Dylan C. Hunt

Evaluation of the imaging properties of an amorphous selenium-based flat panel detector for digital fluoroscopy

The imaging performance of an amorphous selenium (a-Se) flat-panel detector for digital fluoroscopy was experimentally evaluated using the spatial frequency dependent modulation transfer function (MTF), noise power spectrum (NPS), and detective quantum efficiency (DQE). These parameters were investigated at beam qualities and exposures within the range typical of gastrointestinal fluoroscopic imaging (approximately 0.1 - 10 microR, 75 kV). The investigation does not take into consideration the detector cover, which in clinical use will lower the DQE measured here by its percent attenuation. The MTF was found to be less than the expected aperture response and the NPS was not white which together indicate presampling blurring. The cause of this blurring was attributed to charge trapping at the interface between two different layers of the a-Se. The effect on the DQE was also consistent with presampling blur, which reduces the aliasing in the NPS and thereby reduces the spatial frequency dependence of the DQE. (The DQE was independent of spatial frequency from 0.12 to 0.73 mm(-1) due to antialiasing of the NPS.) Moreover, the first zero of the measured MTF and the aperture response appeared at the same spatial frequency (6.66 mm(-1) for a pixel of 150 microm). Hence, the geometric fill factor (77%) was increased to an effective fill factor of 99 +/- 1%. A large scale ( approximately 32 pixels) correlation in the noise due to the configuration of the readout electronics caused increased noise power in the gate line NPS at low spatial frequency (< 0.1 mm(-1)). The DQE (f = 0) was exposure independent over a large range of exposures but became exposure dependent at low exposures due to the electronic noise.

X-ray imaging with amorphous selenium: X-ray to charge conversion gain and avalanche multiplication gain.

Fluoroscopy is a low dose imaging technique. As such, a very sensitive detector is required to create images of good quality. Present day flat panel active matrix read out systems introduce an amount of noise that inhibits present direct and indirect methods from producing optimal quality images at fluoroscopic exposure rates (0.1-10 microR per frame). The gain of the direct conversion approach using amorphous selenium (a-Se) was investigated to determine whether by increasing the applied electric field, a gain sufficient to overcome the noise limitations of the active matrix could be achieved. Conversion gain and avalanche multiplication in a-Se were investigated as a function of electric field from 10 to 100 V/microm. Our results show a factor of 4 increase in conversion gain is available by increasing electric field from the current standard of 10 V/microm to 100 V/microm. Furthermore, we show that avalanche multiplication can provide an additional gain of up to 25. This increase in signal is sufficient to overcome the noise level encountered in flat panel detectors and permit fully quantum noise limited operation across the whole fluoroscopic range of exposure.

Indirect flat-panel detector with avalanche gain: fundamental feasibility investigation for SHARP-AMFPI (scintillator HARP active matrix flat panel imager).

An indirect flat-panel imager (FPI) with avalanche gain is being investigated for low-dose x-ray imaging. It is made by optically coupling a structured x-ray scintillator CsI(Tl) to an amorphous selenium (a-Se) avalanche photoconductor called HARP (high-gain avalanche rushing photoconductor). The final electronic image is read out using an active matrix array of thin film transistors (TFT). We call the proposed detector SHARP-AMFPI (scintillator HARP active matrix flat panel imager). The advantage of the SHARP-AMFPI is its programmable gain, which can be turned on during low dose fluoroscopy to overcome electronic noise, and turned off during high dose radiography to avoid pixel saturation. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the important design considerations for SHARP-AMFPI such as avalanche gain, which depends on both the thickness dSe and the applied electric field ESe of the HARP layer. To determine the optimal design parameter and operational conditions for HARP, we measured the ESe dependence of both avalanche gain and optical quantum efficiency of an 8μm HARP layer. The results were used in a physical model of HARP as well as a linear cascaded model of the FPI to determine the following x-ray imaging properties in both the avalanche and nonavalanche modes as a function of ESe: (1) total gain (which is the product of avalanche gain and optical quantum efficiency); (2) linearity; (3) dynamic range; (4) gain nonuniformity resulting from thickness nonuniformity; and (5) effects of direct x-ray interaction in HARP. Our results showed that a HARP layer thickness of 8μm can provide adequate avalanche gain and sufficient dynamic range for x-ray imaging applications to permit quantum limited operation over the range of exposures needed for radiography and fluoroscopy.

Direct conversion detectors: the effect of incomplete charge collection on detective quantum efficiency.

Direct conversion detectors offer the potential for very high resolution and high quantum efficiency for x-ray imaging, however, variations in signal can arise due to incomplete charge collection. A charge transport model was developed to describe the signal and noise resulting from incomplete charge collection. This signal to noise ratio (SNR) reduction was incorporated into the cascaded systems model for a simple x-ray detector. A new excess noise factor, A(c) (termed the collection noise factor) is introduced to describe the reduction in detective quantum efficiency (DQE). The DQE is proportional to the product of the quantum efficiency and the collection noise factor. If the trapping cross sections for electrons and holes are very different, and if the detector is biased improperly, the collection noise factor can drop to as low as 50%. In addition, the signal loss due to incomplete charge collection will reduce the DQE in the presence of added noise. Because of this, the DQE generally does not continue to improve with greater detector thickness. The collection noise factor and DQE are predicted for CdZnTe, PbI2, and Se. The optimization of detector thickness should be based not only on quantum efficiency but also on the charge collection statistics, which are influenced by bias field and polarity.

Indirect flat-panel detector with avalanche gain

A new concept - an indirect flat-panel detector with avalanche gain - for low dose x-ray imaging has been proposed. The detector consists of an amorphous selenium (a-Se) photoconductor optically coupled to a structured cesium iodide (CsI) scintillator. Under an electric field ESe, the a-Se is sensitive to light and converts the optical photons emitted from CsI into electronic signal. These signals can be stored and read out in the same fashion as in existing flat-panel detectors. When ESe is increased to > 90 V/μm, avalanche multiplication occurs. The avalanche gain ranges between 1-800 depending on ESe and the thickness of the a-Se layer dSe. The avalanche a-Se photoconductor is referred to as HARP (High-gain Avalanche Rushing amorphous Photoconductor). A cascaded linear system model for the proposed detector was developed in order to determine the optimal CsI properties and avalanche gain for different x-ray imaging applications. Our results showed that x-ray quantum noise limited performance can be achieved at the lowest exposure level necessary for fluoroscopy (0.1 μR) and mammography (0.1 mR) with a moderate avalanche gain of 20 (d = 1-2 μm). A laboratory test system using an existing HARP tube optically coupled (through a lens) to a CsI layer was built and the advantage of avalanche gain in overcoming electronic noise was demonstrated experimentally. One of the advantages of the avalanche gain is that it will permit the use of high resolution (HR) CsI (which due to its low light output has not previously been used in flat-panel detectors) to improve DQE at high spatial frequencies.

Imaging performance of an amorphous selenium flat-panel detector for digital fluoroscopy

The imaging performance of a 34.5 x 34.5 cm2 direct conversion flat-panel detector with a 1 mm thick amorphous selenium layer was measured over the fluoroscopic exposure range (0.56 - 10.8 μR/frame). The pixels measured 300 x 300 μm. Measurements of the modulation transfer function (MTF), the noise power spectrum (NPS), and the detective quantum efficiency (DQE) were made. By comparing the MTF to the sinc function the measured effective fill factor of the active matrix was determined to be almost 100%. The electronic noise of the active matrix was measured and found to be 3800 electrons. The DQE(f) was found to be better than the expected sinc2 function. This was due to the presence of a pre-sampling blur identified as charge trapping at an interface in the a-Se layers. At the highest exposure investigated, the DQE(0) was found to be less than the quantum efficiency and the difference was ascribed to a combination of the electronic noise, a small drop in sensitivity due to the charge trapping blur, and incomplete charge collection.

Experimentally validated theoretical model of avalanche multiplication x-ray noise in amorphous selenium

We are investigating active matrix flat panel x-ray detectors for real-time operation in the fluoroscopic exposure range. The typical exposure range for fluoroscopy is low, (0.1 - 10 (mu) R/frame). Hence the flat panel must be very sensitive to produce quantum noise limited images. The application of avalanche multiplication in amorphus selenium, ((alpha) -Se) is examined. Avalanche multiplication, M, can be used to increase signal size, potentially eliminating the quantum sink at low exposure levels. However, M greater than 1 also causes an overall degradation of DQE due to the addition of a new source of gain fluctuation noise. Using a linear cascaded systems model, this noise can be expressed as an additional avalanche Swank factor A(alpha ) in the expression for DQE(0) equals (eta) AsA(alpha ) where (eta) is the quantum efficiency, AS is the conventional conversion gain Swank factor. Depending upon the parameters, the value of A(alpha ) can vary from unity to less than 0.2. Our model was in agreement with experimentally observed values of A(alpha ) obtained using an imaging system (HARP) with (alpha) -Se layers capable of avalanche multiplication. The results indicate that a balance must be maintained between the improvement from avalanche multiplication to the amplifier noise limited part of the image, and the degradation effect it has on the quantum noise limited parts of the image. It also suggests that proper engineering of the avalanche layer can minimize, and perhaps eliminate, the additional noise fluctuations arising from avalanche multiplication of x-ray signals.

Indirect flat-panel detector with avalanche gain: design and operation of the avalanche photoconductor

An indirect flat-panel imager (FPI) with avalanche gain is being investigated for low-dose x-ray imaging. It is made by optically coupling a structured x-ray scintillator CsI(Tl) to an amorphous selenium (a-Se) avalanche photoconductor called HARP. The final electronic image can be read out using either an array of thin film transistors (TFT) or field emitters (FE). The advantage of the proposed detector is its programmable gain, which can be turned on during low dose fluoroscopy to overcome electronic noise, and turned off during high dose radiography to avoid pixel saturation. This paper investigates the important design considerations for HARP such as avalanche gain, which depends on both the thickness dSe and the applied electric field ESe. To determine the optimal design parameter and operational conditions for HARP, we measured the ESe dependence of both avalanche gain and optical quantum efficiency of an 8 μm HARP layer. The results were applied to a physical model of HARP as well as a linear cascaded model of the FPI to determine the following x-ray imaging properties in both the avalanche and non-avalanche modes as a function of ESe: (1) total gain (which is the product of avalanche gain and optical quantum efficiency); (2) linearity; (3) dynamic range; and (4) gain non-uniformity resulting from thickness non-uniformity. Our results showed that a HARP layer thickness of 8 μm can provide adequate avalanche gain and sufficient dynamic range for x-ray imaging applications to permit quantum limited operation over the range of exposures needed for radiography and fluoroscopy.

Digital radiology using amorphous selenium and active matrix flat panel readout : Photoconductive gain and gain fluctuations

New radiological imaging techniques have to be capable of high image quality, high acquisition speed, compactness, and versatility in operation. We have been investigating a flat panel imager based on the direct conversion of x-ray energy to an electric charge signal in a layer of amorphous selenium (a- Se) and an active matrix real-time self scanning read out, that is expected to achieve these goals. Although prototype imagers have demonstrated both real-time acquisition and the quality necessary for radiography, systematic investigations of the photoconductive properties of a-Se were undertaken to understand and extend the photoconductor range of operation and facilitate the designs for specialized radiological applications, such as fluoroscopy. The method of pulse height spectroscopy was adapted to accurately measure the reciprocal photoconductive gain W+/- (eV/e-h+) as a function of the incident photon energy (epsilon) and the applied field E. Improvements were taken until spectral peaks could be well resolved. The accuracy of the measurements was increased by calibration with a Si-PIN diode with a known W+/- . The measured values of W+/- showed that gain increases of a factor of 2.6 could be realized at the highest fields. The spectral widths were corrected to give the gain fluctuations and then used to calculate the contribution to imaging noise, i.e. the Swank factor. The imaging noise contribution was shown to be negligible, in agreement with previous calculations. The data suggests a new model of charge recombination in low mobility semiconductors which can be used to calculate W+/- at different fields and x-ray spectra for the full range of radiological applications.

Sci‐Fri PM Imaging‐03: Avalanche multiplication in diagnostic x‐ray imaging

The state‐of‐the‐art detector for digital radiography, the flat‐panel detector (also know as the active matrix flat‐panel imager), requires more gain to improve its performance at typical fluoroscopy — real time x‐ray imaging — exposure rates. It has been shown that avalanche multiplication gain in amorphous selenium (a‐Se) can provide the necessary amplification. This amplification, however, must also make little or no contribution to the noise. To achieve this using avalanche gain the intrinsic noise of avalanche multiplication must be reduced. Theoretical calculations and experiments examining the noise properties of an imaging system implementing avalanche multiplication in a layer of a‐Se are presented. The results indicated that avalanche multiplication in a‐Se can have the potential to improve the performance of flat‐panel detectors in fluoroscopy.