Multispectral photon-counting for medical imaging and beam characterization — A project review

  • S. Kirschenmann*
  • , M. Bezak
  • , S. Bharthuar
  • , E. Brücken
  • , M. Emzir
  • , M. Golovleva
  • , A. Gädda
  • , M. Kalliokoski
  • , A. Karadzhinova-Ferrer
  • , A. Karjalainen
  • , P. Koponen
  • , N. Kramarenko
  • , P. Luukka
  • , J. Ott
  • , H. Petrow
  • , T. Siiskonen
  • , S. Särkkä
  • , J. Tikkanen
  • , R. Turpeinen
  • , A. Winkler
  • *Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

Central focus of the MPMIB project – funded via the Academy of Finland's RADDESS 2018–2021 programme – has been research towards a next-generation radiation detection system operating in a photon-counting (PC) multispectral mode: The extraction of energy spectrum per detector pixel data will lead to better efficacy in medical imaging with ionizing radiation. Therefore, it can be an important asset for diagnostic imaging and radiotherapy, enabling better diagnostic outcome with lower radiation dose as well as more versatile characterization of the radiation beam, leading for example to more accurate patient dosimetry. We present our approach of fabricating direct-conversion detectors based on cadmium telluride (CdTe) semiconductor material hybridized with PC mode capable application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), and will give a review on our achievements, challenges and lessons learned. The CdTe crystals were processed at Micronova, Finland's national research infrastructure for micro- and nanotechnology, employing techniques such as surface passivation via atomic layer deposition, and flip chip bonding of processed sensors to ASIC. Although CdTe has excellent photon radiation absorption properties, it is a brittle material that can include large concentrations of defects. We will therefore also emphasize our quality assessment of CdTe crystals and processed detectors, and present experimental data obtained with prototype detectors in X-ray and Co-60 beams at a standards laboratory.

Original languageEnglish
Article number167043
JournalNuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
Volume1039
DOIs
StatePublished - 11 Sep 2022
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors

Keywords

  • Detection of defects
  • Materials for solid-state detectors
  • Medical imaging
  • Photon counting detectors

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Nuclear and High Energy Physics
  • Instrumentation

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