Flat-Panel Imaging Arrays for Digital Radiography
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Outline Flat-Panel Imaging Arrays • Market and clinical challenges for digital radiography for Digital Radiography • Passive pixel amorphous silicon imaging arrays • Active pixel amorphous silicon imaging arrays Timothy Tredwell, Jeff Chang, Jackson Lai, Greg Heiler, Mark Shafer, John Yorkston Carestream Health, Inc., Rochester, NY 14615, USA • Active pixel LTPS imaging arrays Jin Jang, Jae Won Choi, Jae Ik Kim, Seung Hyun Park, Jun Hyuk Cheon, Sauabh Saxena, Won Kyu Lee • Silicon-on-glass circuits for future active pixel imaging Advanced Display Research Center, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea arrays Arokia Nathan London Center for Nanotechnology, University College, London Eric Mozdy, Carlo Kosik Williams, Jeffery Cites, Chuan Che Wang Corning Incorporated, Sullivan Park, Corning, NY 14831, USA 2 DR: “Digital” Radiography DR: 1 step acquisition with electrical “scanning” “Flat panel” and CCD based technology (introduced ~1995) (Courtesy Imaging Dynamics Corp.) 3 4 Two-Dimensional Projection Radiography The Market Outlook for DR: Rapid Growth World’s Population is Aging • Still most common exam • >1.5 x 10 9 exams per year • Chest imaging most common 1999 2050 Procedural Volume Trends • An aging population: 2,500 • By 2050, over 25% of the population in North America, Europe, China 2,000 Nuc Med and Australia will be over 60 ULtrasound • For every 1 time a 20-year-old visits a doctor … 1,500 MR …a 60-year-old visits a doctor 26 times 1,000 CT Digital X-ray • Rising incomes in Asia and Latin America will accelerate demand Procedures (Ms) Procedures 500 Analog x-ray • Emerging economies could go direct to digital - • Cost must be low – significant market opportunity 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 5 Source: WHO, World Bank 6 Anatomical Noise Anatomical Noise in Projection Radiography 3-Dim 2-Dim &KHVW5DGLRJUDSK 0DPPRJUDSK\ • 3 dim. structure projected into 2 dim. • Overlapping structures obscure clinical details • Anatomical structure noise > x10 detector noise 7 8 Tissue Discrimination: Dual-Energy Imaging Tissue Discrimination: Dual-Energy Imaging High-Energy Image High-Energy Image 120-150 kVp Bone Image 120-150 kVp Soft-Tissue Image IH IH w w Low-Energy Image b Low-Energy Image s 60 -90 kVp 60 -90 kVp Bone Soft IL I IL I Bone H L Soft H L ln I !$ #ln I !" wb ln I ! ln I !$ ln I !# ws ln I ! 9 10 Dual-Energy Increases Conspicuity of Subtle lesions Spatial Discrimination: Tomosynthesis Utilizes parallax relative motions between shots (Courtesy: JM Sabol, GE Healthcare and RC Gilkeson, Dept. Radiology Case Western Univ.) 11 12 Chest Tomosynthesis Clinical Example 15 mm hilar nodule not visible in projection image Flat-panel “Cone Beam” CT 16-degree tube angle, 61 projection images, 5 mm slice spacing 5 !"#$%"!&!%'()!*+,'%C%.#"',#$%/�'%'()!*+,'%1*2,''3%4/$&5 4 6 3 7 2 8 1 1 8 2 7 3 6 4 15 mm nodule 5 Detector (Courtesy: James Dobbins, PhD, Duke University Medical Center) 13 14 CBCT Spatial Discrimination CBCT Image Guidance • Isotropic resolution • Patient dose << CT Pre-Op. • Some soft tissue vis. Intra-Post Op. Evaluation Needle PMMA ( D. A. Jaffray and J. H. Siewerdsen, Princess Margaret Hospital , University of Toronto ) 15 16 Advanced Imaging Modality Requirements Key Vectors for Radiographic Detector Development Dual Energy Tomo-Synthesis Cone-beam CT • 2-D Projection Radiography 5 o Cost (on-glass electronics, digital lithography & fab-less design) 4 6 3 7 o Robustness & weight (robust plastic/metal substrates) 2 8 • Advanced Applications (Dual energy and 3D modalities) 1 1 o Improved sensitivity (SNR) at low exposure (“smart” pixels) 8 2 o Improved spatial resolution (improved x-ray converters) 7 3 o High frame-rate readout (on-glass electronics) 6 4 5 Flexible Substrate Detector Active Pixel Design Number of 2 Number of ~20 -100 Number of 100’s On-glass Shift Register images images images Total dose 1X Total dose 1X-5X Total dose 1X - 10X+ Dose per image 50% Dose per image 10% Dose per image 1 % – 5 % Frame rate ~5 fps Frame rate ~5-30fps Frame rate ~30 fps 1 mm 17 (Courtesy Dr. T.Jackson PennState)18 Outline DR X-ray Detection • Market and clinical challenges for digital radiography Indirect Systems Direct System Powdered Phosphor Structured Phosphor • Passive pixel amorphous silicon imaging arrays X-ray X-ray X-ray • Active pixel amorphous silicon imaging arrays +- - -+ + -+ - α-Se • Active pixel LTPS imaging arrays + Photoconductor • Silicon-on-glass circuits for future active pixel imaging arrays 19 20 Signal and Noise vs. Exposure Photosensors for Indirect Radiographic Detectors Projection Radiography: Chest α-Si:H PIN Photodiodes 1.E+08 Al bias line nitride 1.E+07 Signal ITO (electrons) 30 nm P+ α-Si s elec)s 1.E+06 500 nm i α-Si - + 1.E+05 50 nm N+ α-Si Quantum Noise Mo electrode 1.E+04 Electronic Noise Advantages Maximum ignal (elec)&Noise(rms ele ignal 1.E+03 Typ. Entrance • High quantum efficiency Quantum Efficiency Signal Signal Heart Lungs Exposure Exposure 0.12 mR 0.29 mR 7.2 mR 30 mR • Low dark current • 85% quantum efficiency in green • Operated steady-state (no transient) 1.E+02 Disadvantages • QE drops in blue due to absorption in P+ 0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 100 • P+ not widely available – requires • QE in red decreases due to band edge special process capability Exposure (mR) 21 22 Photodiode characteristics Amorphous silicon TFT characteristics 10 µm to 1 mm photodiode dimensions 10 9 on-off ratio • Critical for radiographic imaging due to wide exposure range in radiograpic images • Low on-resistance required for rapid charge transfer from diode • Leakage current < 1 fA at V DS = 3V required for low smear and low charge loss However , • Low leakage TFT’s are not a standard process at display fabrication lines • Requires special TFT development and process 23 24 Cross-section of Vertically Integrated DR Array α-Si:H PIN Photodiode in DR Array Spectral Quantum Efficiency Primary Array Spectral Quantum Efficiency 0.8 M5 : Bias electrode 0.7 316 nm nd 2 passi : SiN x 0.6 125 nm M4 : Top electrode (IZO) 395 nm p-i-n 0.5 130 nm M3 : Mushroom electrode (MoW) 0.4 st 487 nm 1 passivation Quantum EfficiencyQuantum 158 nm M2 : Data electrode (MoW) 130 nm 0.3 Active : a-Si:H 388 nm Gate insulator : SiN x 0.2 145 nm M1 : Gate electrode (MoW) Glass 0.1 0 350 400 450 500 550 600 650 700 Wavelength (nm) 07/10/2008 Carestream Health Restricted Information 25 07/10/2008 Carestream Health Restricted Information 26 25 26 α-Si:H Imaging Array Noise in α-Si:H Passive -Pixel Array Dark Current Density vs. Bias and Temperature Dataline Thermal Noise Dominates • High M2 dataline resistance Average Array Dark Current Dark Current Histogram at 40 C • High M1-M2 overlap capacitance vs. Bias and Temperature (500 nm nitride) 4 Total Noise 3 x 10 10 8 ) 2 40 C -2.5 V bias Data Line Thermal 28 C nces 40C 2 6 10 PD Shot Dataline thermal 4 noise at 9,000 el dominates 1 TFT Shot 10 ~ C*R 1/2 2 TFT Transient Dark Current (pA/cm Current Dark Da 0 Number of Occurrences Number Num • Dataline is in Metal 2, gateline in 10 0 0 -1 -2 -3 -4 -5 0 25 50 75 100 125 metal 1 with 500 nm inter-layer Reset Photodiode Bias (Volts) 2 Dark Current (pA/cm ) dielectric 1/2 • Dataline thermal noise ~ C*R 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 is the largest contributor with e-rms 9,000 electrons noise 27 28 Experimental a-Si Passive Pixel Experimental a-Si Passive Pixel Reduced dataline thermal noise 3X Noise Reduction in Passive a-Si Arrays Dataline in low- resistance Metal 3X overall noise reduction 0.6 µm PIN diode Total Noise 4X DL noise reduction Dielectric Data Line Thermal 2 µm BCB between TFT & photosensor PD Shot New Design 2 um BCB New Design TFT Shot 500 nm Si02 Baseline TFT Reset • 2 µm thick BCB layer or thick nitride dielectric between TFT plane and photosensor 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 plane e- r ms • Planarization of topography • ~40% Reduction in C • Reduced overlap capacitance DL • ~90% Reduction in R • Dataline in metal 5 DL • 4X reduction in data line thermal noise • 500 nm Al for low resistance • 2,000 nm BCB + 400 nm nitride dielectric for reduced overlap capacitance 29 30 Outline Operation of 3T a–Si:H Active Pixel Sensor • Market and clinical challenges for digital radiography 1. Integration Mode • Photogenerated carriers are • Passive pixel amorphous silicon imaging arrays stored by the internal capacitance of the sensor ( C ). • Active pixel amorphous silicon imaging arrays PIX 2. Readout Mode • Active pixel LTPS imaging arrays • Gain current via AMP TFT is • Silicon-on-glass circuits for future active pixel imaging passed through READ TFT to arrays external charge amplifier. 3. Reset Mode • Signal charge stored in CPIX is released with the onset of the RESET TFT. 31 June 18, 2009 © Carestream Health Inc. — Confidential 32 32 Advanced α-Si:H arrays α-Si:H Shift Register for Active-Pixel Array 3T Active-Pixel Design with 139 µm Pixel 120 µm pitch α-Si:H Shift Register 30 1st output nd Input 2 output rd th 25 3 output 13 output 20 4th output 15 10 5 • Advantages o Noise Reduction : Dataline thermal noise reduced by charge gain of pixel amplifier (>5 X) OutputOutp Voltage (V) o Speed Increase: Reduction in dataline setting time due to active amplifier 0 • Disadvantages o Yield: 9 X increase in transistor area and ~ 3 additional bias and clock lines -5 o Linearity: Smaller linear range of output vs.