Improvements in CVD diamond properties for radiotherapy dosimetry.

The goal of this work was to compare the behaviour of a chemical vapour deposited (CVD) diamond sample, grown at the University of Florence using a local procedure, with that of a commercial CVD diamond. The comparison was performed exposing both systems to 25 MV photons and measuring the current response during irradiation. Properties of dosimetric interest such as stability of response, dose rate dependence and rise time were investigated. After a preliminary study, which evidenced better performances of the commercial device with respect to the local CVD diamond, the latter was irradiated with a high fluence of fast neutrons. As a result of the neutron treatment, the quality of the CVD home-made diamond has been improved to match with that of the commercial dosemeter.