High yield production of the medical radioisotope 167Tm by the 167Er(d,2n) reaction.

As part of our systematic comparison of (p,n) and (d,2n) reactions, the excitation functions of the (167)Er(d,2n)(167)Tm production reaction and reactions leading to Tm radio-impurities were investigated up to 20 MeV. A stacked foil irradiation technique and γ-ray spectroscopy is used. The measured excitation functions are compared with results of ALICE-D, EMPIRE-D and TALYS reaction model codes and with data from our earlier investigations on natural Er. Thick target yields and contamination levels are discussed. A comparison with other charged particle production routes for (167)Tm shows that deuteron induced reactions are not competitive.