Hybrid direct conversion detectors for digital mammography

Hybrid pixel detector arrays that convert X-rays directly into charge signals are under development at NOVA for application to digital mammography. This technology also has wide application possibilities in other fields of radiology and in industrial imaging for applications in nondestructive evaluation and inspection. These detectors have potentially superior properties compared to either emulsion based film, which has nonlinear response to X-rays, or phosphor-based detectors in which there is an intermediate step of X-ray to light photon conversion. Potential advantages of direct conversion detectors are high quantum efficiencies (QE) of 98% or higher (for 0.3 mm thick CdZnTe detector with 20 keV X-rays), improved contrast, high sensitivity and low intrinsic noise. These factors are expected to contribute to high detective quantum efficiency (DQE). The prototype hybrid pixel detector developed has 50/spl times/50 microns pixel size, and is designed to have linear response to X-rays, and can support a dynamic range of 14 bits. Modulation Transfer Function (MTF) is measured on a l-mm silicon detector system where 10% or better modulations are obtained at 10 lp/mm spatial frequency. Preliminary DQE measurements of the same system yields a value of 55% at zero spatial frequency. Here, the authors report data of their first full size prototype readout ASIC chips hybridized with both silicon and CdZnTe detector arrays and present initial MTF and DQE measurement results as well as some test images.