Characterisation of New N-Type Epitaxial Skin Diode Detector for Radiotherapy

In Australia, prostate cancer is the second most frequently diagnosed cancer in men and the third most common cause of cancer death. Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in Australian women. Radiotherapy plays a significant role in the treatment of prostate and breast cancers. The aim of in-vivo skin dosimetry is to measure the absorbed dose to the skin during radiotherapy. The skin is extremely sensitive to radiation. Any overdose can result in significant skin problems (skin toxicity). The silicon detector is a common type of detector utilised in medical dosimetry. Silicon epitaxial diode are being used as alternative to conventional silicon detector due to its various advantageous properties, such as relatively small sensitive volume and increased radiation hardness. The new n-type skin diode was designed by the Centre for Medical Radiation Physics at the University of Wollongong. This work investigates the performance of the new n-type epitaxial skin diode detector for in-vivo skin dosimetry in external beam radiotherapy and brachytherapy and aims to develop an accurate and reliable in-vivo dosimetry system that could be used as a quality assurance tool during radiotherapy.