X-ray Photon Counting and Two-Color X-ray Imaging Using Indirect Detection

• Main Authors: Bart Dierickx, Qiang Yao, Nick Witvrouwen, Dirk Uwaerts, Stijn Vandewiele, Peng Gao
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2016-05-01
• Series: Sensors
• Subjects: X-ray photon counting; scintillator; color X-ray; spectral X-ray
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/16/6/764

In this paper, we report on the design and performance of a 1 cm2, 90 × 92-pixel image sensor. It is made X-ray sensitive by the use of a scintillator. Its pixels have a charge packet counting circuit topology with two channels, each realizing a different charge packet size threshold and analog domain event counting. Here, the sensor’s performance was measured in setups representative of a medical X-ray environment. Further, two-energy-level photon counting performance is demonstrated, and its capabilities and limitations are documented. We then provide an outlook on future improvements.