Experimental study of the excitation functions of proton induced nuclear reactions on 167Er for production of medically relevant 167Tm

167Tm (T1/2=9.25 d) is a candidate radioisotope for medical therapy and diagnostics due to its Auger-electron and low-energy X- and gamma-ray emission. Excitation functions of the 167Er(p,n)167Tm reaction and 168Er(p,n)168Tm, 167Er(p,2n)166Tm, 166Er(p,2n)165Tm disturbing reactions were measured up to 15 MeV by using the stacked foil irradiation technique and gamma-ray spectroscopy. The measured excitation functions agree well with the results of ALICE-IPPE, EMPIRE-II and TALYS nuclear reaction model codes. The thick target yield of 167Tm in the 15–8 MeV energy range is 6.9 MBq/μAh. A short comparison of charged particle production routes of 167Tm is given.