<title>High-resolution amorphous silicon image sensor</title>

Abstract

This paper describes a new prototype a-Si (amorphous silicon) x-ray image sensor developed at EG&G Reticon. The sensor consists of a 512 by 512 array of a-Si photodiodes placed on 100 micrometer centers. The active area measures 5 cm on a side. Each pixel is addressed by a pair of switching diodes rather than the more common TFT (thin film transistor) switch. This approach leads to a simplified all-diode design with excellent fill factor, large dynamic range and good performance. The sensor is intended primarily for high-resolution x-ray imaging applications. A scintillator in direct contact with the diode array is used to convert incident x-ray photons to visible light detectable by the a-Si photodiodes. Since the conversion takes place directly at the sensor surface, no bulky intermediate optics are needed. The entire sensor plus support electronics can be mounted in a package less than 3 cm thick. The paper describes the sensor performance in terms of dark current, image lag, sensitivity and dynamic range. The MTF of the sensor and attached scintillator is measured by exposing the device through a narrow slit illuminated by a 50 kV x-ray source. Good contrast and sensitivity are achieved even at the Nyquist limit of the sensor resolution. Several images demonstrating the resolution and sensitivity of the sensor are presented.© (1996) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.