Performance analysis of several generations of flat-panel x-ray imagers based on polycrystalline silicon TFTs

Larry E. Antonuk; Youcef El-Mohri; Qihua Zhao; Martin Koniczek; Albert Liang; Hao Jiang; John McDonald; Robert A. Street; Jeng-Ping Lu

doi:10.1117/12.2008324

19 March 2013 Performance analysis of several generations of flat-panel x-ray imagers based on polycrystalline silicon TFTs

Larry E. Antonuk, Youcef El-Mohri, Qihua Zhao, Martin Koniczek, Albert Liang, Hao Jiang, John McDonald, Robert A. Street, Jeng-Ping Lu

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 8668, Medical Imaging 2013: Physics of Medical Imaging; 86680A (2013) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2008324
Event: SPIE Medical Imaging, 2013, Lake Buena Vista (Orlando Area), Florida, United States

Abstract

Active matrix flat-panel imagers (AMFPIs) have become ubiquitous in medical imaging environments. AMFPIs are based on two-dimensional pixelated arrays coupled to various x-ray converter materials that provide either indirect or direct detection of the incident x-ray radiation. However, the capabilities of this technology are severely constrained by the underlying solid-state properties of the amorphous silicon semiconductor material employed in the thin-film transistors present in each array pixel. The considerably higher electron and hole mobilities of polycrystalline silicon, a semiconductor material that (like amorphous silicon) is well suited to fabrication of transistors for large area electronics, provide the potential to overcome these constraints by increasing the overall gain of the system relative to the electronic additive noise. To explore this potential, a series of prototype arrays based on increasingly complex pixel designs employing polycrystalline silicon transistors is under development by our collaboration. The designs include several generations of active pixel arrays that incorporate sophisticated pixel-level amplifier circuits with the goal of improving imaging performance. In this paper, an initial analysis of the noise and DQE performance of selected prototype pixel circuit designs will be presented. The results are based on a combination of Monte Carlo -based circuit simulations and cascaded systems analysis, supplemented with information obtained from measurements performed on poly-Si transistors. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of the potential for, and challenges associated with, the creation of single photon counting arrays based on poly-Si TFTs.

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Larry E. Antonuk, Youcef El-Mohri, Qihua Zhao, Martin Koniczek, Albert Liang, Hao Jiang, John McDonald, Robert A. Street, and Jeng-Ping Lu "Performance analysis of several generations of flat-panel x-ray imagers based on polycrystalline silicon TFTs", Proc. SPIE 8668, Medical Imaging 2013: Physics of Medical Imaging, 86680A (19 March 2013); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2008324

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