Production of carrier-free 117mSn

Abstract

Excitation functions were measured by the stacked-foil technique for the formation of 117mSn and 113Sn in 3He- and α-particle induced reactions on cadmium and indium up to ifE 3He = 120 MeV and ifE α = 140 MeV. The 116Cd (α,3n) 117 m Sn and 115In ( α, pn+ d) 117 m Sn reactions were found to be suitable for the production of 117 m Sn. Various production parameters relevant to the latter process were investigated. The optimum energy range was found to be E α = 45→20 MeV; the theoretical thick target yield of 117 m Sn amounts to 9.2 μCi/μAh and the 113Sn-impurity level to 0.22%. The target consists of a thin layer of In on a Cu-backing and can withstand 120 MeV α-particle internal beam currents of up to 7 μA. A dry distillation method for the separation of radiotin as 117 m SnCl 4 was developed. The experimental batch yield of 117 m Sn Amounts to 0.8 mCi (EOB) and the level of 113Sn-impurity to < 0.5%.