Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference:	GR/M21423/01
Title:	INVESTIGATION OF THE APPLICATION OF CVD DIAMOND FOR RADIOSURGERY DOSIMETRY
Principal Investigator:	Buttar, Dr CM
Other Investigators:	Hill, Dr G Walton, Dr L Walker, Mr S Conway, Dr J
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:	De Beers UK Limited
Department:	Physics and Astronomy
Organisation:	University of Sheffield
Scheme:	Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts:	19 November 1998	Ends:	18 August 2001	Value (£):	143,604
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:	Instrumentation Eng. & Dev.
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:	No relevance to Underpinning Sectors
Related Grants:
Panel History:
Summary on Grant Application Form
Developments in the treatment of inoperable cerebral lesions using radiosurgery require precise knowledge of dose distributions over small areas to ensure that the dose is delivered accurately to the treatment area. This requires the development of sensitive dosimeters able to measure high dose gradients over only a few millimetres and having a response that is independent of incident beam direction. Natural diamond detectors have been investigated and they have shown good spatial resolution, good sensitivity and a response that is independent of incident beam direction. However only a small fraction of the highest quality natural diamonds are suitable as radiation sensors. This proposal will investigate the use of diamond grown by chemical vapour deposition (CVD) for dosimetry. We have shown in a pilot project that despite charge trapping effects CVD diamond is sufficiently sensitive for dosimetry applications, but the stability of the response must be improved. Samples of CVD grown under a variety of conditions will be characterised by measuring: sensitivity, stability of response, does rate dependence, orientation dependence and spatial resolution. Having identified suitable material, prototype dosimeters will be developed to measure high dose gradients in a stereotactic radiosurgery unit. To do this we plan to develop single pad devices and monolithic dosimeter arrays. It is hoped to demonstrate that the arrays can make the measurements much faster with the same or greater precision than using a single device and scanning it across the radiation field.
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Organisation Website:	http://www.shef.ac.uk