Improvement of spread-out Bragg peak flatness for a carbon-ion beam by the use of a ridge filter with a ripple filter.

We have developed a novel design method of ridge filters for carbon-ion therapy using a broad-beam delivery system to improve the flatness of a biologically effective dose in the spread-out Bragg peak (SOBP). So far, the flatness of the SOBP is limited to about ±5% for carbon beams since the weight control of component Bragg curves composing the SOBP is difficult. This difficulty arises from using a large number of ridge-bar steps (e.