Micromachined Pyrolyzed Polymer as a Candidate of ¹⁸F^- Deposition Electrode toward PET Application

Abstract

This paper proposes a micromachined pyrolyzed polymer as a candidate for an ¹⁸F^- deposition electrode for application in positron emission tomography (PET). The electrical separation of ¹⁸F from H₂¹⁸O water has been studied for preparing a PET probe. Conventionally, a bulk material such as glassy carbon (GC) is used for the ¹⁸F deposition and recovery cell electrode. This study is the first trial using a pyrolyzed polymer as an ¹⁸F^- deposition and recovery cell electrode. A pyrolyzed polymer electrode is obtained through pyrolysis of batch fabricated polymer patterns while the GC electrode is provided as the bulk material. Pyrolyzed polymer prepared below 1000°C pyrolysis shows similar electrical conductivity as that of GC. Further comparisons between pyrolyzed polymer and GC using Raman spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were carried out prior to determining the suitability of the material as ¹⁸F^- deposition and recovery electrode. The deposition and recovery yield of the pyrolyzed polymer electrode derived from the photoresist (AZ4620) at 1000°C was estimated to be 77% and 38%, respectively.