Molecular plating of Am-241 on a Schottky metal contact

This paper describes a molecular plating method in which americium-241 (Am-241) was directly deposited onto a 4.8 mm x 4.8 mm Schottky electrode of 4 H-SiC devices. The plating solution consists of isopropanol and dilute nitric acid. Plating was conducted for one hour using a high voltage between 300 and 600 V to plate the radionuclide. A gasket with an aluminized mylar contact surface was added to a traditional disposable electrodeposition cell to accommodate the small size of the diode. Deposition recoveries of 50–65% have been consistently achieved using 20–30 nCi of Am-241 with minimal damage to the diode surface.