TH-A-103-05: Characterization of An Energy-Resolved Photon-Counting Si Strip Detector for Breast CT Imaging

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the characteristics of a high resolution energy‐resolved photon‐counting Si strip detector for breast CT imaging. Methods: A prototype Si strip detector was studied for breast CT imaging. A bench‐top CT system was constructed using a tungsten anode x‐ray source with a focal spot of 0.8 mm and a single line Si strip detector with 256 pixels and pixel pitch of 100 μm. A 38 μm diameter tungsten wire phantom was used to determine the point spread function (PSF) of the detector. The tungsten wire phantom was positioned 110 and 7.5cm from the x‐ray tube focal spot and detector, respectively. The system MTF was measured using reconstructed images. For the noise power spectrum (NPS), three different exposures 16, 31, and 46 μGy were used. Flat field images were acquired with and without electric noise at each exposure to investigate the effect of detector's electric noise on the noise property. The simulations with the same phantom and system geometry were also performed for validation purposes. A 16 cm water phantom, which contains various diameters (76, 102, 152, 203, and 254 μm) of aluminum (Al) wire was investigated to confirm the simulation and experimental results. Results: The desired resolution of 100 μm, corresponding to a spatial frequency of 5 lp/mm was demonstrated in both simulation and experimental results. A higher normalized NPS was measured when electronic noise included. The relationship between measured and known diameter for Al wires was quite linear except for the smallest Al wire which is smaller than detector pixel size. Conclusion: The performance of the prototype Si strip detector was evaluated using MTF and NPS. The results show that the investigated detector has excellent potential for high resolution breast imaging at low radiation dose levels.