Design and production of Scintillation Detectors Components for nuclear radiation detectors Fields of application: * Medicine * Industry * Science * Security
Scintillation Detectors : Instruments using inorganic scintillation crystals or organic scintillators (plastics/ liquids) Radiation + Crystal -> Light -> Electrical signal SCIONIX : Designs and manufactures scintillation detectors and - probes for application in Medicine, Science, Security and Industry Emphasis is on dedicated instruments, often custom made.
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 20 years the SCIONIX name has been established in the scintillation detection community.
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), CaF 2 (Eu), 6-LiI(Eu), BGO, CdWO 4, YAP:Ce, PWO, LaCl 3, CeBr 3 ; each type different characteristics. NaI(Tl) 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
Product Range - Encapsulated scintillation crystals with optical windows - Scintillation detectors equiped with light readout devices (Photomultiplier Tube, photodiode or eq.) - Scintillation probes with front-end electronics - Detectors with HV supply and advanced hybrid electronics (own development) SCIONIX DOES NOT supply : - Complete Health Physics Instrumentation systems - Monitors or digital processing electronics 65 % of products are manufactured for OEM customers
Some Milestones : 1993 CHARISSA Array (Univ. Birmingham) 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 30 BGO shields project for security applications (LLNL) 2003 SCIONIX becomes contract partner for CMS project with CERN in cooperation with BTCP 2004 SCIONIX key supplier for most important hand-held instrumentation companies 2005 Developments in neutron detectors with 6-Li crystals leads to new generation of instruments for security applications (border control) 2006 New generation of liquid scintillator cells for neutron / gamma detection 2008 More emphasis on security applications, smaller designs 2009 Development of devices with advanced crystals and readout 2012 CeBr 3 detectors, High flash point liquids SrI 2 (Eu), CLYC KEYWORDS - Flexibility - Expert Customer support - Solution provided - Dedicated applications - Business partnership
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.
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.
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
Examples of Products in several Ranges Open window crystal assemblies CsI(Tl) pixels NaI(Tl) C-Styles CsI(Tl) BaF2
Detectors with PMT Standard B-styles OFHC NaI(Tl) Well detector Hexagonal BaF2 detector BGO Well det.
Detectors with advanced electronics Pen-type detector Stabilised probes with HV and dedicated amplifiers Challenges : - Low power - X-proof sometimes - Rugged
Detectors with semiconductor readout Heavy ion detector and identification Challenges : Noise, compactness
Security Applications : - dirty bombs - Special Nuclear materials (WGPu, HEU) Neutron detection Challenges : - Better and faster indentification - Neutron gamma discrimination - Better energy resolution - Compact, robust
Large inorganic scintillation detectors 4 x4 x16 detectors with Portal monitors Integrated HV supply 2 x4 x16 NaI(Tl) detector
Underwater Shipping Container Personal dosimeter
Medical Applications Safety in afterloading devices (high dose rates) Gamma camera crystals Bone densitometry Challenges : - High rates - Energy resolution
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
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, Silicon drift detectors) Developments are going fast and it is mandatory to explore the opportunities these new materials and sensors offer. Direct connection of detectors to USB
CeBr3 25.4 x 25.4 mm 137-Cs counts per Channel 1800 1600 1400 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 Energy (arb. units) CeBr 3 4 % @ 662 kev Fast decay (15 ns) Density 5.2 g / cc Brighter scintillators Higher QE PMTs Silicon Photomultipliers Arrays of self Quenched APDs in geiger mode. - Large gains - Possible inexpensive - Higher QE than PMTs
Close cooperation with the end user on technical level is very important for a successful project