Study on Cu-64 Production Using Ni-64 and Zn-68 Targets

Abstract

This study employed the Monte Carlo method to simulate the production of ⁶⁴Cu using a low-energy proton cyclotron, which is essential for identifying cost-effective production strategies. Two target materials, ⁶⁴Ni and ⁶⁸Zn metals, were considered. The SRIM code was used to calculate the proton ranges in these two target materials. Based on the available experimental cross‑section data and the physical models embedded in PHITS, the effects of target material type, target thickness, and incident angle of the proton beam on the target surface on the production yield of ⁶⁴Cu and associated impurities were also analyzed using the PHITS software. The results indicated that proton-induced reactions on ⁶⁴Ni and ⁶⁸Zn targets can achieve desirable yields of ⁶⁴Cu within incident proton energy ranges of 12  → 9 MeV (for ⁶⁴Ni target) and 28  → 25 MeV (for ⁶⁸Zn target), respectively. Appropriately reducing the incident angle of the proton beam on the target surface can improve the utilization efficiency of the proton beam. Consequently, under the same target thickness, the yield of ⁶⁴Cu is increased while the impurity yields remain relatively stable. Furthermore, as the incident angle decreases, the optimal target thickness required to achieve the maximum ⁶⁴Cu yield is correspondingly reduced.