminescence in CVD diamond films:: Application to actinometric dosimetry

Diamond is considered a tissue-equivalent material since its atomic number (Z = 6) is close to the effective atomic number of biological tissue (Z = 7.42). Such a situation makes it suitable for radiation detection purposes in medical applications. In the present work the analysis is reported of the thermoluminescence (TL) and dosimetric features of chemically vapour deposited (CVD) diamond film samples subjected to ultraviolet (UV) irradiation in the actinometric region. The TL glow curve shows peaks at 120, 220, 320 and 370degreesC. The 120 and 370degreesC peaks are too weak and the first one fades away in a few seconds after exposure. The overall room temperature fading shows a 50% TL decay 30 min after exposure. The 320degreesC glow peak is considered to be the most adequate for dosimetric applications due to its low fading and linear TL behaviour as a function of UV dose in the 180-260 nm range. The TL excitation spectrum presents a broad band with at least two overlapped components around 205 and 220 nm. The results indicate that the TL behaviour of CVD diamond film can be a good alternative to the currently available dosemeter and detector in the actinometric region as well as in clinical and medical applications.