Silicon micromachining techniques as a tool to fabricate channeling-based devices

Presently MeV energy micro-beams are employed to study the cell response to radiation-induced damage. In fact, one of the frontiers is the study of radiobiological effects of particle radiation on human tissues. At relatively low energy (of the order of MeV), micro-beam facilities have been constructed to irradiate living cells with the aim to understand the architecture of biological tissues on radiation response and its behaviour at low dose. Interaction of radiation at high energy (GeV or higher) and its effects have indeed been considered for interplanetary space missions where a human equipage is being submitted to prolonged interaction with direct cosmic radiation. Thus, some particle accelerator laboratories study methods for implementation of micro-beam facilities to address the interaction of high-energy protons and ions with cells. A channeling-based scheme for generation of micro-beams has been proposed in the past; two designs for micro-collimator devices have been considered in this study and preliminary samples have been accordingly produced.