Design and production of Scintillation Detectors. SCIONIX general 2016

1.

Design and production of Scintillation Detectors
Components for nuclear radiation detectors
Fields of application:
*
Medicine
*
Industry
*
Science
*
Security

2.

Scintillation Detectors :
Instruments using inorganic scintillation crystals or
organic scintillators (plastics/ liquids)
Radiation + Crystal
SCIONIX :
->
Light
->
Electrical signal
Designs and manufactures scintillation
detectors and - probes for application in
Medicine, Science, Security and Industry
Emphasis is on dedicated instruments,
often custom made.

3.

History of SCIONIX
- Expertise of former HARSHAW personnel
has been the basis of SCIONIX Holland
HARSHAW HOLLAND active in above field SINCE 1960's
- 1991 HARSHAW crystal products sold to Saint Gobain
- 1992 Holland plant closed
- 1993 SCIONIX Holland founded using experience
and know-how in manufacture of detectors in Holland.
Over the last 23 years the SCIONIX name has been established
in the scintillation detection community.

4.

Scintillation crystal is important component
*
Inorganic synthetic crystal
*
Grown from solution or melt in furnace
*
diameters from 1 cm to 75 cm diameter
*
(depending on material and application)
Examples of Materials used :
NaI(Tl), CsI(Tl), CsI(Na), CaF2(Eu), 6-LiI(Eu), BGO, CdWO4, CLYC, SrI2(Eu), YAP:Ce, PWO,
LaCl3, CeBr3, organic scintillators;
each type different characteristics.
These materials in rough form (ingots, blocks) procured by SCIONIX from a large number of
outside suppliers for cutting, polishing, encapsulation or further processing.
CsI(Tl)
CdWO4

5.

Product Range
-
Encapsulated scintillation crystals with optical windows
Scintillation detectors equiped with light readout devices
(Photomultiplier Tube, photodiode, SiPm etc.)
-
Scintillation probes with front-end electronics
-
Detectors with HV supply and advanced hybrid electronics
(SCIIXON development)
SCIONIX DOES NOT supply :
-
Complete (Health Physics) Instrumentation systems
-
Monitors or digital processing electronics
65 % of products are manufactured for OEM customers

6.

7.

Some Milestones :
1995
250 kg NaI(Tl) detector system supplied to INFN FRASCATI
1996
SCIONIX become the main supplier to the IAEA Nuclear Safe guard inspectors
1997
Large ORNL Anti-Compton suppression Array delivered
1998
1200 CsI(Tl) elements (3 tons) to the CHIMERA experiment delivered ( > 3 tons)
2000
6000 scintillation element array for Integral (ESA) satellite supplied.
2001
Large BaF2 crystal ball ( 500 kg) at LANL supplied by SCIONIX
2002
SCIONIX becomes contract partner for CMS project with CERN in cooperation with BTCP
2003
SCIONIX key supplier for most important hand-held instrumentation companies
2004
Developments in neutron detectors with 6-Li crystals leads to new generation of
instruments for security applications (border control)
2005
New generation of liquid scintillator cells for neutron / gamma detection
2010
Development of devices with advanced CeBr3 crystals
2012
300 kg BGO Project Astro-H delivered
2012
High flash point liquids SrI2(Eu), CLYC
2015
CeBr3 larger volume available;
2016
Development of scintillation devices with Si PMT readout

8.

KEY values
-
Flexibility
Expert Customer support
Solution provided
Dedicated applications
Business partnership

9.

Capabilities
Manufacturing
-
Cutting and processing of various scintillation materials
-
Dry room area of < 3 % RH for manufacturing of large
assemblies (gamma cameras)
-
Encapsulation facilities for hygroscopic scintillation crystals
-
Manufacturing facilities for metal housings and other hardware.

10.

Quality control and testing
-
Characterization of scintillation materials
-
Advanced measurements on scintillators and light detection techniques
-
Climate chamber for environmental tests and temperature cycling
-
Vibration and shock equipment at external facility
-
Computer controlled X-Y translation tables for homogeneity tests
of large area detectors.
-
Full range of nuclear radiation detection instrumentation
-
Low background chamber with HPGe detector for material
characterization.

11.

Sales and marketing
-
SCIONIX products are often sold via a world-wide agent/distributor
network. Some countries are handled direct.
-
Technical support is usually offered directly from the factory
Some products that contain SCIONIX scintillation detectors
-
Hand held Nuclide Identification instruments
-
Density measurement equipment on dredging ships
-
Afterloading equipment for radiotherapy (brachytherapy)
-
Regional perfusion equipment
-
Intra-operative probes
-
Bone densitometers
-
Gamma cameras
-
X-ray diffraction equipment

12.

Examples of Products in several Ranges
Open window crystal assemblies
CsI(Tl) pixels
NaI(Tl) C-Styles
CeBr3 pixels
Li(Eu)
BaF2

13.

Detectors with PMT
Standard B-styles
Largew OFHC NaI(Tl)
Well detector
Large Beta detector
BGO Well det.

14.

Detectors with advanced electronics
- Low power
Pen-type detector
- Rugged
Stabilised probes with HV and
dedicated amplifiers
Built-in hybrid amplifiers
Stabilized

15.

Detectors with semiconductor readout
Heavy ion detector and identification
Challenges : Noise, compactness
SiPm Readout

16.

Security Applications :
- “dirty bombs”
- Special Nuclear materials (WGPu, HEU)
→ Neutron detection
Challenges :
-
Better and faster indentification
-
Neutron gamma discrimination
-
Better energy resolution
-
Compact, robust

17.

Large inorganic scintillation detectors
Portal monitors
Physics
2”x4”x16” NaI(Tl) detector

18.

Other
Field use
Personal dosimeter
Shipping Container
High resolution
detectors for space

19.

Medical Applications
Safety in afterloading devices
(high dose rates)
Gamma camera crystals
Bone densitometry
Challenges : - High rates
- Energy resolution

20.

Scrap Monitoring
Sometimes metal scrap is contamined with
Cs-137 or Co-60 from radio therapy devices
Organic scintillators are often used but these
are not nuclide specific
Challenges :
Energy resolution needed, cost

21.

Recent sensor developments to achieve
our goals :
1.
Better crystals (more Light output, better
proportionality)
2.
Better PMTs (higher QE better statistics)
3.
Alternative readout methods (silicon
PMTs)
Developments are going fast and it is
mandatory to explore the opportunities
these new materials and sensors offer.
Direct connection of detectors to USB

22.

CeBr3 25.4 x 25.4 mm 137-Cs
1800
1600
counts per Channel
1400
CeBr3
1200
1000
4 % @ 662 keV
800
Fast decay (20 ns)
600
400
Density 5.2 g / cc
200
0
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
Energy (arb. units)
Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPms)
Arrays of self Quenched APDs in
geiger mode.
- Large gains
- Higher QE than PMTs
- Small size
Brighter scintillators

23.

Organic scintillators (plastics / Liquids)
SCIONIX partner with ELJEN technologies (USA)
Large liquid scintillators
Machining of plastics
Neutron / gamma discrimination

24.

Close cooperation with
the end user on
technical level is very
important for a
successful project