Exploration of the potential performance of polycrystalline silicon-based active matrix flat-panel imagers incorporating active pixel sensor architectures

Larry E. Antonuk; Youcef El-Mohri; Qihua Zhao; Martin Koniczek; John McDonald; Mike Yeakey; Yi Wang; Mahdokht Behravan; Robert A. Street; JengPing Lu

doi:10.1117/12.771406

25 March 2008 Exploration of the potential performance of polycrystalline silicon-based active matrix flat-panel imagers incorporating active pixel sensor architectures

Larry E. Antonuk, Youcef El-Mohri, Qihua Zhao, Martin Koniczek, John McDonald, Mike Yeakey, Yi Wang, Mahdokht Behravan, Robert A. Street, JengPing Lu

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 6913, Medical Imaging 2008: Physics of Medical Imaging; 69130I (2008) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.771406
Event: Medical Imaging, 2008, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Conventional active matrix flat-panel imagers (AMFPIs), employing amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) semiconductors, are based on a relatively simple pixel architecture, commonly taking the form of a single, thin-film transistor (TFT) coupled to a pixel storage capacitor. Although this semiconductor-architecture combination has led to the successful creation of x-ray imagers for many applications, a variety of significant performance limitations related to DQE, frame rate and charge trapping have also become apparent. While prospects for designing solutions to these restrictions based on a-Si:H TFTs are uncertain, progress in the development of high-quality polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) TFTs is opening up new possibilities for large area x-ray imager design. Recently, initial prototype imagers have been developed using poly-Si TFTs in the form of 1-stage and 2-stage pixel amplifiers-ircuit architectures that can generally be referred to as active pixel sensors (APS). The insight gained from empirical evaluations of such prototypes, coupled with theoretical studies, can inspire increasingly sophisticated APS architectures that overcome the limitations, while preserving the advantages, of conventional AMFPIs. In this paper, cascaded systems analysis and circuit simulation are used to explore potential performance improvements enabled by APS architectures based on poly-Si TFTs. These studies suggest that it is possible to achieve significant improvements in DQE at low exposures or very small pixel sizes, higher maximum frame rates, and reduced charge trapping effects through implementation of such architectures.

Citation Download Citation

Larry E. Antonuk, Youcef El-Mohri, Qihua Zhao, Martin Koniczek, John McDonald, Mike Yeakey, Yi Wang, Mahdokht Behravan, Robert A. Street, and JengPing Lu "Exploration of the potential performance of polycrystalline silicon-based active matrix flat-panel imagers incorporating active pixel sensor architectures", Proc. SPIE 6913, Medical Imaging 2008: Physics of Medical Imaging, 69130I (25 March 2008); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.771406

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available