Micro-Structural and Scintillator Quality Evaluation of Cerium-Doped Lutetium Yttrium Oxyorthosilicate

Cerium-doped lutetium yttrium oxyorthosilicate (Ce-LYSO) is commonly utilized as a scintillator material in medical imaging and security scanners due to its high density, high light yield, and short decay time. This research investigates how varying particle sizes (from >250 μ to <20 μ) and sintering temperatures impact the grain sizes, pore sizes, and the distribution and density of pores in Ce-LYSO polycrystalline scintillators. Different grain sizes were produced by sintering Ce-LYSO polycrystalline powder at temperatures of 1600°C, 1700°C, and 1800°C under air, and pressing at 300 MPa. The study also looks into how combining different particle size ranges can enhance scintillator quality and how temperature influences grain and pore sizes and density. Finally, the performance of the synthesized Ce-LYSO scintillators was evaluated under X-ray imaging conditions at 225kVp, and the light yield results were reported. It is hypothesized that higher sintering temperatures and polycrystalline particle sizes result in fine-grained Ce-LYSO ceramics with superior scintillator quality.