KEYWORDS: Sensors, Selenium, Photon counting, Electric field sensors, Spatial resolution, Time metrology, Surgery, Spectroscopy, Spectroscopes, Single photon
In this study, we fabricated a pixelated unipolar charge sensing detector based on amorphous selenium with a 20-μm pixel pitch using standard lithography process. A pulse-height spectroscopy (PHS) setup with a very low noise front-end electronics was designed, and experiments were performed to investigate the achievable energy resolution with the unipolar detector, as well as with a conventional detector for comparison purposes. PHS measurement results are presented that demonstrate, for the first time, a measured energy resolution of 8.3 keV at 59.5 keV is for the unipolar charge sensing device in contrast to 14.5 keV at 59.5 keV for conventional a-Se devices, indicating its promise for the contrast-enhanced photon counting imaging with an unsurpassed spatial resolution.
KEYWORDS: Sensors, Electrodes, Signal detection, Photon counting, Selenium, Photoresistors, Electric field sensors, Near field, X-ray imaging, Photodetectors
Practical photon counting detectors that have been adopted for commercial use are typically based on crystalline or polycrystalline materials. However, these types of materials are challenging to scale to large-area medical imaging applications because of yield and cost issues associated with the crystal growth and bonding technology required to interface the sensor with the readout IC. An alternate approach is to use a large-area-compatible, mature, direct conversion X-ray-detection sensor such as amorphous selenium (a-Se). The technical challenges for photon counting with a-Se lie in overcoming (1) the slow carrier-transport material property of a-Se, which leads to count-rate limitations due to pile-up, and (2) the lower X-ray-to-charge conversion gain, which degrades SNR and can be resolved by improved design of pixel readout circuits. In this paper, we address the a-Se material limitation by leveraging a unipolar charge sensing detector design. We demonstrate that the proposed unipolar charge sensing detector provides an effective method to detect charge of the polarity type having a higher mobility-lifetime product, obviating the need for detection of the opposite polarity slow transport charge. Transient signal measurements indicate that a quasi depth independent signal rise-time is achieved with the unipolar charge sensing detector. Moreover, two orders of magnitude improvement is observed compared to the conventional a-Se detector rise-time (0.15 μs vs. 25 μs).
Amorphous selenium (a-Se) is a direct conversion photoconductor capable of very high spatial resolution that can enable early detection of small and subtle lesions. A-Se also offers cost effective and reliable coupling to large area readout circuitry. Currently, the highest performance commercial flat panel detectors used for mammography are based on a-Se technology. However, this inherent spatial resolution has not been leveraged for real-time imaging applications, e.g. micro- angiography for imaging fine brain vessels that requires spatial resolution approaching 20 lp/mm, which is achievable with selenium technology. The challenge is that a-Se detectors suffer from memory artifacts such as lag that limits the frame rate of the X-ray imager. The frame rate reduction is attributed primarily to lag, which manifests itself as an increased dark conductivity after an X-ray exposure. Increased lag degrades the temporal response of the detector and makes a-Se photoconductor impractical for real-time imaging. Furthermore, high ionization energy required for electron-hole pair creation with a-Se limits the sensitivity of detector for a given X-ray dose, achieving a quantum noise limited system become a challenge. In this study, we investigate preferential sensing of those charge carriers having a higher mobility, i.e. holes for a-Se, to improve the temporal response of a-Se detectors for real-time imaging. A new preferential charge sensing detector with a field shaping internal grid, called Multi Pixel Proportional Counter, is fabricated and tested under the typical clinical usage conditions similar to that of fluoroscopy. The fabricated detector offers high frame rate and low noise imaging through avalanche gain. Conventional a-Se detectors are also fabricated for comparison purposes. Experimental results show that image lag as low as 1% can be achieved with the new structure with an internal grid while the conventional detector exhibits higher lag around 5%.
Using electric field to partition the selenium layer into a low field charge drift region and a high field avalanche gain region was first proposed in 2005(1). Engineering and fabricating such a grid structure on a TFT array have been a challenge. High dielectric strength material (up to several hundred volts/um) is required. Furthermore, it is very difficult to achieve or control a stable and uniform avalanche gain for imaging without too much excess noise from the elevated grid structure about the pixel plane. Image charge gain is non-uniform depending on the distance from the center of the avalanche well. A novel coplanar detector structure is now being tested. All image charges collected on a dielectric pixel surface will transfer to the central pixel readout electrode along a converging field. Uniform gain via a stable avalanche process can be achieved. This new structure does not require a conventional TFT platform and higher temperature fabrication process can be used. Imaging charges generated from x‐ray are first directed to a dielectric charge collection interface surface. During the sequential rolling image readout, imaging charges in each line are re-directed to an orthogonal lines of central readout electrode by a convergent field with high electric field strength at the rim of each pixel central electrode. All accumulated image charges need to pass through the end point of this converging field and therefore undergo a uniform impact ionization charge gain. This gain mechanism is similar to a proportional counter in radiation detection.
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