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).
The ghosting recovery techniques and mechanisms in multilayer selenium X-ray detector structures for mammography
are experimentally and theoretically investigated. The experiments have been carried out under low positive applied
electric field (~1-2V/μm) since a very little ghost can be seen under normal operating applied electric field (10V/μm). A
ghost removal technique is investigated by reversing the bias polarity during the natural recovery process. The
theoretical model considers accumulated trapped charges and their effects (trap filling, recombination, electric field
profile, and electric field dependent electron-hole pair creation), the carrier transport in the blocking layers, and the
effects of charge injection from the metal contacts. We consider carrier trapping in both charged and neutral defect
states. It has been assumed that the X-ray induced deep trap centers are neutral defects. The time dependent carrier
detrapping and structural relaxation (recovery of meta-stable trap centers) are also considered. The sensitivity in a rested
sample is recovered mainly by the carrier detrapping, the recombination of the injected carriers with the existing trapped
carriers, and the relaxation of the X-ray induced deep trap centers. A faster sensitivity recovery is found by reversing the
bias during the natural recovery process. During reverse bias huge number of holes are injected from the metal and recombine with the trapped electrons. This results in faster sensitivity recovery. The electric fields at the metal contacts increase with time at the beginning of the natural ghosting recovery process which leads to the initial increase of the dark current. Later the electric fields at the metal contacts decrease and hence the dark current decays over time during the natural recovery process. The theoretical model shows a very good agreement with the experimental results.
The ghosting and its recovery mechanisms in multilayer Selenium detectors for mammography are experimentally and
theoretically investigated. The theoretical model considers accumulated trapped charges and their effects (trap filling,
recombination, electric field profile, electric field dependent electron-hole pair creation), the carrier transport in the
blocking layers, X-ray induced metastable deep trap center generations, and the effects of charge injection. The time
dependent carrier detrapping and structural relaxation (recovery of meta-stable trap centers) are also considered. We
simultaneously solve the continuity equations for both holes and electrons, trapping rate equations, and the Poisson's
equation across the photoconductor for a step X-ray exposure by the Backward Euler finite difference method. The
amount of ghosting strongly depends on the applied electric field and the initial carrier lifetimes. The dark current
increases significantly with accumulated exposures. The sensitivity in a rested sample is recovered mainly by the carrier
detrapping and the recombination of the injected carriers with the existing trapped carriers. The electric fields at the
metal contacts increses with time in ghosting recovery process which leads to the initial increase of the dark current.
The sensitivity is expected to recover almost fully by resting the sample longer than the recovery time constant of the
meta-stable trap centers (the structural relaxation time constant), which is more than 24 hours. The theoretical model
shows a very good agreement with the experimental relative sensitivity versus time and accumulative X-ray exposure
characteristics.
A theoretical model for describing the bias-dependent transient behavior of dark current in multilayer amorphous
selenium (a-Se) detectors has been developed by solving the trapping rate equations and Poisson's equation in the a-Se
layer. The transient dark currents in these detectors are measured and the proposed dark model is compared with the
measured data. The model shows a very good agreement with the experimental results. It has been found that the dark
current is mainly controlled by the Schottky emission of holes from the metal/a-Se contact. The space charge build-up
due to the hole injection and trapping in the blocking layer reduces the internal field at the metal/a-Se interface of
positive side and thus the dark current eventually is limited by the space charge. It has been found that the electric fields
at the metal contacts reduce to 20-30% of the applied field (applied voltage/thickness). The comparison of the model
with the experimental data estimates some important properties (e.g., trap center concentrations, space charges, and
effective barrier heights) of the blocking layers of the multilayer detectors. The dependence of the X-ray sensitivity of
multilayer a-Se X-ray imaging detectors on repeated X-ray exposures is studied by considering accumulated trapped
charges and their effects (trap filling, recombination, electric field profile, electric field dependent electron-hole pair
creation), the carrier transport in the blocking layers, X-ray induced metastable deep trap center generations, and the
effects of dark current. We simultaneously solve the continuity equations for both holes and electrons, trapping rate
equations, and the Poisson's equation across the photoconductor for a step X-ray exposure by the Backward Euler finite
difference method. The theoretical model shows a very good agreement with the experimental relative sensitivity versus
cumulative X-ray exposure characteristics. The electric field distribution across the multilayer detector and the dark
current density under repeated exposures are also estimated.
The dependence of the x-ray sensitivity of a-Se based x-ray image detectors on repeated x-ray exposures is studied by considering deep trapping of charge carriers, trapped charges due to previous exposures, trap filling effects, recombination between trapped and drifting carriers, x-ray induced new deep trap center generation, space charge effects, and electric field dependent electron-hole pair creation energy. We simultaneously solve the continuity equations for both holes and electrons, trapping rate equations, and the Poisson’s equation across the photoconductor for a pulse x-ray exposure by the finite difference method. We also perform Monte Carlo Simulations of carrier transports and obtain almost identical results. The change in relative sensitivity (ghosting) as a function of cumulative x-ray exposures for different levels of trapping and different detector operating conditions are examined. The relative sensitivity decreases with increasing cumulated x-ray exposure. The amount of ghosting in a-Se detectors increases with decreasing applied electric field. The sensitivity reduction at negative bias is greater than at positive bias. The theoretical model shows a very good agreement with the experimental relative sensitivity vs. cumulative x-ray exposure characteristics. The comparison of the model with the experimental data reveals that the recombination between trapped and the oppositely charged drifting carriers and x-ray induced new deep trap centers are mainly responsible for the sensitivity reduction in biased a-Se-based x-ray detectors.
The dependence of the x-ray sensitivity of a-Se based x-ray image detectors on repeated x-ray exposures and exposure history is studied by considering deep trapping of charge carriers, trapped charges due to previous exposures, bimolecular recombination, space charge effects and electric field dependent electron-hole pair creation energy. We numerically solve the continuity equations of both holes and electrons, trapping rate equations, and the Poison equation across the photoconductor for long pulse x-ray exposures. The electric field distribution across the photoconductor and the relative x-ray sensitivity as a function of cumulated x-ray exposure have been studied for both mammographic and chest radiographic applications. The electric field distribution across the photoconductor has been found to vary widely for high exposures. The relative x-ray sensitivity decreases with increasing cumulated x-ray exposure and tents to saturate. The sensitivity reduction at negative bias is more pronounced than at positive bias.
Charge transport and trapping-limited sensitivity and signal spreading over neighboring pixels of a direct conversion pixellated x-ray image detector are calculated by using the final trapped charge distributions across the photoconductor and the weighting potential of the individual pixel. The analytical expressions for the final trapped charge distributions across the photoconductor are derived by analytically solving the continuity equation for both types of carriers (electrons and holes). We calculate collected charges at different pixels by considering square pixels arranged in a two dimensional array. We calculate the amount of collected charge per unit incident radiation, the x-ray sensitivity, in terms of normalized parameters; (a) the normalized absorption depth (= absorption depth/photoconductor thickness), (b) normalized electron schubweg (schubweg/thickness), (c) normalized hole schubweg, and (d) normalized pixel pitch (pixel size/thickness). The composite (finely sampled) line spread function (LSF) is calculated by calculating collected charges at different pixels and by considering diagnostic x-ray irradiation along a line. The modulation transfer function (MTF) due to distributed carrier trapping is calculated by taking Fourier transform of composite LSF and correcting for the square sampling aperture. The charge transport and trapping-limited sensitivity and resolution of pixellated x-ray detectors mostly depend on the mobility and lifetime product of charges that move towards the pixel electrodes and the extent of dependence increases with decreasing normalized pixel pitch. The polarity (negative or positive signal) and the quantity of induced signals in the surrounding pixels depend on the bias polarity and the rate of trapping of both types of carriers. Optimal sensitivity and resolution can be attained by ensuring that the carriers which drift towards the pixel electrodes have a schubweg much longer than the sample thickness.
The effects of charge carrier trapping (i.e. incomplete charge collection) on the detective quantum efficiency (DQE) of a photoconductive detector are studied by using a cascaded linear system model. The model includes signal and noise propagations in the following stages: (1) x-ray attenuation, (2) conversion gain, (3) charge collection, (4) the addition of electronic noise. We examine the DQE(0) of a-Se for fluoroscopy application as a function of photoconductor thickness with varying amounts of electronic noise under (a) constant field, and (b) constant voltage operating conditions. We show that there is an optimum photoconductor thickness, which maximizes the DQE(0) under a constant voltage operation. The optimum thickness depends on the added electronic noise, x-ray exposure, bias voltage and polarity. The actual broad x-ray spectrum emitted from a typical x-ray tube is used in the calculation. The DQE for the negative bias is significantly lower than that of the positive bias, and the diversity in DQE, as expected, increases with the photoconductor thickness because of the asymmetric transport properties of holes and electrons in a-Se. The present results show that the DQE generally does not continue to improve with greater photoconductor thickness in the presence of added electronic noise because of charge transport and trapping effects.
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