Charge sharing suppression using pixel-to-pixel communication in photon counting X-ray imaging systems

In planar silicon detector structures, the charge sharing between pixels is one limiting factor for colour X-ray imaging using integrated photon counting pixel detectors. 3D detector structures have been proposed as one solution to this problem. However, there are also readout system solutions to the problem, i.e., introducing pixel-to-pixel communication and distributed charge summing in the readout electronics. In this work, different charge summing schemes are evaluated using Monte Carlo simulation techniques. The increase in electronic noise introduced by the charge summing is one of the most severe problems. A proper selection of summing scheme is necessary to obtain an efficient system.