New Method for Determining Ultra Low Alpha Emission Levels

Alpha emission surface counting techniques are limited by analysis times and detection limits. Inovatia Laboratories has developed a method for the semiconductor industry that will achieve the equivalent of 0.002 cph/cm2 in 4 hours. The user may achieve lower detection limits by manipulating sample sizes and counting times.

Rhys N. Thomas

Rhys Thomas, after ten years in technical training development for the US Postal Service, received a BSEd in cemistry education, Summa Cum Laude, from the University of Missouri, Columbia (1986). He later returned to obtain a Ph.D. in analytical chemistry (1993) as an Environmental Restoration and Waste Management Graduate Fellow from the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education of the Oak Ridge Associated Universities for the Department of Energy, and as a G. Ellsworth Huggins Scholar. The following year, he became a founding partner and President of Fayette Environmental Services, Inc., also acting as Chief Analytical Chemist. He has been the Principal Investigator of six SBIR/STTR grants from three different federal agencies, one of which produced the innovative alpha counting system of this presentation. In addition to his research in both gamma and alpha spectra, he has developed tagged neurotransmitters for MRI imaging, a biocidal polymer, and surface-functionalized, probe-containing polymeric nanospheres (USA patent 6,177,088) for multi-analyte immunoassay, in vivo imaging, and drug delivery. That portion of his research that was not proprietary has resulted in ten peer-reviewed publications. The overall theme of his pursuits, whether through consulting or research, is the development of innovative ultra-trace detection systems. Recently, he has been involved in the start-up of a new venture, Inovatia Laboratories, LLC, of which he is a founding partner and Chief Analytical Chemist.