Prototype X-Ray Detectors Based on CVD Diamond

Diamond has been proposed as a material for the construction of radiation detectors for many years, for reasons including its neartissue equivalence and radiation hardness. Diamond-based detectors for radiotherapy applications are commercially-available, but the scarcity of suitable high-quality natural diamonds results in low quantities of unique detectors that need to be individually calibrated and hence are very expensive. Recent developments in the synthesis of diamond should enable the development of cheaper diamond-based x-ray detectors with more reproducible characteristics.