SPUTTER CATHODE FOR APPLICATION OF RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL

摘要

Making a sputter cathode for applying a radioactive material includes obtaining a wafer composed of a base material and a stable precursor. The base material is transmutable into a material having a relatively short atomic half-life. The wafer is atomically activated to transmute a portion of the stable precursor into a radioactive material. Atomically activating the wafer may include exposing the wafer to a source of thermal neutrons by, for example, placing the wafer in a high-flux nuclear reactor for approximately four weeks.