[en] During the development of a novel photoconductive digital medical X-ray imaging device, we performed transient photoconductive measurements of both electrons and holes in a-Se structures that were either of a sandwich or co-planar structure. In sandwich type measurements, carriers move through the bulk away from interfaces. In co-planar structures, carriers move near an interface. The photoconductive properties of a-Se have been extensively characterised, using photoconductive time-of-flight (TOF) methods. These measurements have been performed using sandwich structures consisting of a-Se deposited on a bottom conducting substrate and a top thin semi-transparent biasing electrode. A weak, brief (compared to transit times) light pulse is applied to the semi-transparent electrode and the resulting photoconductive transient current pulse is used to determine carrier properties. In a-Se medical X-ray applications, the a-Se layer is quite thick (150–500 \mathrm{\mu }m) causing long carrier transit times. We were interested in reducing these long photoconductive transit (readout) times by instead moving the collected image charges comparatively short distances (10–20 \mathrm{\mu }m) laterally between co-planar image pixel electrodes and neighbouring readout electrodes. In the exploration of this concept, we studied experimentally the transient photoconductivity of co-planar a-Se structures. We found, unexpectedly, the transient photoconductivity measurements of the co-planar structures to be quite different from those of the sandwich (bulk) type. We concluded that the co-planar a-Se photoconductivity was totally dominated by a high density of interface trapping states. It is recommended that the measurement of bulk carrier properties via TOF using co-planar structures carefully take into account interface states.

[en] A new amorphous selenium (a-Se) digital radiography detector is introduced. The proposed detector generates a charge image in the a-Se layer in a conventional manner, which is stored on electrode pixels at the surface of the a-Se layer. A novel method, called photoconductively activated switch (PAS), is used to read out the latent x-ray charge image. The PAS readout method uses lateral photoconduction at the a-Se surface which is a revolutionary modification of the bulk photoinduced discharge (PID) methods. The PAS method addresses and eliminates the fundamental weaknesses of the PID methods--long readout times and high readout noise--while maintaining the structural simplicity and high resolution for which PID optical readout systems are noted. The photoconduction properties of the a-Se surface were investigated and the geometrical design for the electrode pixels for a PAS radiography system was determined. This design was implemented in a single pixel PAS evaluation system. The results show that the PAS x-ray induced output charge signal was reproducible and depended linearly on the x-ray exposure in the diagnostic exposure range. Furthermore, the readout was reasonably rapid (10 ms for pixel discharge). The proposed detector allows readout of half a pixel row at a time (odd pixels followed by even pixels), thus permitting the readout of a complete image in 30 s for a 40 cmx40 cm detector with the potential of reducing that time by using greater readout light intensity. This demonstrates that a-Se based x-ray detectors using photoconductively activated switches could form a basis for a practical integrated digital radiography system

[en] Photon counting is an emerging detection technique that is promising for mammography tomosynthesis imagers. In photon counting systems, the value of each image pixel is equal to the number of photons that interact with the detector. In this research, we introduce the design and implementation of a low noise, photon counting pixel for digital mammography tomosynthesis in 0.18 μm crystalline silicon complementary metal-oxide semiconductor technology. The design comprises of a low noise, charge-integrating amplifier, a low offset voltage comparator, a decision-making unit, a mode selector, and a pseudorandom counter. Theoretical calculations and simulation results of linearity, gain, and noise of the photon counting pixel are presented

[en] Hybrid CdZnTe, CdTe, GaAs, selenium and PbI₂ pixel detector arrays with 50x50 μm² pixel sizes that convert X-rays directly into charge signals are under development at NOVA for application to digital mammography. These detectors have superior X-ray quantum efficiency compared to either emulsion-based film, phosphor-based detectors or other low-Z, solid-state detectors such as silicon. During this work, CdZnTe and CdTe pixel detectors gave the best results. The other detectors are at very early stages of development and need significant improvement. Among other detectors, selenium is showing the highest potential. The preliminary results show that single crystal CdZnTe detectors yield better results in Detective Quantum Efficiency (DQE) as well as in images obtained from phantoms, compared to the polycrystalline CdZnTe detectors. This is due to the non-uniformities in the polycrystaline CdZnTe that degrade the charge transport properties. In this paper, preliminary results from thin (0.15 to 0.2 mm) CdZnTe and CdTe detectors will be presented in terms of MTF, DQE and phantom images. Because of the charge-coupling limitation of the readout Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) that was originally designed for Si detectors, the detector is biased to collect holes from the input. This charge collection mode limits the CdZnTe detector performance. Their DQE measurements yield 25% and 65% for the polycrystal and single-crystal CdZnTe detectors, respectively. Polycrystal CdTe test detectors were also hybridized to the same type charge readout chip. Since CdTe has much longer hole-propagation lengths compared to CdZnTe, it shows better performance in the hole-collecting mode. However, it suffers from polarization. Excellent images were also obtained from the CdTe detectors. Future work to redesign the readout ASIC and thus improve the detector performance will be discussed. These detectors can also be used for other medical radiography with increased thickness and also for industrial imaging such as non-destructive evaluation and non-destructive inspection

[en] The most widely used architecture in large area amorphous silicon (a-Si) flat panel imagers is the passive pixel sensor (PPS), which consists of a detector and a readout switch. While the PPS has the advantage of being compact and amenable towards high-resolution imaging, reading the low PPS output signal requires external circuitry such as column charge amplifiers that produce additional noise and reduce the minimum readable sensor input signal. This work presents a voltage mediated active pixel sensor (APS) on-pixel readout circuit for diagnostic medical imaging to minimize external component count and hence external readout noise sources. Preliminary results indicate excellent APS linearity along with a pixel readout time suitable for mammography or radiography

[en] Purpose: X-ray images allow the visualization of percutaneous devices such as catheters in real time but inherently lack depth information. The provision of 3D localization of these devices from cone beam x-ray projections would be advantageous for interventions such as electrophysiology (EP), whereby the operator needs to return a device to the same anatomical locations during the procedure. A method to achieve real-time 3D single view localization (SVL) of an object of known geometry from a single x-ray image is presented. SVL exploits the change in the magnification of an object as its distance from the x-ray source is varied. The x-ray projection of an object of interest is compared to a synthetic x-ray projection of a model of said object as its pose is varied. Methods: SVL was tested with a 3 mm spherical marker and an electrophysiology catheter. The effect of x-ray acquisition parameters on SVL was investigated. An independent reference localization method was developed to compare results when imaging a catheter translated via a computer controlled three-axes stage. SVL was also performed on clinical fluoroscopy image sequences. A commercial navigation system was used in some clinical image sequences for comparison. Results: SVL estimates exhibited little change as x-ray acquisition parameters were varied. The reproducibility of catheter position estimates in phantoms denoted by the standard deviations, (σ_x, σ_y, σ_z) = (0.099 mm,  0.093 mm,  2.2 mm), where x and y are parallel to the detector plane and z is the distance from the x-ray source. Position estimates (x, y, z) exhibited a 4% systematic error (underestimation) when compared to the reference method. The authors demonstrated that EP catheters can be tracked in clinical fluoroscopic images. Conclusions: It has been shown that EP catheters can be localized in real time in phantoms and clinical images at fluoroscopic exposure rates. Further work is required to characterize performance in clinical images as well as the sensitivity to clinical image quality

[en] Diagnostic digital fluoroscopic applications continuously expose patients to low doses of x-ray radiation, posing a challenge to both the digital imaging pixel and readout electronics when amplifying small signal x-ray inputs. Traditional switch-based amorphous silicon imaging solutions, for instance, have produced poor signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) at low exposure levels owing to noise sources from the pixel readout circuitry. Current-mediated amorphous silicon pixels are an improvement over conventional pixel amplifiers with an enhanced SNR across the same low-exposure range, but whose output also becomes nonlinear with increasing dosage. A low-noise SNR enhancing readout circuit has been developed that enhances the charge gain of the current-mediated active pixel sensor (C-APS). The solution takes advantage of the current-mediated approach, primarily integrating the signal input at the desired frequency necessary for large-area imaging, while adding minimal noise to the signal readout. Experimental data indicates that the readout circuit can detect pixel outputs over a large bandwidth suitable for real-time digital diagnostic x-ray fluoroscopy. Results from hardware testing indicate that the minimum achievable C-APS output current that can be discerned at the digital fluoroscopic output from the enhanced SNR readout circuit is 0.341 nA. The results serve to highlight the applicability of amorphous silicon current-mediated pixel amplifiers for large-area flat panel x-ray imagers

[en] The Silicon Photomultiplier (SiPM) is a compact detector which shows great promise for use in MR compatible PET systems. SiPMs are insensitive to magnetic fields, have a high intrinsic gain (about 10⁶) and operate at low voltages (40 V), eliminating the need for sophisticated shielding and low noise preamplifiers. A prototype 1x1 mm² detector currently under investigation at the University of Toronto consists of an array of 556 independent microcells operating in Geiger mode. Each microcell thus produces a pulse of constant amplitude with the detection of one or more electrons. All microcells are connected in parallel through integrated quenching resistors, and thus the output of the SiPM is the sum of the individual standardized signals and is proportional to energy provided the number of detected light photons is less than the number of microcells. The detector was operated without a preamplifier, and using a 2x2x6 mm² LSO crystal and ²²Na source, the energy resolution was measured to be 25.6±0.4% FWHM and timing resolution for a detector pair was 1.9±0.1 ns FWHM. LED measurements and measurements using ¹³³Ba (356 keV) and ¹³⁷Cs (662 keV) verify that the detector is operating linearly at 511 keV. The major noise contribution is the dark current, which at -44 V results in a peak dark count rate of about 16 kHz that reduces to negligible levels above a 90 keV lower energy threshold. In the next generation of compact multi-element SiPM detectors with improved optical coupling the energy resolution should improve to below 15% FWHM, making them well suited for use in a high performance MR compatible depth of interaction PET scanner

[en] Silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) are receiving increasing attention in the field of positron emission tomography (PET) detectors. Compared to photomultiplier tubes, they offer novel detector configurations for the extraction of depth of interaction (DOI) information, or enable emerging medical imaging modalities such as simultaneous PET-magnetic resonant imaging (MRI). In this article, we used 2x2x20 mm³ LYSO scintillator crystals coupled to SiPMs on both ends (dual-ended readout configuration) to evaluate the detector performance for DOI-PET applications. We investigated the effect of scintillator crystal surface finishing on sensitivity and resolution of DOI, as well as on energy and timing resolution. Measurements indicate DOI sensitivity and resolution of 7.1% mm^-1 and 2.1±0.6 mm for saw-cut, and 1.3% mm^-1 and 9.0±1.5 mm, for polished scintillator crystals, respectively. Energy resolution varies from 19% when DOI is in the center, to 15% with DOI at either end of the saw-cut crystal, while it remains constant at ∼14% for polished scintillators. Based on our results we conclude that 2x2x20 mm³ saw-cut (without any special side wall polishing) LYSO crystals coupled to 2x2 mm² silicon photomultipliers are optimal for isotropic 2 mm resolution DOI-PET applications.