Status of the digital pixel array detector for protein crystallography

CERN Document Server

Datte, P; Beuville, E; Endres, N; Druillole, F; Luo, L; Millaud, J E; Xuong, N H

1999-01-01

A two-dimensional photon counting digital pixel array detector is being designed for static and time resolved protein crystallography. The room temperature detector will significantly enhance monochromatic and polychromatic protein crystallographic through-put data rates by more than three orders of magnitude. The detector has an almost infinite photon counting dynamic range and exhibits superior spatial resolution when compared to present crystallographic phosphor imaging plates or phosphor coupled CCD detectors. The detector is a high resistivity N-type Si with a pixel pitch of 150x150 mu m, and a thickness of 300 mu m, and is bump bonded to an application specific integrated circuit. The event driven readout of the detector is based on the column architecture and allows an independent pixel hit rate above 1 million photons/s/pixel. The device provides energy discrimination and sparse data readout which yields minimal dead-time. This type of architecture allows a continuous (frameless) data acquisition, a f...

Integrated X-ray and charged particle active pixel CMOS sensor arrays using an epitaxial silicon sensitive region

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kleinfelder, Stuart; Bichsel, Hans; Bieser, Fred; Matis, Howard S.; Rai, Gulshan; Retiere, Fabrice; Weiman, Howard; Yamamoto, Eugene

2002-01-01

Integrated CMOS Active Pixel Sensor (APS) arrays have been fabricated and tested using X-ray and electron sources. The 128 by 128 pixel arrays, designed in a standard 0.25 micron process, use a ∼10 micron epitaxial silicon layer as a deep detection region. The epitaxial layer has a much greater thickness than the surface features used by standard CMOS APS, leading to stronger signals and potentially better signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). On the other hand, minority carriers confined within the epitaxial region may diffuse to neighboring pixels, blur images and reduce peak signal intensity. But for low-rate, sparse-event images, centroid analysis of this diffusion may be used to increase position resolution. Careful trade-offs involving pixel size and sense-node area verses capacitance must be made to optimize overall performance. The prototype sensor arrays, therefore, include a range of different pixel designs, including different APS circuits and a range of different epitaxial layer contact structures. The fabricated arrays were tested with 1.5 GeV electrons and Fe-55 X-ray sources, yielding a measured noise of 13 electrons RMS and an SNR for single Fe-55 X-rays of greater than 38

High-resolution photon spectroscopy with a microwave-multiplexed 4-pixel transition edge sensor array

Science.gov (United States)

Guss, Paul; Rabin, Michael; Croce, Mark; Hoteling, Nathan; Schwellenbach, David; Kruschwitz, Craig; Mocko, Veronika; Mukhopadhyay, Sanjoy

2017-09-01

We demonstrate very high-resolution photon spectroscopy with a microwave-multiplexed 4-pixel transition edge sensor (TES) array. The readout circuit consists of superconducting microwave resonators coupled to radio frequency superconducting-quantum-interference devices (RF-SQUIDs) and transduces changes in input current to changes in phase of a microwave signal. We used a flux-ramp modulation to linearize the response and avoid low-frequency noise. The result is a very high-resolution photon spectroscopy with a microwave-multiplexed 4-pixel transition edge sensor array. We performed and validated a small-scale demonstration and test of all the components of our concept system, which encompassed microcalorimetry, microwave multiplexing, RF-SQUIDs, and software-defined radio (SDR). We shall display data we acquired in the first simultaneous combination of all key innovations in a 4-pixel demonstration, including microcalorimetry, microwave multiplexing, RF-SQUIDs, and SDR. We present the energy spectrum of a gadolinium-153 (153Gd) source we measured using our 4-pixel TES array and the RF-SQUID multiplexer. For each pixel, one can observe the two 97.4 and 103.2 keV photopeaks. We measured the 153Gd photon source with an achieved energy resolution of 70 eV, full width half maximum (FWHM) at 100 keV, and an equivalent readout system noise of 90 pA/pHz at the TES. This demonstration establishes a path for the readout of cryogenic x-ray and gamma ray sensor arrays with more elements and spectral resolving powers. We believe this project has improved capabilities and substantively advanced the science useful for missions such as nuclear forensics, emergency response, and treaty verification through the explored TES developments.

Transition-edge sensor pixel parameter design of the microcalorimeter array for the x-ray integral field unit on Athena

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, S. J.; Adams, J. S.; Bandler, S. R.; Betancourt-Martinez, G. L.; Chervenak, J. A.; Chiao, M. P.; Eckart, M. E.; Finkbeiner, F. M.; Kelley, R. L.; Kilbourne, C. A.; Miniussi, A. R.; Porter, F. S.; Sadleir, J. E.; Sakai, K.; Wakeham, N. A.; Wassell, E. J.; Yoon, W.; Bennett, D. A.; Doriese, W. B.; Fowler, J. W.; Hilton, G. C.; Morgan, K. M.; Pappas, C. G.; Reintsema, C. N.; Swetz, D. S.; Ullom, J. N.; Irwin, K. D.; Akamatsu, H.; Gottardi, L.; den Hartog, R.; Jackson, B. D.; van der Kuur, J.; Barret, D.; Peille, P.

2016-07-01

The focal plane of the X-ray integral field unit (X-IFU) for ESA's Athena X-ray observatory will consist of 4000 transition edge sensor (TES) x-ray microcalorimeters optimized for the energy range of 0.2 to 12 keV. The instrument will provide unprecedented spectral resolution of 2.5 eV at energies of up to 7 keV and will accommodate photon fluxes of 1 mCrab (90 cps) for point source observations. The baseline configuration is a uniform large pixel array (LPA) of 4.28" pixels that is read out using frequency domain multiplexing (FDM). However, an alternative configuration under study incorporates an 18 × 18 small pixel array (SPA) of 2" pixels in the central 36" region. This hybrid array configuration could be designed to accommodate higher fluxes of up to 10 mCrab (900 cps) or alternately for improved spectral performance (< 1.5 eV) at low count-rates. In this paper we report on the TES pixel designs that are being optimized to meet these proposed LPA and SPA configurations. In particular we describe details of how important TES parameters are chosen to meet the specific mission criteria such as energy resolution, count-rate and quantum efficiency, and highlight performance trade-offs between designs. The basis of the pixel parameter selection is discussed in the context of existing TES arrays that are being developed for solar and x-ray astronomy applications. We describe the latest results on DC biased diagnostic arrays as well as large format kilo-pixel arrays and discuss the technical challenges associated with integrating different array types on to a single detector die.

Optimization of LSO/LuYAP phoswich detector for small animal PET

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jung, Jin Ho; Choi, Yong; Chung, Yong Hyun; Devroede, Olivier; Krieguer, Magalie; Bruyndonckx, Peter; Tavernier, Stefaan

2007-01-01

LSO/LuYAP phoswich detectors for small animal PET were developed to measure the depth of interaction (DOI), and to improve the spatial resolution at the edge of the field of view (FOV). The aim of this study was to optimize the optical coupling conditions between the crystal and photomultiplier tube (PMT) to maximize the light-collection efficiency, and to develop a method for rejecting scatter events by applying an equal energy window in each crystal layer. The light yields of the phoswich detector were estimated by changing the refractive index of the optical coupling material using a DETECT simulation. The accuracy of the DOI measurement on the phoswich detector, using an optical coupling material with the optimal light yield, were evaluated experimentally and compared with the air condition. The energy window for the photopeak events cannot be applied properly because the light outputs of LSO and LuYAP are different. The LSO/LuYAP photopeaks need to be superposed in order to effectively discriminate the scattered events by applying an equal energy window. The photopeaks of the LSO and LuYAP can be superposed by inserting a reflecting material between the crystals. The optimal coverage ratio of the inserting material was derived from a DETECT simulation, and its performance was investigated. In the simulation result, optimal refractive index of the optical coupling material was 1.7. The average DOI measurement errors of the LSO/LuYAP were 0.6%/3.4% and 4.9%/41.4% in the phoswich detector with and without an optical coupling material, respectively. The photopeaks of the LSO and LuYAP were superposed by covering 75% of the contact surface between the crystals with white Teflon. The DOI measurement errors of the LSO/LuYAP were 0.2%/2.4%. In this study, the optimal condition of the optical coupling material inserted between the crystal and PMT was derived to improve the accuracy of DOI measurement, and a photopeak superposition method of the LSO and LuYAP was

Transition-Edge Sensor Pixel Parameter Design of the Microcalorimeter Array for the X-Ray Integral Field Unit on Athena

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, S. J.; Adams, J. S.; Bandler, S. R.; Betancourt-Martinez, G. L.; Chervenak, J. A.; Chiao, M. P.; Eckart, M. E.; Finkbeiner, F. M.; Kelley, R. L.; Kilbourne, C. A.;

Versatile, reprogrammable area pixel array detector for time-resolved synchrotron x-ray applications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gruner, Sol [Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States)

2010-05-01

The final technical report for DOE grant DE-SC0004079 is presented. The goal of the grant was to perform research, development and application of novel imaging x-ray detectors so as to effectively utilize the high intensity and brightness of the national synchrotron radiation facilities to enable previously unfeasible time-resolved x-ray research. The report summarizes the development of the resultant imaging x-ray detectors. Two types of detector platforms were developed: The first is a detector platform (called a Mixed-Mode Pixel Array Detector, or MM-PAD) that can image continuously at over a thousand images per second while maintaining high efficiency for wide dynamic range signals ranging from 1 to hundreds of millions of x-rays per pixel per image. Research on an even higher dynamic range variant is also described. The second detector platform (called the Keck Pixel Array Detector) is capable of acquiring a burst of x-ray images at a rate of millions of images per second.

Pixel array detector for X-ray free electron laser experiments

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Philipp, Hugh T., E-mail: htp2@cornell.edu [Department of Physics, Laboratory of Solid State Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 (United States); Hromalik, Marianne [Electrical and Computer Engineering, SUNY Oswego, Oswego, NY 13126 (United States); Tate, Mark; Koerner, Lucas [Department of Physics, Laboratory of Solid State Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 (United States); Gruner, Sol M. [Department of Physics, Laboratory of Solid State Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 (United States); Wilson Laboratory, Cornell University, CHESS, Ithaca, NY 14853 (United States)

2011-09-01

X-ray free electron lasers (XFELs) promise to revolutionize X-ray science with extremely high peak brilliances and femtosecond X-ray pulses. This will require novel detectors to fully realize the potential of these new sources. There are many current detector development projects aimed at the many challenges of meeting the XFEL requirements . This paper describes a pixel array detector (PAD) that has been developed for the Coherent X-ray Imaging experiment at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) at the SLAC National Laboratory . The detector features 14-bit in-pixel digitization; a 2-level in-pixel gain setting that can be used to make an arbitrary 2-D gain pattern that is adaptable to a particular experiment; the ability to handle instantaneous X-ray flux rates of 10{sup 17} photons per second; and continuous frames rates in excess of 120 Hz. The detector uses direct detection of X-rays in a silicon diode. The charge produced by the diode is integrated in a pixilated application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) which digitizes collected holes with single X-ray photon capability. Each ASIC is 194x185 pixels, each pixel is 110{mu}mx110{mu}m on a side. Each pixel can detect up to 2500 X-rays per frame in low-gain mode, yet easily detects single photons at high-gain. Cooled, single-chip detectors have been built and meet all the required specifications. SLAC National Laboratory is engaged in constructing a tiled, multi-chip 1516x1516 pixel detector.

The high dynamic range pixel array detector (HDR-PAD): Concept and design

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shanks, Katherine S.; Philipp, Hugh T.; Weiss, Joel T.; Becker, Julian; Tate, Mark W. [Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 (United States); Gruner, Sol M., E-mail: smg26@cornell.edu [Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 (United States); Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS), Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 (United States)

2016-07-27

Experiments at storage ring light sources as well as at next-generation light sources increasingly require detectors capable of high dynamic range operation, combining low-noise detection of single photons with large pixel well depth. XFEL sources in particular provide pulse intensities sufficiently high that a purely photon-counting approach is impractical. The High Dynamic Range Pixel Array Detector (HDR-PAD) project aims to provide a dynamic range extending from single-photon sensitivity to 10{sup 6} photons/pixel in a single XFEL pulse while maintaining the ability to tolerate a sustained flux of 10{sup 11} ph/s/pixel at a storage ring source. Achieving these goals involves the development of fast pixel front-end electronics as well as, in the XFEL case, leveraging the delayed charge collection due to plasma effects in the sensor. A first prototype of essential electronic components of the HDR-PAD readout ASIC, exploring different options for the pixel front-end, has been fabricated. Here, the HDR-PAD concept and preliminary design will be described.

High-speed imaging at high x-ray energy: CdTe sensors coupled to charge-integrating pixel array detectors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Becker, Julian; Tate, Mark W.; Shanks, Katherine S.; Philipp, Hugh T.; Weiss, Joel T.; Purohit, Prafull [Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 (United States); Chamberlain, Darol [Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS), Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 (United States); Gruner, Sol M., E-mail: smg26@cornell.edu [Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 (United States); Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS), Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 (United States)

2016-07-27

Pixel Array Detectors (PADs) consist of an x-ray sensor layer bonded pixel-by-pixel to an underlying readout chip. This approach allows both the sensor and the custom pixel electronics to be tailored independently to best match the x-ray imaging requirements. Here we describe the hybridization of CdTe sensors to two different charge-integrating readout chips, the Keck PAD and the Mixed-Mode PAD (MM-PAD), both developed previously in our laboratory. The charge-integrating architecture of each of these PADs extends the instantaneous counting rate by many orders of magnitude beyond that obtainable with photon counting architectures. The Keck PAD chip consists of rapid, 8-frame, in-pixel storage elements with framing periods <150 ns. The second detector, the MM-PAD, has an extended dynamic range by utilizing an in-pixel overflow counter coupled with charge removal circuitry activated at each overflow. This allows the recording of signals from the single-photon level to tens of millions of x-rays/pixel/frame while framing at 1 kHz. Both detector chips consist of a 128×128 pixel array with (150 µm){sup 2} pixels.

Monolithic array of 32 SPAD pixels for single-photon imaging at high frame rates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tisa, Simone; Guerrieri, Fabrizio; Zappa, Franco

2009-01-01

We present a single-chip monolithic array of 32 Single-Photon Avalanche Diodes (SPAD) and associated electronics for imaging at high frame rates and high sensitivity. Photodetectors, front-end circuitry and control electronics used to manage the array are monolithically integrated on the same chip in a standard 0.35 μm CMOS high-voltage technology. The array is composed of 32 'smart' pixels working in photon counting mode and functioning in a parallel fashion. Every cell comprises of an integrated SPAD photodetector, a novel quenching circuit named as Variable Load Quenching Circuit (VLQC), counting electronics and a buffer memory. Proper ancillary electronics that perform the arbitration of photon counts between two consecutive frames is integrated as well. Thanks to the presence of in-pixel memory registers, the inter-frame dead time between subsequent frames is limited to few nanoseconds. Since integration and download are performed simultaneously and the array can be addressed like a standard digital memory, the achievable maximum frame rate is very high in the order of hundreds of thousands of frame/s.

Development of a High Dynamic Range Pixel Array Detector for Synchrotrons and XFELs

Science.gov (United States)

Weiss, Joel Todd

Advances in synchrotron radiation light source technology have opened new lines of inquiry in material science, biology, and everything in between. However, x-ray detector capabilities must advance in concert with light source technology to fully realize experimental possibilities. X-ray free electron lasers (XFELs) place particularly large demands on the capabilities of detectors, and developments towards diffraction-limited storage ring sources also necessitate detectors capable of measuring very high flux [1-3]. The detector described herein builds on the Mixed Mode Pixel Array Detector (MM-PAD) framework, developed previously by our group to perform high dynamic range imaging, and the Adaptive Gain Integrating Pixel Detector (AGIPD) developed for the European XFEL by a collaboration between Deustsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), the Paul-Scherrer-Institute (PSI), the University of Hamburg, and the University of Bonn, led by Heinz Graafsma [4, 5]. The feasibility of combining adaptive gain with charge removal techniques to increase dynamic range in XFEL experiments is assessed by simulating XFEL scatter with a pulsed infrared laser. The strategy is incorporated into pixel prototypes which are evaluated with direct current injection to simulate very high incident x-ray flux. A fully functional 16x16 pixel hybrid integrating x-ray detector featuring several different pixel architectures based on the prototypes was developed. This dissertation describes its operation and characterization. To extend dynamic range, charge is removed from the integration node of the front-end amplifier without interrupting integration. The number of times this process occurs is recorded by a digital counter in the pixel. The parameter limiting full well is thereby shifted from the size of an integration capacitor to the depth of a digital counter. The result is similar to that achieved by counting pixel array detectors, but the integrators presented here are designed to tolerate a

A novel high electrode count spike recording array using an 81,920 pixel transimpedance amplifier-based imaging chip.

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Lee J; Cohen, Ethan; Ilg, Doug; Klein, Richard; Skeath, Perry; Scribner, Dean A

2012-04-15

Microelectrode recording arrays of 60-100 electrodes are commonly used to record neuronal biopotentials, and these have aided our understanding of brain function, development and pathology. However, higher density microelectrode recording arrays of larger area are needed to study neuronal function over broader brain regions such as in cerebral cortex or hippocampal slices. Here, we present a novel design of a high electrode count picocurrent imaging array (PIA), based on an 81,920 pixel Indigo ISC9809 readout integrated circuit camera chip. While originally developed for interfacing to infrared photodetector arrays, we have adapted the chip for neuron recording by bonding it to microwire glass resulting in an array with an inter-electrode pixel spacing of 30 μm. In a high density electrode array, the ability to selectively record neural regions at high speed and with good signal to noise ratio are both functionally important. A critical feature of our PIA is that each pixel contains a dedicated low noise transimpedance amplifier (∼0.32 pA rms) which allows recording high signal to noise ratio biocurrents comparable to single electrode voltage amplifier recordings. Using selective sampling of 256 pixel subarray regions, we recorded the extracellular biocurrents of rabbit retinal ganglion cell spikes at sampling rates up to 7.2 kHz. Full array local electroretinogram currents could also be recorded at frame rates up to 100 Hz. A PIA with a full complement of 4 readout circuits would span 1cm and could acquire simultaneous data from selected regions of 1024 electrodes at sampling rates up to 9.3 kHz. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Characterisation of a LSO scintillation crystal for space applications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Elftmann, Robert; Grunau, Jan; Kulkarni, Shrinivasrao; Martin, Cesar; Wimmer-Schweingruber, Robert F. [IEAP, Christian-Albrechts-Universitaet Kiel (Germany)

2013-07-01

Inorganic scintillation crystals coupled with semiconductor detectors are often used in space applications as gamma ray detectors or high energy particle calorimeters. Currently BGO (Bi{sub 4}Ge{sub 3}O{sub 12}) is widely used for this purpose because of its high stopping power, the non hygroscopy and its ruggedness, which is favorable in space applications. Cerium doped LSO (Lu{sub 2}SiO{sub 5}) offers the same benefits with higher light output capabilites and a shorter decay time. In this work a cerium doped LSO scintillation crystal coupled with a photo diode is investigated. The light yield and resolution studies for two different radioactive sources, {sup 207}Bi and {sup 60}Co, are presented. To increase the light collection and consequently the energy resolution, scintillation crystals are wrapped in highly reflective material. The increase in light collection depending on the amount of layers for the LSO crystal along with investigations of quenching effects with alpha particles and the background spectrum, which arises from radioactive cerium isotopes, are also included in this work.

Position-Sensitive Detector with Depth-of-Interaction Determination for Small Animal PET

CERN Document Server

Fedorov, A; Kholmetsky, A L; Korzhik, M V; Lecoq, P; Lobko, A S; Missevitch, O V; Tkatchev, A

2002-01-01

Crystal arrays made of LSO and LuAP crystals 2x2x10 mm pixels were manufactured for evaluation of detector with depth-of-interaction (DOI) determination capability intended for small animal positron emission tomograph. Position-sensitive LSO/LuAP phoswich DOI detector based on crystal 8x8 arrays and HAMAMATSU R5900-00-M64 position-sensitive multi-anode photomultiplier tube was developed and evaluated. Time resolution was found to be not worse than 1.0 ns FWHM for both layers, and spatial resolution mean value was 1.5 mm FWHM for the center of field-of-view.

High-speed X-ray imaging pixel array detector for synchrotron bunch isolation.

Science.gov (United States)

Philipp, Hugh T; Tate, Mark W; Purohit, Prafull; Shanks, Katherine S; Weiss, Joel T; Gruner, Sol M

2016-03-01

A wide-dynamic-range imaging X-ray detector designed for recording successive frames at rates up to 10 MHz is described. X-ray imaging with frame rates of up to 6.5 MHz have been experimentally verified. The pixel design allows for up to 8-12 frames to be stored internally at high speed before readout, which occurs at a 1 kHz frame rate. An additional mode of operation allows the integration capacitors to be re-addressed repeatedly before readout which can enhance the signal-to-noise ratio of cyclical processes. This detector, along with modern storage ring sources which provide short (10-100 ps) and intense X-ray pulses at megahertz rates, opens new avenues for the study of rapid structural changes in materials. The detector consists of hybridized modules, each of which is comprised of a 500 µm-thick silicon X-ray sensor solder bump-bonded, pixel by pixel, to an application-specific integrated circuit. The format of each module is 128 × 128 pixels with a pixel pitch of 150 µm. In the prototype detector described here, the three-side buttable modules are tiled in a 3 × 2 array with a full format of 256 × 384 pixels. The characteristics, operation, testing and application of the detector are detailed.

Nuclear resonant scattering measurements on (57)Fe by multichannel scaling with a 64-pixel silicon avalanche photodiode linear-array detector.

Science.gov (United States)

Kishimoto, S; Mitsui, T; Haruki, R; Yoda, Y; Taniguchi, T; Shimazaki, S; Ikeno, M; Saito, M; Tanaka, M

2014-11-01

We developed a silicon avalanche photodiode (Si-APD) linear-array detector for use in nuclear resonant scattering experiments using synchrotron X-rays. The Si-APD linear array consists of 64 pixels (pixel size: 100 × 200 μm(2)) with a pixel pitch of 150 μm and depletion depth of 10 μm. An ultrafast frontend circuit allows the X-ray detector to obtain a high output rate of >10(7) cps per pixel. High-performance integrated circuits achieve multichannel scaling over 1024 continuous time bins with a 1 ns resolution for each pixel without dead time. The multichannel scaling method enabled us to record a time spectrum of the 14.4 keV nuclear radiation at each pixel with a time resolution of 1.4 ns (FWHM). This method was successfully applied to nuclear forward scattering and nuclear small-angle scattering on (57)Fe.

Initial experience with a prototype dual-crystal (LSO/NaI) dual-head coincidence camera in oncology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Joshi, Urvi; Boellaard, Ronald; Comans, Emile F.I.; Raijmakers, Pieter G.H.M.; Pijpers, Rik J.; Teule, Gerrit J.J.; Lingen, Arthur van; Hoekstra, Otto S.; Miller, Steven D.

2004-01-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate the in vivo performance of a prototype dual-crystal [lutetium oxyorthosilicate (LSO)/sodium iodide (NaI)] dual-head coincidence camera (DHC) for PET and SPET (LSO-PS), in comparison to BGO-PET with fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) in oncology. This follows earlier reports that LSO-PS has noise-equivalent counting (NEC) rates comparable to partial ring BGO-PET, i.e. clearly higher than standard NaI DHCs. Twenty-four randomly selected oncological patients referred for whole-body FDG-PET underwent BGO-PET followed by LSO-PS. Four nuclear medicine physicians were randomised to read a single scan modality, in terms of lesion intensity, location and likelihood of malignancy. BGO-PET was considered the gold standard. Forty-eight lesions were classified as positive with BGO-PET, of which LSO-PS identified 73% (95% CI 60-86%). There was good observer agreement for both modalities in terms of intensity, location and interpretation. Lesions were missed by LSO-PS in 13 patients in the chest (n=6), neck (n=3) and abdomen (n=4). The diameter of these lesions was estimated to be 0.5-1 cm. Initial results justify further evaluation of LSO-PS in specific clinical situations, especially if a role as an instrument of triage for PET is foreseen. (orig.)

Performance of a YSO/LSO detector block for use in a PET/SPECT system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dahlbom, M.; MacDonald, L.R.; Eriksson, L.

1996-01-01

In recent years, there has been an increased interest in using conventional SPECT scintillation cameras for PET imaging, however, the count rate performance is a limiting factor. The modular block detectors used in modem PET systems do not have this limitation. In this work, the performance of a detector block design which would have high resolution and high count rate capabilities in both detection modes is studied. The high light output of LSO (∼5-6 times BGO) would allow the construction of a detector block that would have similar intrinsic resolution characteristics at 140 keV as a conventional high resolution BGO block detector at 511 keV (∼4 mm FWHM). However, the intrinsic radioactivity of LSO prevents the use of this scintillator in single photon counting mode. YSO is a scintillator with higher light output than LSO but worse absorption characteristics than LSO. YSO and LSO could be combined in a phoswich detector block, where YSO is placed in a front layer and is used for low energy (SPECT) imaging and LSO in a second layer is used for PET imaging. Events in the two detector materials can be separated by pulse shape discrimination, since the decay times of the light in YSO and LSO are different (70 and 40 ns, respectively). Although the intrinsic resolution of the block detector with discrete elements is worse than for a NaI camera, this would not be a limiting factor. Simulations of a 20 cm diameter hot spot phantom imaged at different collimator distances using a high resolution collimator and scintillation camera system was compared to a block detector camera. No appreciable difference in resolution was seen in the reconstructed images between the two camera systems, including the ideal situation of zero distance between collimator and phantom

A phoswich detector design for improved spatial sampling in PET

Science.gov (United States)

Thiessen, Jonathan D.; Koschan, Merry A.; Melcher, Charles L.; Meng, Fang; Schellenberg, Graham; Goertzen, Andrew L.

2018-02-01

Block detector designs, utilizing a pixelated scintillator array coupled to a photosensor array in a light-sharing design, are commonly used for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging applications. In practice, the spatial sampling of these designs is limited by the crystal pitch, which must be large enough for individual crystals to be resolved in the detector flood image. Replacing the conventional 2D scintillator array with an array of phoswich elements, each consisting of an optically coupled side-by-side scintillator pair, may improve spatial sampling in one direction of the array without requiring resolving smaller crystal elements. To test the feasibility of this design, a 4 × 4 phoswich array was constructed, with each phoswich element consisting of two optically coupled, 3 . 17 × 1 . 58 × 10mm3 LSO crystals co-doped with cerium and calcium. The amount of calcium doping was varied to create a 'fast' LSO crystal with decay time of 32.9 ns and a 'slow' LSO crystal with decay time of 41.2 ns. Using a Hamamatsu R8900U-00-C12 position-sensitive photomultiplier tube (PS-PMT) and a CAEN V1720 250 MS/s waveform digitizer, we were able to show effective discrimination of the fast and slow LSO crystals in the phoswich array. Although a side-by-side phoswich array is feasible, reflections at the crystal boundary due to a mismatch between the refractive index of the optical adhesive (n = 1 . 5) and LSO (n = 1 . 82) caused it to behave optically as an 8 × 4 array rather than a 4 × 4 array. Direct coupling of each phoswich element to individual photodetector elements may be necessary with the current phoswich array design. Alternatively, in order to implement this phoswich design with a conventional light sharing PET block detector, a high refractive index optical adhesive is necessary to closely match the refractive index of LSO.

Four-layer DOI PET detectors using a multi-pixel photon counter array and the light sharing method

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nishikido, Fumihiko, E-mail: funis@nirs.go.jp; Inadama, Naoko; Yoshida, Eiji; Murayama, Hideo; Yamaya, Taiga

2013-11-21

Silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) provide many advantages for PET detectors, such as their high internal gain, high photon detection efficiency and insensitivity to magnetic fields. The number of detectable scintillation photons of SiPMs, however, is limited by the number of microcells. Therefore, pulse height of PET detectors using SiPMs is saturated when large numbers of scintillation photons enter the SiPM pixels. On the other hand, we previously presented a depth-of-interaction (DOI) encoding method that is based on the light sharing method. Since our encoding method detects scintillation photons with multiple readout pixels, the saturation effect can be suppressed. We constructed two prototype four-layer DOI detectors using a SiPM array and evaluated their performances. The two prototype detectors consisted of four layers of a 6×6 array of Lu{sub 2(1−x)}Y{sub 2x}SiO{sub 5} (LYSO) crystals and a SiPM (multi-pixel photon detector, MPPC, Hamamatsu Photonics K.K.) array of 4×4 pixels. The size of each LYSO crystal element was 1.46 mm×1.46 mm×4.5 mm and all surfaces of the crystal elements were chemically etched. We used two types of MPPCs. The first one had 3600 microcells and high photon detection efficiency (PDE). The other one had 14,400 microcells and lower PDE. In the evaluation experiment, all the crystals of the detector using the MPPC which had the high PDE were clearly identified. The respective energy and timing resolutions of lower than 15% and 1.0 ns were achieved for each crystal element. No saturation of output signals was observed in the 511 keV energy region due to suppression of the saturation effect by detecting scintillation photons with several MPPC pixels by the light sharing method. -- Highlights: •We constructed and evaluated four-layer DOI detectors by the light sharing method using a MPPC array. •The detectors using two types of the MPPC array were compared. •The energy and timing resolutions of lower than 15% and 1.0 ns were

Four-layer DOI PET detectors using a multi-pixel photon counter array and the light sharing method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nishikido, Fumihiko; Inadama, Naoko; Yoshida, Eiji; Murayama, Hideo; Yamaya, Taiga

2013-01-01

Silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) provide many advantages for PET detectors, such as their high internal gain, high photon detection efficiency and insensitivity to magnetic fields. The number of detectable scintillation photons of SiPMs, however, is limited by the number of microcells. Therefore, pulse height of PET detectors using SiPMs is saturated when large numbers of scintillation photons enter the SiPM pixels. On the other hand, we previously presented a depth-of-interaction (DOI) encoding method that is based on the light sharing method. Since our encoding method detects scintillation photons with multiple readout pixels, the saturation effect can be suppressed. We constructed two prototype four-layer DOI detectors using a SiPM array and evaluated their performances. The two prototype detectors consisted of four layers of a 6×6 array of Lu 2(1−x) Y 2x SiO 5 (LYSO) crystals and a SiPM (multi-pixel photon detector, MPPC, Hamamatsu Photonics K.K.) array of 4×4 pixels. The size of each LYSO crystal element was 1.46 mm×1.46 mm×4.5 mm and all surfaces of the crystal elements were chemically etched. We used two types of MPPCs. The first one had 3600 microcells and high photon detection efficiency (PDE). The other one had 14,400 microcells and lower PDE. In the evaluation experiment, all the crystals of the detector using the MPPC which had the high PDE were clearly identified. The respective energy and timing resolutions of lower than 15% and 1.0 ns were achieved for each crystal element. No saturation of output signals was observed in the 511 keV energy region due to suppression of the saturation effect by detecting scintillation photons with several MPPC pixels by the light sharing method. -- Highlights: •We constructed and evaluated four-layer DOI detectors by the light sharing method using a MPPC array. •The detectors using two types of the MPPC array were compared. •The energy and timing resolutions of lower than 15% and 1.0 ns were achieved for

Progress on the design of a data push architecture for an array of optimized time tagging pixels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shapiro, S.; Cords, D.; Mani, S.; Holbrook, B.; Atlas, E.

1993-06-01

A pixel array has been proposed which features a completely data driven architecture. A pixel cell has been designed that has been optimized for this readout. It retains the features of preceding designs which allow low noise operation, time stamping, analog signal processing, XY address recording, ghost elimination and sparse data transmission. The pixel design eliminates a number of problems inherent in previous designs, by the use of sampled data techniques, destructive readout, and current mode output drivers. This architecture and pixel design is directed at applications such as a forward spectrometer at the SSC, an e + e - B factory at SLAC, and fixed target experiments at FNAL

256-pixel microcalorimeter array for high-resolution γ-ray spectroscopy of mixed-actinide materials

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Winkler, R., E-mail: rwinkler@lanl.gov [Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM (United States); Hoover, A.S.; Rabin, M.W. [Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM (United States); Bennett, D.A.; Doriese, W.B.; Fowler, J.W.; Hays-Wehle, J.; Horansky, R.D.; Reintsema, C.D.; Schmidt, D.R.; Vale, L.R.; Ullom, J.N. [National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, CO (United States)

2015-01-11

The application of cryogenic microcalorimeter detectors to γ-ray spectroscopy allows for measurements with unprecedented energy resolution. These detectors are ideally suited for γ-ray spectroscopy applications for which the measurement quality is limited by the spectral overlap of many closely spaced transitions using conventional detector technologies. The non-destructive analysis of mixed-isotope Pu materials is one such application where the precision can be potentially improved utilizing microcalorimeter detectors compared to current state-of-the-art high-purity Ge detectors (HPGe). The LANL-NIST γ-ray spectrometer, a 256-pixel microcalorimeter array based on transition-edge sensors (TESs), was recently commissioned and used to collect data on a variety of Pu isotopic standards to characterize the instrument performance. These measurements represent the first time the simultaneous readout of all 256 pixels for measurements of mixed-isotope Pu materials has been achieved. The LANL-NIST γ-ray spectrometer has demonstrated an average pixel resolution of 55 eV full-width-at-half-maximum at 100 keV, nearly an order of magnitude better than HPGe detectors. Some challenges of the analysis of many-channel ultra-high resolution data and the techniques used to produce quality spectra for isotopic analysis will be presented. The LANL-NIST γ-ray spectrometer has also demonstrated stable operation and obtained high resolution measurements at total array event rates beyond 1 kHz. For a total event rate of 1.25 kHz, approximately 5.6 cps/pixel, a 72.2 eV average FWHM for the 103 keV photopeak of {sup 153}Gd was achieved.

A room temperature LSO/PIN photodiode PET detector module that measures depth of interaction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moses, W.W.; Derenzo, S.E.; Melcher, C.L.; Manente, R.A.

1994-11-01

We present measurements of a 4 element PET detector module that uses a 2x2 array of 3 mm square PIN photodiodes to both measure the depth of interaction (DOI) and identify the crystal of interaction. Each photodiode is coupled to one end of a 3x3x25 mm LSO crystal, with the opposite ends of all 4 crystals attached to a single PMT that provides a timing signal and initial energy discrimination. Each LSO crystal is coated with a open-quotes lossyclose quotes reflector, so the ratio of light detected in the photodiode and PMT depends on the position of interaction in the crystal, and is used to determine this position on an event by event basis. This module is operated at +25 degrees C with a photodiode amplifier peaking time of 2 μs. When excited by a collimated beam of 511 keV photons at the photodiode end of the module (i.e. closest to the patient), the DOI resolution is 4 mm fwhm and the crystal of interaction is identified correctly 95% of the time. When excited at the opposite end of the module, the DOI resolution is 13 mm fwhm and the crystal of interaction is identified correctly 73% of the time. The channel to channel variations in performance are minimal

Design of readout drivers for ATLAS pixel detectors using field programmable gate arrays

CERN Document Server

Sivasubramaniyan, Sriram

Microstrip detectors are an integral patt of high energy physics research . Special protocols are used to transmit the data from these detectors . To readout the data from such detectors specialized instrumentation have to be designed . To achieve this task, creative and innovative high speed algorithms were designed simulated and implemented in Field Programmable gate arrays, using CAD/CAE tools. The simulation results indicated that these algorithms would be able to perform all the required tasks quickly and efficiently. This thesis describes the design of data acquisition system called the Readout Drivers (ROD) . It focuses on the ROD data path for ATLAS Pixel detectors. The data path will be an integrated part of Readout Drivers setup to decode the data from the silicon micro strip detectors and pixel detectors. This research also includes the design of Readout Driver controller. This Module is used to control the operation of the ROD. This module is responsible for the operation of the Pixel decoders bas...

ISPA (imaging silicon pixel array) experiment

CERN Multimedia

Patrice Loïez

2002-01-01

The bump-bonded silicon pixel detector, developed at CERN by the EP-MIC group, is shown here in its ceramic carrier. Both represent the ISPA-tube anode. The chip features between 1024 (called OMEGA-1) and 8196 (ALICE-1) active pixels.

Dead pixel replacement in LWIR microgrid polarimeters.

Science.gov (United States)

Ratliff, Bradley M; Tyo, J Scott; Boger, James K; Black, Wiley T; Bowers, David L; Fetrow, Matthew P

2007-06-11

LWIR imaging arrays are often affected by nonresponsive pixels, or "dead pixels." These dead pixels can severely degrade the quality of imagery and often have to be replaced before subsequent image processing and display of the imagery data. For LWIR arrays that are integrated with arrays of micropolarizers, the problem of dead pixels is amplified. Conventional dead pixel replacement (DPR) strategies cannot be employed since neighboring pixels are of different polarizations. In this paper we present two DPR schemes. The first is a modified nearest-neighbor replacement method. The second is a method based on redundancy in the polarization measurements.We find that the redundancy-based DPR scheme provides an order-of-magnitude better performance for typical LWIR polarimetric data.

Air atmosphere annealing effects on LSO:Ce crystal

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Ding, D.; Feng, H.; Ren, G.; Nikl, Martin; Qin, L.; Pan, S.; Yang, F.

2010-01-01

Roč. 57, č. 3 (2010), s. 1272-1277 ISSN 0018-9499 R&D Projects: GA MŠk ME08034 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10100521 Keywords : annealing * cerium * LSO * luminescence Subject RIV: BM - Solid Matter Physics ; Magnetism Impact factor: 1.519, year: 2010

An investigation of signal performance enhancements achieved through innovative pixel design across several generations of indirect detection, active matrix, flat-panel arrays

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Antonuk, Larry E.; Zhao Qihua; El-Mohri, Youcef; Du Hong; Wang Yi; Street, Robert A.; Ho, Jackson; Weisfield, Richard; Yao, William

2009-01-01

Active matrix flat-panel imager (AMFPI) technology is being employed for an increasing variety of imaging applications. An important element in the adoption of this technology has been significant ongoing improvements in optical signal collection achieved through innovations in indirect detection array pixel design. Such improvements have a particularly beneficial effect on performance in applications involving low exposures and/or high spatial frequencies, where detective quantum efficiency is strongly reduced due to the relatively high level of additive electronic noise compared to signal levels of AMFPI devices. In this article, an examination of various signal properties, as determined through measurements and calculations related to novel array designs, is reported in the context of the evolution of AMFPI pixel design. For these studies, dark, optical, and radiation signal measurements were performed on prototype imagers incorporating a variety of increasingly sophisticated array designs, with pixel pitches ranging from 75 to 127 μm. For each design, detailed measurements of fundamental pixel-level properties conducted under radiographic and fluoroscopic operating conditions are reported and the results are compared. A series of 127 μm pitch arrays employing discrete photodiodes culminated in a novel design providing an optical fill factor of ∼80% (thereby assuring improved x-ray sensitivity), and demonstrating low dark current, very low charge trapping and charge release, and a large range of linear signal response. In two of the designs having 75 and 90 μm pitches, a novel continuous photodiode structure was found to provide fill factors that approach the theoretical maximum of 100%. Both sets of novel designs achieved large fill factors by employing architectures in which some, or all of the photodiode structure was elevated above the plane of the pixel addressing transistor. Generally, enhancement of the fill factor in either discrete or continuous

A 128 pixel linear array for radiotherapy quality assurance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Franco, L. [Departmento de Fisica de Particulas, Facultade de Fisica, Universidade de Santiago, campus sur s/n, 15782 Santiago de Compostela (Spain); Gomez, F. [Departmento de Fisica de Particulas, Facultade de Fisica, Universidade de Santiago, campus sur s/n, 15782 Santiago de Compostela (Spain)]. E-mail: faustgr@usc.es; Iglesias, A. [Departmento de Fisica de Particulas, Facultade de Fisica, Universidade de Santiago, campus sur s/n, 15782 Santiago de Compostela (Spain); Lobato, R. [Hospital Clinico Universitario de Santiago, 15706 Santiago (Spain); Marin, J. [CIEMAT, Laboratorio de Electronica y Automatica, 28040 Madrid Spain (Spain); Mosquera, J. [Hospital Clinico Universitario de Santiago, 15706 Santiago (Spain); Pardo, J. [Departmento de Fisica de Particulas, Facultade de Fisica, Universidade de Santiago, campus sur s/n, 15782 Santiago de Compostela (Spain)]. E-mail: juanpm@usc.es; Pazos, A. [Departmento de Fisica de Particulas, Facultade de Fisica, Universidade de Santiago, campus sur s/n, 15782 Santiago de Compostela (Spain); Pena, J. [Departmento de Fisica de Particulas, Facultade de Fisica, Universidade de Santiago, campus sur s/n, 15782 Santiago de Compostela (Spain); Pombar, M. [Hospital Clinico Universitario de Santiago, 15706 Santiago (Spain); Rodriguez, A. [Departmento de Fisica de Particulas, Facultade de Fisica, Universidade de Santiago, campus sur s/n, 15782 Santiago de Compostela (Spain); Saavedra, D. [Universidade da Coruna, Dpto. de Enxeneria Industrial II, 15403 Ferrol Spain (Spain); Sendon, J. [Hospital Clinico Universitario de Santiago, 15706 Santiago (Spain); Yanez, A. [Universidade da Coruna, Dpto. de Enxeneria Industrial II, 15403 Ferrol Spain (Spain)

2004-12-11

New radiotherapy techniques require detectors able to verify and monitor the clinical beam with high spatial resolution and fast response. Room temperature organic liquid ionization detectors are becoming an alternative to standard air ionization chambers, due to their tissue equivalent behavior, their sensibility and small directional dependence. A liquid isooctane filled ionization linear array for radiotherapy quality assurance has been designed, built and tested. The detector consists of 128 pixels, each of them with an area of 1.7mmx1.7mm and a gap of 0.5mm. The small pixel size makes the detector ideal for high gradient beam profiles like those present in Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy. The gap and the polarization voltage have been chosen in order to guarantee a linear relationship between the dose rate and the readout signal at high dose rates. As readout electronics we use the X-ray Data Acquisition System with the Xchip developed by the CCLRC.In the first device tests we have confirmed linearity up to a 6.7Gy/min dose rate with a deviation less than 1%. A profile with a signal-to-noise ratio around 500 can be obtained for a 4Gy/min dose rate with a 10 ms integration time.

A 128 pixel linear array for radiotherapy quality assurance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Franco, L.; Gomez, F.; Iglesias, A.; Lobato, R.; Marin, J.; Mosquera, J.; Pardo, J.; Pazos, A.; Pena, J.; Pombar, M.; Rodriguez, A.; Saavedra, D.; Sendon, J.; Yanez, A.

2004-01-01

New radiotherapy techniques require detectors able to verify and monitor the clinical beam with high spatial resolution and fast response. Room temperature organic liquid ionization detectors are becoming an alternative to standard air ionization chambers, due to their tissue equivalent behavior, their sensibility and small directional dependence. A liquid isooctane filled ionization linear array for radiotherapy quality assurance has been designed, built and tested. The detector consists of 128 pixels, each of them with an area of 1.7mmx1.7mm and a gap of 0.5mm. The small pixel size makes the detector ideal for high gradient beam profiles like those present in Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy. The gap and the polarization voltage have been chosen in order to guarantee a linear relationship between the dose rate and the readout signal at high dose rates. As readout electronics we use the X-ray Data Acquisition System with the Xchip developed by the CCLRC.In the first device tests we have confirmed linearity up to a 6.7Gy/min dose rate with a deviation less than 1%. A profile with a signal-to-noise ratio around 500 can be obtained for a 4Gy/min dose rate with a 10 ms integration time

Heavy Ion Transient Characterization of a Photobit Hardened-by-Design Active Pixel Sensor Array

Science.gov (United States)

Marshall, Paul W.; Byers, Wheaton B.; Conger, Christopher; Eid, El-Sayed; Gee, George; Jones, Michael R.; Marshall, Cheryl J.; Reed, Robert; Pickel, Jim; Kniffin, Scott

2002-01-01

This paper presents heavy ion data on the single event transient (SET) response of a Photobit active pixel sensor (APS) four quadrant test chip with different radiation tolerant designs in a standard 0.35 micron CMOS process. The physical design techniques of enclosed geometry and P-channel guard rings are used to design the four N-type active photodiode pixels as described in a previous paper. Argon transient measurements on the 256 x 256 chip array as a function of incident angle show a significant variation in the amount of charge collected as well as the charge spreading dependent on the pixel type. The results are correlated with processing and design information provided by Photobit. In addition, there is a large degree of statistical variability between individual ion strikes. No latch-up is observed up to an LET of 106 MeV/mg/sq cm.

Advances in Small Pixel TES-Based X-Ray Microcalorimeter Arrays for Solar Physics and Astrophysics

Science.gov (United States)

Bandler, S. R.; Adams, J. S.; Bailey, C. N.; Busch, S. E.; Chervenak, J. A.; Eckart, M. E.; Ewin, A. E.; Finkbeiner, F. M.; Kelley, R. L.; Kelly, D. P.;

High resolution phoswich gamma-ray imager utilizing monolithic MPPC arrays with submillimeter pixelized crystals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kato, T; Kataoka, J; Nakamori, T; Kishimoto, A; Yamamoto, S; Sato, K; Ishikawa, Y; Yamamura, K; Kawabata, N; Ikeda, H; Kamada, K

2013-01-01

We report the development of a high spatial resolution tweezers-type coincidence gamma-ray camera for medical imaging. This application consists of large-area monolithic Multi-Pixel Photon Counters (MPPCs) and submillimeter pixelized scintillator matrices. The MPPC array has 4 × 4 channels with a three-side buttable, very compact package. For typical operational gain of 7.5 × 10 5 at + 20 °C, gain fluctuation over the entire MPPC device is only ± 5.6%, and dark count rates (as measured at the 1 p.e. level) amount to ≤ 400 kcps per channel. We selected Ce-doped (Lu,Y) 2 (SiO 4 )O (Ce:LYSO) and a brand-new scintillator, Ce-doped Gd 3 Al 2 Ga 3 O 12 (Ce:GAGG) due to their high light yield and density. To improve the spatial resolution, these scintillators were fabricated into 15 × 15 matrices of 0.5 × 0.5 mm 2 pixels. The Ce:LYSO and Ce:GAGG scintillator matrices were assembled into phosphor sandwich (phoswich) detectors, and then coupled to the MPPC array along with an acrylic light guide measuring 1 mm thick, and with summing operational amplifiers that compile the signals into four position-encoded analog outputs being used for signal readout. Spatial resolution of 1.1 mm was achieved with the coincidence imaging system using a 22 Na point source. These results suggest that the gamma-ray imagers offer excellent potential for applications in high spatial medical imaging.

Active pixel sensor array as a detector for electron microscopy.

Science.gov (United States)

Milazzo, Anna-Clare; Leblanc, Philippe; Duttweiler, Fred; Jin, Liang; Bouwer, James C; Peltier, Steve; Ellisman, Mark; Bieser, Fred; Matis, Howard S; Wieman, Howard; Denes, Peter; Kleinfelder, Stuart; Xuong, Nguyen-Huu

2005-09-01

A new high-resolution recording device for transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is urgently needed. Neither film nor CCD cameras are systems that allow for efficient 3-D high-resolution particle reconstruction. We tested an active pixel sensor (APS) array as a replacement device at 200, 300, and 400 keV using a JEOL JEM-2000 FX II and a JEM-4000 EX electron microscope. For this experiment, we used an APS prototype with an area of 64 x 64 pixels of 20 microm x 20 microm pixel pitch. Single-electron events were measured by using very low beam intensity. The histogram of the incident electron energy deposited in the sensor shows a Landau distribution at low energies, as well as unexpected events at higher absorbed energies. After careful study, we concluded that backscattering in the silicon substrate and re-entering the sensitive epitaxial layer a second time with much lower speed caused the unexpected events. Exhaustive simulation experiments confirmed the existence of these back-scattered electrons. For the APS to be usable, the back-scattered electron events must be eliminated, perhaps by thinning the substrate to less than 30 microm. By using experimental data taken with an APS chip with a standard silicon substrate (300 microm) and adjusting the results to take into account the effect of a thinned silicon substrate (30 microm), we found an estimate of the signal-to-noise ratio for a back-thinned detector in the energy range of 200-400 keV was about 10:1 and an estimate for the spatial resolution was about 10 microm.

Photon-counting hexagonal pixel array CdTe detector: Spatial resolution characteristics for image-guided interventional applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Vedantham, Srinivasan; Shrestha, Suman; Karellas, Andrew; Shi, Linxi; Gounis, Matthew J; Bellazzini, Ronaldo; Spandre, Gloria; Brez, Alessandro; Minuti, Massimo

2016-05-01

High-resolution, photon-counting, energy-resolved detector with fast-framing capability can facilitate simultaneous acquisition of precontrast and postcontrast images for subtraction angiography without pixel registration artifacts and can facilitate high-resolution real-time imaging during image-guided interventions. Hence, this study was conducted to determine the spatial resolution characteristics of a hexagonal pixel array photon-counting cadmium telluride (CdTe) detector. A 650 μm thick CdTe Schottky photon-counting detector capable of concurrently acquiring up to two energy-windowed images was operated in a single energy-window mode to include photons of 10 keV or higher. The detector had hexagonal pixels with apothem of 30 μm resulting in pixel pitch of 60 and 51.96 μm along the two orthogonal directions. The detector was characterized at IEC-RQA5 spectral conditions. Linear response of the detector was determined over the air kerma rate relevant to image-guided interventional procedures ranging from 1.3 nGy/frame to 91.4 μGy/frame. Presampled modulation transfer was determined using a tungsten edge test device. The edge-spread function and the finely sampled line spread function accounted for hexagonal sampling, from which the presampled modulation transfer function (MTF) was determined. Since detectors with hexagonal pixels require resampling to square pixels for distortion-free display, the optimal square pixel size was determined by minimizing the root-mean-squared-error of the aperture functions for the square and hexagonal pixels up to the Nyquist limit. At Nyquist frequencies of 8.33 and 9.62 cycles/mm along the apothem and orthogonal to the apothem directions, the modulation factors were 0.397 and 0.228, respectively. For the corresponding axis, the limiting resolution defined as 10% MTF occurred at 13.3 and 12 cycles/mm, respectively. Evaluation of the aperture functions yielded an optimal square pixel size of 54 μm. After resampling to 54 �

High spatial resolution measurement of depth-of-interaction of a PET LSO crystal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Simon, A.; Kalinka, G.; Novak, D.; Sipos, A.; Vegh, J.; Molnar, J.

2004-01-01

Complete text of publication follows. A new type of experimental technique to investigate the depth-of-interaction (DOI) dependence in small scintillator elements designed for high-resolution animal PET [1] has been introduced at our institute, recently. A lutetium oxyorthosilicate (LSO) crystal (2x2x10 mm 3 ) was irradiated with a highly focused 2 MeV He + beam at the ATOMKI nuclear microprobe laboratory. Pulse height spectra from a photomultiplier (PMT) attached to one end of the LSO crystal were collected in list mode. Sequential scans of 1000x1000 μm 2 areas along the 10 mm long crystal were made to get high lateral resolution images of pulse height spectra at different distances from the window of the PMT. A mean pulse height algorithm was applied to each pixel to generate two dimensional intensity images and the corresponding spectra of 100 μmx1 mm areas. Representative pulse height spectra are shown in Fig. 1 for different distances between the position of irradiation and the PMT. The mean value of the pulse height spectrum describing the position of the full energy peak is a way to measure DOI effects. It is seen that the closer the DOI to the PMT-end of the crystal the higher the energy of the peak. The centre of the detected peak varies about 30 % along the lateral side of the crystal. This effect is due to the increasing number of reflections with associated loss of light when the distance between the DOI position and the light collecting PMT grows. Further these results, no difference in the light intensity was found depending on which position across (perpendicular to the length of) the crystal was irradiated with the microbeam. The obtained results of the overall DOI dependence confirm previous measurements on LSO crystals with similar geometry and wrapping but based on collimated gamma-ray irradiation. Since the present experimental setup allows obtaining data with several orders of magnitude better spatial resolution (from μm up to mm) than with

A novel depth-of-interaction block detector for positron emission tomography using a dichotomous orthogonal symmetry decoding concept

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Yuxuan; Yan, Han; Baghaei, Hossain; Wong, Wai-Hoi

2016-01-01

Conventionally, a dual-end depth-of-interaction (DOI) block detector readout requires two two-dimensional silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) arrays, one on top and one on the bottom, to define the XYZ positions. However, because both the top and bottom SiPM arrays are reading the same pixels, this creates information redundancy. We propose a dichotomous orthogonal symmetric (DOS) dual-end readout block detector design, which removes this redundancy by reducing the number of SiPMs and still achieves XY and DOI (Z) decoding for positron emission tomography (PET) block detector. Reflecting films are used within the block detector to channel photons going to the top of the block to go only in the X direction, and photons going to the bottom are channeled along the Y direction. Despite the unidirectional channeling on each end, the top readout provides both X and Y information using two one-dimensional SiPM arrays instead of a two-dimensional SiPM array; similarly, the bottom readout also provides both X and Y information with just two one-dimensional SiPM arrays. Thus, a total of four one-dimensional SiPM arrays (4  ×  N SiPMs) are used to decode the XYZ positions of the firing pixels instead of two two-dimensional SiPM arrays (2  ×  N  ×  N SiPMs), reducing the number of SiPM arrays per block from 2N 2 to 4 N for PET/MR or PET/CT systems. Moreover, the SiPM arrays on one end can be replaced by two regular photomultiplier tubes (PMTs), so that a block needs only 2 N SiPMs  +  2 half-PMTs; this hybrid-DOS DOI block detector can be used in PET/CT systems. Monte Carlo simulations were carried out to study the performance of our DOS DOI block detector design, including the XY-decoding quality, energy resolution, and DOI resolution. Both BGO and LSO scintillators were studied. We found that 4 mm pixels were well decoded for 5  ×  5 BGO and 9  ×  9 LSO arrays with 4 to 5 mm DOI resolution and 16–20% energy resolution

Study of multi-pixel Geiger-mode avalanche photodiodes as a read-out for PET

CERN Document Server

Musienko, Yuri; Lecoq, Paul; Reucroft, Stephen; Swain, John; Trummer, Julia

2007-01-01

We have studied the performance of two multi-pixel Geiger-mode APDs (recently developed by the Centre of Perspective Technologies and Apparatus (CPTA) in Moscow) with 1×1 mm2 and 3×3 mm2 sensitive area as a readout for LSO and LYSO scintillator crystals. Energy and timing spectra were measured using a 22Na γ-source. The results of this study allow us to conclude that this photodetector is a very promising candidate for PET applications.

1024-Pixel CMOS Multimodality Joint Cellular Sensor/Stimulator Array for Real-Time Holistic Cellular Characterization and Cell-Based Drug Screening.

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Jong Seok; Aziz, Moez Karim; Li, Sensen; Chi, Taiyun; Grijalva, Sandra Ivonne; Sung, Jung Hoon; Cho, Hee Cheol; Wang, Hua

2018-02-01

This paper presents a fully integrated CMOS multimodality joint sensor/stimulator array with 1024 pixels for real-time holistic cellular characterization and drug screening. The proposed system consists of four pixel groups and four parallel signal-conditioning blocks. Every pixel group contains 16 × 16 pixels, and each pixel includes one gold-plated electrode, four photodiodes, and in-pixel circuits, within a pixel footprint. Each pixel supports real-time extracellular potential recording, optical detection, charge-balanced biphasic current stimulation, and cellular impedance measurement for the same cellular sample. The proposed system is fabricated in a standard 130-nm CMOS process. Rat cardiomyocytes are successfully cultured on-chip. Measured high-resolution optical opacity images, extracellular potential recordings, biphasic current stimulations, and cellular impedance images demonstrate the unique advantages of the system for holistic cell characterization and drug screening. Furthermore, this paper demonstrates the use of optical detection on the on-chip cultured cardiomyocytes to real-time track their cyclic beating pattern and beating rate.

Photon-counting hexagonal pixel array CdTe detector: Spatial resolution characteristics for image-guided interventional applications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vedantham, Srinivasan; Shrestha, Suman; Karellas, Andrew, E-mail: andrew.karellas@umassmed.edu; Shi, Linxi; Gounis, Matthew J. [Department of Radiology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts 01655 (United States); Bellazzini, Ronaldo; Spandre, Gloria; Brez, Alessandro; Minuti, Massimo [Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Pisa 56127, Italy and Pixirad Imaging Counters s.r.l., L. Pontecorvo 3, Pisa 56127 (Italy)

2016-05-15

Purpose: High-resolution, photon-counting, energy-resolved detector with fast-framing capability can facilitate simultaneous acquisition of precontrast and postcontrast images for subtraction angiography without pixel registration artifacts and can facilitate high-resolution real-time imaging during image-guided interventions. Hence, this study was conducted to determine the spatial resolution characteristics of a hexagonal pixel array photon-counting cadmium telluride (CdTe) detector. Methods: A 650 μm thick CdTe Schottky photon-counting detector capable of concurrently acquiring up to two energy-windowed images was operated in a single energy-window mode to include photons of 10 keV or higher. The detector had hexagonal pixels with apothem of 30 μm resulting in pixel pitch of 60 and 51.96 μm along the two orthogonal directions. The detector was characterized at IEC-RQA5 spectral conditions. Linear response of the detector was determined over the air kerma rate relevant to image-guided interventional procedures ranging from 1.3 nGy/frame to 91.4 μGy/frame. Presampled modulation transfer was determined using a tungsten edge test device. The edge-spread function and the finely sampled line spread function accounted for hexagonal sampling, from which the presampled modulation transfer function (MTF) was determined. Since detectors with hexagonal pixels require resampling to square pixels for distortion-free display, the optimal square pixel size was determined by minimizing the root-mean-squared-error of the aperture functions for the square and hexagonal pixels up to the Nyquist limit. Results: At Nyquist frequencies of 8.33 and 9.62 cycles/mm along the apothem and orthogonal to the apothem directions, the modulation factors were 0.397 and 0.228, respectively. For the corresponding axis, the limiting resolution defined as 10% MTF occurred at 13.3 and 12 cycles/mm, respectively. Evaluation of the aperture functions yielded an optimal square pixel size of 54 �

Development of pixel detectors for SSC vertex tracking

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kramer, G.; Shapiro, S.L.; Arens, J.F.; Jernigan, J.G.; Skubic, P.

1991-04-01

A description of hybrid PIN diode arrays and a readout architecture for their use as a vertex detector in the SSC environment is presented. Test results obtained with arrays having 256 x 256 pixels, each 30 μm square, are also presented. The development of a custom readout for the SSC will be discussed, which supports a mechanism for time stamping hit pixels, storing their xy coordinates, and storing the analog information within the pixel. The peripheral logic located on the array, permits the selection of those pixels containing interesting data and their coordinates to be selectively read out. This same logic also resolves ambiguous pixel ghost locations and controls the pixel neighbor read out necessary to achieve high spatial resolution. The thermal design of the vertex tracker and the proposed signal processing architecture will also be discussed. 5 refs., 13 figs., 3 tabs

Design and performance of large-pixel-size high-fill-fraction TES arrays for future X-ray astrophysics missions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Figueroa-Feliciano, E.; Bandler, S.R.; Chervenak, J.; Finkbeiner, F.; Iyomoto, N.; Kelley, R.L.; Kilbourne, C.A.; Porter, F.S.; Saab, T.; Sadleir, J.; White, J.

2006-01-01

We have designed, modeled, fabricated and tested a 600μm high-fill-fraction microcalorimeter array that will be a good match to the requirements of future X-ray missions. Our devices use transition-edge sensors coupled to overhanging bismuth/copper absorbers to produce arrays with 97% or higher fill fraction. An extensive modeling effort was undertaken in order to accommodate large pixel sizes (500-1000μm) and maintain the best energy resolution possible. The finite thermalization time of the large absorber and the associated position dependence of the pulse shape on absorption position constrain the time constants of the system given a desired energy-resolution performance. We show the results of our analysis and our new pixel design, consisting of a novel TES-on-the-side architecture which creates a controllable TES-absorber conductance

Argus: A W-band 16-pixel focal plane array for the Green Bank Telescope

Science.gov (United States)

Devaraj, Kiruthika; Church, Sarah; Cleary, Kieran; Frayer, David; Gawande, Rohit; Goldsmith, Paul; Gundersen, Joshua; Harris, Andrew; Kangaslahti, Pekka; Readhead, Tony; Reeves, Rodrigo; Samoska, Lorene; Sieth, Matt; Voll, Patricia

2015-05-01

We are building Argus, a 16-pixel square-packed focal plane array that will cover the 75-115.3 GHz frequency range on the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT). The primary research area for Argus is the study of star formation within our Galaxy and nearby galaxies. Argus will map key molecules that trace star formation, including carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen cyanide (HCN). An additional key science area is astrochemistry, which will be addressed by observing complex molecules in the interstellar medium, and the study of formation of solar systems, which will be addressed by identifying dense pre-stellar cores and by observing comets in our solar system. Argus has a highly scalable architecture and will be a technology path finder for larger arrays. The array is modular in construction, which will allow easy replacement of malfunctioning and poorly performing components.

Characterisation of crystal matrices and single pixels for nuclear medicine applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Herbert, D.J.; Belcari, N.; Camarda, M.; Del Guerra, A.; Vaiano, A.

2005-01-01

Commercially constructed crystal matrices are characterised for use with PSPMT detectors for PET system developments and other nuclear medicine applications. The matrices of different scintillation materials were specified with pixel dimensions of 1.5x1.5 mm 2 in cross-section and a length corresponding to one gamma ray interaction length at 511 keV. The materials used in this study were BGO, LSO, LYSO, YSO and CsI(Na). Each matrix was constructed using a white TiO loaded epoxy that forms a 0.2 mm septa between each pixel. The white epoxy is not the optimum choice in terms of the reflective properties, but represents a good compromise between cost and the need for optical isolation between pixels. We also tested a YAP matrix that consisted of pixels of the same size specification but was manufactured by a different company, who instead of white epoxy, used a thin aluminium reflective layer for optical isolation that resulted in a septal thickness of just 0.01 mm, resulting in a much higher packing fraction. The characteristics of the scintillation materials, such as the light output and energy resolution, were first studied in the form of individual crystal elements by using a single pixel HPD. A comparison of individual pixels with and without the epoxy or dielectric coatings was also performed. Then the matrices themselves were coupled to a PSPMT in order to study the imaging performance. In particular, the system pixel resolution and the peak to valley ratio were measured at 511 and 122 keV

Assessment of array scintillation detector for follicle thyroid 2-d image acquisition using Monte Carlo simulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Silva, Carlos Borges da; Braz, Delson

2008-01-01

Full text: This work presents an innovative study to find out the adequate scintillation inorganic detector array to be used coupled to a specific light photo sensor, a charge coupled device (CCD), through a fiber optic plate. The goal is to choose the type of detector that fits a 2-dimensional imaging acquisition of a cell thyroid tissue application with high resolution and detection efficiency in order to map a follicle image using gamma radiation emission. A point or volumetric source-detector simulation by using a MCNP4B general code, considering different source energies, detector materials and geometry including pixel sizes and reflector types was performed. In this study, simulations were performed for 7 x 7, 31 x 31 and 127 x 127 arrays using CsI(Tl), BGO, CdWO 4 , LSO, GOS and GSO scintillation detectors with pixel dimensions ranging from 1 x 1 cm 2 to 10 x 10 μm 2 and radiation thickness ranging from 1 mm to 10 mm. The effect of all these parameters was investigated to find the best source-detector system that results in an image with the best contrast details. The results showed that it is possible to design a specific imaging system that allows searching for in-vitro studies, specifically in radiobiology applied to endocrine physiology. A 2D image of two thyroid follicles simulated by using MCNP4B code is shown

Charge Gain, Voltage Gain, and Node Capacitance of the SAPHIRA Detector Pixel by Pixel

Science.gov (United States)

Pastrana, Izabella M.; Hall, Donald N. B.; Baker, Ian M.; Jacobson, Shane M.; Goebel, Sean B.

2018-01-01

The University of Hawai`i Institute for Astronomy has partnered with Leonardo (formerly Selex) in the development of HgCdTe linear mode avalanche photodiode (L-APD) SAPHIRA detectors. The SAPHIRA (Selex Avalanche Photodiode High-speed Infra-Red Array) is ideally suited for photon-starved astronomical observations, particularly near infrared (NIR) adaptive optics (AO) wave-front sensing. I have measured the stability, and linearity with current, of a 1.7-um (10% spectral bandpass) infrared light emitting diode (IR LED) used to illuminate the SAPHIRA and have then utilized this source to determine the charge gain (in e-/ADU), voltage gain (in uV/ADU), and node capacitance (in fF) for each pixel of the 320x256@24um SAPHIRA. These have previously only been averages over some sub-array. Determined from the ratio of the temporal averaged signal level to variance under constant 1.7-um LED illumination, I present the charge gain pixel-by-pixel in a 64x64 sub-array at the center of the active area of the SAPHIRA (analyzed separately as four 32x32 sub-arrays) to be about 1.6 e-/ADU (σ=0.5 e-/ADU). Additionally, the standard technique of varying the pixel reset voltage (PRV) in 10 mV increments and recording output frames for the same 64x64 subarray found the voltage gain per pixel to be about 11.7 uV/ADU (σ=0.2 uV/ADU). Finally, node capacitance was found to be approximately 23 fF (σ=6 fF) utilizing the aforementioned charge and voltage gain measurements. I further discuss the linearity measurements of the 1.7-um LED used in the charge gain characterization procedure.

Performance of in-pixel circuits for photon counting arrays (PCAs) based on polycrystalline silicon TFTs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liang, Albert K; Koniczek, Martin; Antonuk, Larry E; El-Mohri, Youcef; Zhao, Qihua; Street, Robert A; Lu, Jeng Ping

2016-01-01

Photon counting arrays (PCAs), defined as pixelated imagers which measure the absorbed energy of x-ray photons individually and record this information digitally, are of increasing clinical interest. A number of PCA prototypes with a 1 mm pixel-to-pixel pitch have recently been fabricated with polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si)—a thin-film technology capable of creating monolithic imagers of a size commensurate with human anatomy. In this study, analog and digital simulation frameworks were developed to provide insight into the influence of individual poly-Si transistors on pixel circuit performance—information that is not readily available through empirical means. The simulation frameworks were used to characterize the circuit designs employed in the prototypes. The analog framework, which determines the noise produced by individual transistors, was used to estimate energy resolution, as well as to identify which transistors contribute the most noise. The digital framework, which analyzes how well circuits function in the presence of significant variations in transistor properties, was used to estimate how fast a circuit can produce an output (referred to as output count rate). In addition, an algorithm was developed and used to estimate the minimum pixel pitch that could be achieved for the pixel circuits of the current prototypes. The simulation frameworks predict that the analog component of the PCA prototypes could have energy resolution as low as 8.9% full width at half maximum (FWHM) at 70 keV; and the digital components should work well even in the presence of significant thin-film transistor (TFT) variations, with the fastest component having output count rates as high as 3 MHz. Finally, based on conceivable improvements in the underlying fabrication process, the algorithm predicts that the 1 mm pitch of the current PCA prototypes could be reduced significantly, potentially to between ∼240 and 290 μm. (paper)

High resolution phoswich gamma-ray imager utilizing monolithic MPPC arrays with submillimeter pixelized crystals

Science.gov (United States)

Kato, T.; Kataoka, J.; Nakamori, T.; Kishimoto, A.; Yamamoto, S.; Sato, K.; Ishikawa, Y.; Yamamura, K.; Kawabata, N.; Ikeda, H.; Kamada, K.

2013-05-01

We report the development of a high spatial resolution tweezers-type coincidence gamma-ray camera for medical imaging. This application consists of large-area monolithic Multi-Pixel Photon Counters (MPPCs) and submillimeter pixelized scintillator matrices. The MPPC array has 4 × 4 channels with a three-side buttable, very compact package. For typical operational gain of 7.5 × 105 at + 20 °C, gain fluctuation over the entire MPPC device is only ± 5.6%, and dark count rates (as measured at the 1 p.e. level) amount to acrylic light guide measuring 1 mm thick, and with summing operational amplifiers that compile the signals into four position-encoded analog outputs being used for signal readout. Spatial resolution of 1.1 mm was achieved with the coincidence imaging system using a 22Na point source. These results suggest that the gamma-ray imagers offer excellent potential for applications in high spatial medical imaging.

Comparison of three resistor network division circuits for the readout of 4×4 pixel SiPM arrays

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stratos, David; Maria, Georgiou; Eleftherios, Fysikopoulos; George, Loudos

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study is to investigate the behavior of a flexible SensL's silicon photomultiplier array (SPMArray4) photodetector for possible applications in PET imaging. We have designed and evaluated three different resistor network division circuits to read out the signal outputs of a 4×4 pixel SiPM array. We have applied firstly (i) a symmetric resistive voltage division circuit, secondly (ii) a symmetric resistive charge division circuit and thirdly (iii) a charge division multiplexing resistor network reducing the 16 pixel outputs to 4 position signals. In the first circuit the SensL SPMArray4-A0 preamplification electronics and a SPMArray4-A1 evaluation board providing the 16 pixels voltage outputs were used, before the symmetric resistive voltage network. We reduced the 16 voltage signals firstly to 4X and 4Y coordinate signals. Then those signals were further reduced to 2X and 2Y position signals connected via a resistor network. In the second readout circuit we have used the same technique but without the preamplification stage. The third circuit is based on a discretized positioning circuit, which multiplexes the 16 signals from the SiPM array to 4 position signals. The 4 position signals (Xa, Xb, Yc and Yd) were digitized using a free running sampling technique. An FPGA (Spartan 6 LX16) was used for triggering and signal processing of the pulses. We acquired raw images and energy histograms of a BGO and a CsI:Na pixilated scintillator under 22 Na excitation. A clear visualization of the discrete 2×2×5 mm 3 pixilated BGO scintillator elements as well as the 1×1×5 mm 3 pixilated CsI:Na crystal array was achieved with all applied readout circuits. The symmetric resistive charge division circuit provides higher peak to valley ratio than the other readout circuits. Τhe sensitivity and the energy resolution remained almost constant for the three circuits

Testing of focal plane arrays

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Merriam, J.D.

1988-01-01

Problems associated with the testing of focal plane arrays are briefly examined with reference to the instrumentation and measurement procedures. In particular, the approach and instrumentation used as the Naval Ocean Systems Center is presented. Most of the measurements are made with flooded illumination on the focal plane array. The array is treated as an ensemble of individual pixels, data being taken on each pixel and array averages and standard deviations computed for the entire array. Data maps are generated, showing the pixel data in the proper spatial position on the array and the array statistics

X-ray metrology of an array of active edge pixel sensors for use at synchrotron light sources

Science.gov (United States)

Plackett, R.; Arndt, K.; Bortoletto, D.; Horswell, I.; Lockwood, G.; Shipsey, I.; Tartoni, N.; Williams, S.

2018-01-01

We report on the production and testing of an array of active edge silicon sensors as a prototype of a large array. Four Medipix3RX.1 chips were bump bonded to four single chip sized Advacam active edge n-on-n sensors. These detectors were then mounted into a 2 by 2 array and tested on B16 at Diamond Light Source with an x-ray beam spot of 2um. The results from these tests, compared with optical metrology demonstrate that this type of sensor is sensitive to the physical edge of the silicon, with only a modest loss of efficiency in the final two rows of pixels. We present the efficiency maps recorded with the microfocus beam and a sample powder diffraction measurement. These results give confidence that this sensor technology can be used effectively in larger arrays of detectors at synchrotron light sources.

Pixelated coatings and advanced IR coatings

Science.gov (United States)

Pradal, Fabien; Portier, Benjamin; Oussalah, Meihdi; Leplan, Hervé

2017-09-01

Reosc developed pixelated infrared coatings on detector. Reosc manufactured thick pixelated multilayer stacks on IR-focal plane arrays for bi-spectral imaging systems, demonstrating high filter performance, low crosstalk, and no deterioration of the device sensitivities. More recently, a 5-pixel filter matrix was designed and fabricated. Recent developments in pixelated coatings, shows that high performance infrared filters can be coated directly on detector for multispectral imaging. Next generation space instrument can benefit from this technology to reduce their weight and consumptions.

High-speed x-ray imaging with the Keck pixel array detector (Keck PAD) for time-resolved experiments at synchrotron sources

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Philipp, Hugh T., E-mail: htp2@cornell.edu; Tate, Mark W.; Purohit, Prafull; Shanks, Katherine S.; Weiss, Joel T. [Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (United States); Chamberlain, Darol; Gruner, Sol M. [Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (United States); Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS), Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (United States)

2016-07-27

Modern storage rings are readily capable of providing intense x-ray pulses, tens of picoseconds in duration, millions of times per second. Exploiting the temporal structure of these x-ray sources opens avenues for studying rapid structural changes in materials. Many processes (e.g. crack propagation, deformation on impact, turbulence, etc.) differ in detail from one sample trial to the next and would benefit from the ability to record successive x-ray images with single x-ray sensitivity while framing at 5 to 10 MHz rates. To this end, we have pursued the development of fast x-ray imaging detectors capable of collecting bursts of images that enable the isolation of single synchrotron bunches and/or bunch trains. The detector technology used is the hybrid pixel array detector (PAD) with a charge integrating front-end, and high-speed, in-pixel signal storage elements. A 384×256 pixel version, the Keck-PAD, with 150 µm × 150 µm pixels and 8 dedicated in-pixel storage elements is operational, has been tested at CHESS, and has collected data for compression wave studies. An updated version with 27 dedicated storage capacitors and identical pixel size has been fabricated.

Development of pixellated Ir-TESs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zen, Nobuyuki; Takahashi, Hiroyuki; Kunieda, Yuichi; Dayanthi, Rathnayaka M.T.; Mori, Fumiakira; Fujita, Kaoru; Nakazawa, Masaharu; Fukuda, Daiji; Ohkubo, Masataka

2006-01-01

We have been developing Ir-based pixellated superconducting transition edge sensors (TESs). In the area of material or astronomical applications, the sensor with few eV energy resolution and over 1000 pixels imaging property is desired. In order to achieve this goal, we have been analyzing signals from pixellated TESs. In the case of a 20 pixel array of Ir-TESs, with 45 μmx45 μm pixel sizes, the incident X-ray signals have been classified into 16 groups. We have applied numerical signal analysis. On the one hand, the energy resolution of our pixellated TES is strongly degraded. However, using pulse shape analysis, we can dramatically improve the resolution. Thus, we consider that the pulse signal analysis will lead this device to be used as a practical photon incident position identifying TES

CMOS VLSI Active-Pixel Sensor for Tracking

Science.gov (United States)

Pain, Bedabrata; Sun, Chao; Yang, Guang; Heynssens, Julie

2004-01-01

An architecture for a proposed active-pixel sensor (APS) and a design to implement the architecture in a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) very-large-scale integrated (VLSI) circuit provide for some advanced features that are expected to be especially desirable for tracking pointlike features of stars. The architecture would also make this APS suitable for robotic- vision and general pointing and tracking applications. CMOS imagers in general are well suited for pointing and tracking because they can be configured for random access to selected pixels and to provide readout from windows of interest within their fields of view. However, until now, the architectures of CMOS imagers have not supported multiwindow operation or low-noise data collection. Moreover, smearing and motion artifacts in collected images have made prior CMOS imagers unsuitable for tracking applications. The proposed CMOS imager (see figure) would include an array of 1,024 by 1,024 pixels containing high-performance photodiode-based APS circuitry. The pixel pitch would be 9 m. The operations of the pixel circuits would be sequenced and otherwise controlled by an on-chip timing and control block, which would enable the collection of image data, during a single frame period, from either the full frame (that is, all 1,024 1,024 pixels) or from within as many as 8 different arbitrarily placed windows as large as 8 by 8 pixels each. A typical prior CMOS APS operates in a row-at-a-time ( grolling-shutter h) readout mode, which gives rise to exposure skew. In contrast, the proposed APS would operate in a sample-first/readlater mode, suppressing rolling-shutter effects. In this mode, the analog readout signals from the pixels corresponding to the windows of the interest (which windows, in the star-tracking application, would presumably contain guide stars) would be sampled rapidly by routing them through a programmable diagonal switch array to an on-chip parallel analog memory array. The

Investigating the impact of LSO on the count rate of wholebody PET tomographs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Douglas, J.L.; Moisan, C.; Rogers, J.G.

1996-05-01

We investigated the impact of using detectors made of lutetium oxyorthosilicate (LSO) on the count rate performances of wholebody PET tomographs. To that end, we used a single computational model that predicts the prompt and random contributions to the total event rate in septaless PET tomographs. Dead time factors at all stages of a typical event acquisition stream are calculated from specified values of their respective processing clock cycle. We validated our approach by fitting the true, random and multiple count rates measured with the ECAT-953B and the EXACT HR PLUS scanners for a standard 20 x 20 cm cylindrical phantom. We then investigated the implications of using position encoding detectors made of LSO in the EXACT HR PLUS scanner geometry. The results in indicate that only replacing BGO by the faster LSO incurs no appreciable change in the maximum noise-equivalent-count (NEC) rate of the scanner. However, one could realistically increase the NEC by a factor 2.5 using a 4 nsec coincidence window width with the detector processing front-end operating on a 128 nsec clock cycle. Further reducing the coincidence window width to 600 psec and the front-end clock cycle to 64 nsec leads to an increase of the NEC by a factor 7.5. To sustain the operation of an HR Plus with these specifications, the saturation bandwidth of the data acquisition system would have to be increased to no more than 4.5 MHz. (authors)

Development of pixellated Ir-TESs

Science.gov (United States)

Zen, Nobuyuki; Takahashi, Hiroyuki; Kunieda, Yuichi; Damayanthi, Rathnayaka M. T.; Mori, Fumiakira; Fujita, Kaoru; Nakazawa, Masaharu; Fukuda, Daiji; Ohkubo, Masataka

2006-04-01

We have been developing Ir-based pixellated superconducting transition edge sensors (TESs). In the area of material or astronomical applications, the sensor with few eV energy resolution and over 1000 pixels imaging property is desired. In order to achieve this goal, we have been analyzing signals from pixellated TESs. In the case of a 20 pixel array of Ir-TESs, with 45 μm×45 μm pixel sizes, the incident X-ray signals have been classified into 16 groups. We have applied numerical signal analysis. On the one hand, the energy resolution of our pixellated TES is strongly degraded. However, using pulse shape analysis, we can dramatically improve the resolution. Thus, we consider that the pulse signal analysis will lead this device to be used as a practical photon incident position identifying TES.

Gamma ray spectroscopy and timing using LSO and PIN photodiodes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moses, W.W.; Derenzo, S.E.; Melcher, C.L.; Manente, R.A.

1994-11-01

The high density, high light output, and short decay time of LSO (lutetium orthosilicate, Lu 2 SiO 5 :Ce) make it an attractive scintillator for gamma ray spectroscopy. The low cost, small size, high quantum efficiency, and ruggedness of silicon photodiodes make them attractive photodetectors for this same application, although their high noise (Compared to a photomultiplier tube) reduces their appeal. In this work the authors measure the gamma ray energy resolution, timing accuracy, and conversion factor from gamma energy to number of electron-hole pairs produced with a 3 x 3 x 22 mm 3 LSO scintillator crystal read out with a 3 x 3 mm 2 silicon PIN photodiode. When the detector is excited with 511 keV photons, a photopeak centered at 1,940 e - with 149 keV fwhm is observed and a timing signal with 35 ns fwhm jitter is produced. When the detector is excited with 1,275 keV photons, a photopeak centered at 4,910 e - with 149 keV fwhm is observed and a timing signal with 25 ns fwhm jitter is produced. While these performance measures are inferior to those obtained with photomultiplier tubes, they are acceptable for some applications

Signal dependence of inter-pixel capacitance in hybridized HgCdTe H2RG arrays for use in James Webb space telescope's NIRcam

Science.gov (United States)

Donlon, Kevan; Ninkov, Zoran; Baum, Stefi

2016-08-01

Interpixel capacitance (IPC) is a deterministic electronic coupling by which signal generated in one pixel is measured in neighboring pixels. Examination of dark frames from test NIRcam arrays corroborates earlier results and simulations illustrating a signal dependent coupling. When the signal on an individual pixel is larger, the fractional coupling to nearest neighbors is lesser than when the signal is lower. Frames from test arrays indicate a drop in average coupling from approximately 1.0% at low signals down to approximately 0.65% at high signals depending on the particular array in question. The photometric ramifications for this non-uniformity are not fully understood. This non-uniformity intro-duces a non-linearity in the current mathematical model for IPC coupling. IPC coupling has been mathematically formalized as convolution by a blur kernel. Signal dependence requires that the blur kernel be locally defined as a function of signal intensity. Through application of a signal dependent coupling kernel, the IPC coupling can be modeled computationally. This method allows for simultaneous knowledge of the intrinsic parameters of the image scene, the result of applying a constant IPC, and the result of a signal dependent IPC. In the age of sub-pixel precision in astronomy these effects must be properly understood and accounted for in order for the data to accurately represent the object of observation. Implementation of this method is done through python scripted processing of images. The introduction of IPC into simulated frames is accomplished through convolution of the image with a blur kernel whose parameters are themselves locally defined functions of the image. These techniques can be used to enhance the data processing pipeline for NIRcam.

Initial steps toward the realization of large area arrays of single photon counting pixels based on polycrystalline silicon TFTs

Science.gov (United States)

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

2014-03-01

The thin-film semiconductor processing methods that enabled creation of inexpensive liquid crystal displays based on amorphous silicon transistors for cell phones and televisions, as well as desktop, laptop and mobile computers, also facilitated the development of devices that have become ubiquitous in medical x-ray imaging environments. These devices, called active matrix flat-panel imagers (AMFPIs), measure the integrated signal generated by incident X rays and offer detection areas as large as ~43×43 cm2. In recent years, there has been growing interest in medical x-ray imagers that record information from X ray photons on an individual basis. However, such photon counting devices have generally been based on crystalline silicon, a material not inherently suited to the cost-effective manufacture of monolithic devices of a size comparable to that of AMFPIs. Motivated by these considerations, we have developed an initial set of small area prototype arrays using thin-film processing methods and polycrystalline silicon transistors. These prototypes were developed in the spirit of exploring the possibility of creating large area arrays offering single photon counting capabilities and, to our knowledge, are the first photon counting arrays fabricated using thin film techniques. In this paper, the architecture of the prototype pixels is presented and considerations that influenced the design of the pixel circuits, including amplifier noise, TFT performance variations, and minimum feature size, are discussed.

Development of a customized SSC pixel detector readout for vertex tracking

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barkan, O.; Atlas, E.L.; Marking, W.L.; Worley, S.; Yacoub, G.Y.; Kramer, G.; Arens, J.F.; Jernigan, J.G.; Shapiro, S.L.; Nygren, D.; Spieler, H.; Wright, M.

1990-01-01

The authors describe the readout architecture and progress to date in the development of hybrid PIN diode arrays for use as vertex detectors in the SSC environment. The architecture supports a self-timed mechanism for time stamping hit pixels, storing their xy coordinates and later selectively reading out only those pixels containing interesting data along with their coordinates. The peripheral logic resolves ambiguous pixel ghost locations and controls pixel neighbor readout to achieve high spatial resolution. A test lot containing 64 x 32 pixel arrays has been processed and is currently being tested. Each pixel contains 23 transistors and six capacitors consuming an area of 50μm by 150μm and dissipating about 20μW of power

Pixel readout ASIC for an APD based 2D X-ray hybrid pixel detector with sub-nanosecond resolution

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Thil, Ch., E-mail: christophe.thil@ziti.uni-heidelberg.d [Heidelberg University, Institute of Computer Engineering, B6, 26, 68161 Mannheim (Germany); Baron, A.Q.R. [RIKEN SPring-8 Center, 1-1-1 Kouto, Sayo-cho, Sayo-gun, Hyogo 679-5148 (Japan); Fajardo, P. [ESRF, Polygone Scientifique Louis Neel, 6, rue Jules Horowitz, 38000 Grenoble (France); Fischer, P. [Heidelberg University, Institute of Computer Engineering, B6, 26, 68161 Mannheim (Germany); Graafsma, H. [DESY, Notkestrasse 85, 22607 Hamburg (Germany); Rueffer, R. [ESRF, Polygone Scientifique Louis Neel, 6, rue Jules Horowitz, 38000 Grenoble (France)

2011-02-01

The fast response and the short recovery time of avalanche photodiodes (APDs) in linear mode make those devices ideal for direct X-ray detection in applications requiring high time resolution or counting rate. In order to provide position sensitivity, the XNAP project aims at creating a hybrid pixel detector with nanosecond time resolution based on a monolithic APD sensor array with 32 x32 pixels covering about 1 cm{sup 2} active area. The readout is implemented in a pixelated front-end ASIC suited for the readout of such arrays, matched to pixels of 280{mu}mx280{mu}m size. Every single channel features a fast transimpedance amplifier, a discriminator with locally adjustable threshold and two counters with high dynamic range and counting speed able to accumulate X-ray hits with no readout dead time. Additionally, the detector can be operated in list mode by time-stamping every single event with sub-nanosecond resolution. In a first phase of the project, a 4x4 pixel test module is built to validate the conceptual design of the detector. The XNAP project is briefly presented and the performance of the readout ASIC is discussed.

Pixel readout ASIC for an APD based 2D X-ray hybrid pixel detector with sub-nanosecond resolution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thil, Ch.; Baron, A.Q.R.; Fajardo, P.; Fischer, P.; Graafsma, H.; Rueffer, R.

2011-01-01

The fast response and the short recovery time of avalanche photodiodes (APDs) in linear mode make those devices ideal for direct X-ray detection in applications requiring high time resolution or counting rate. In order to provide position sensitivity, the XNAP project aims at creating a hybrid pixel detector with nanosecond time resolution based on a monolithic APD sensor array with 32 x32 pixels covering about 1 cm 2 active area. The readout is implemented in a pixelated front-end ASIC suited for the readout of such arrays, matched to pixels of 280μmx280μm size. Every single channel features a fast transimpedance amplifier, a discriminator with locally adjustable threshold and two counters with high dynamic range and counting speed able to accumulate X-ray hits with no readout dead time. Additionally, the detector can be operated in list mode by time-stamping every single event with sub-nanosecond resolution. In a first phase of the project, a 4x4 pixel test module is built to validate the conceptual design of the detector. The XNAP project is briefly presented and the performance of the readout ASIC is discussed.

Development and operation of a pixel segmented liquid-filled linear array for radiotherapy quality assurance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pardo, J [Departamento de Fisica de Particulas, Facultade de Fisica, 15782 Santiago de Compostela (Spain); Franco, L [Departamento de Fisica de Particulas, Facultade de Fisica, 15782 Santiago de Compostela (Spain); Gomez, F [Departamento de Fisica de Particulas, Facultade de Fisica, 15782 Santiago de Compostela (Spain); Iglesias, A [Departamento de Fisica de Particulas, Facultade de Fisica, 15782 Santiago de Compostela (Spain); Pazos, A [Departamento de Fisica de Particulas, Facultade de Fisica, 15782 Santiago de Compostela (Spain); Pena, J [Departamento de Fisica de Particulas, Facultade de Fisica, 15782 Santiago de Compostela (Spain); Lobato, R [Hospital Clinico Universitario de Santiago, Santiago (Spain); Mosquera, J [Hospital Clinico Universitario de Santiago, Santiago (Spain); Pombar, M [Hospital Clinico Universitario de Santiago, Santiago (Spain); Sendon, J [Hospital Clinico Universitario de Santiago, Santiago (Spain)

2005-04-21

A liquid isooctane (C{sub 8}H{sub 18}) filled ionization linear array for radiotherapy quality assurance has been designed, built and tested. The detector consists of 128 pixels, each of them with an area of 1.7 mm x 1.7 mm and a gap of 0.5 mm. The small pixel size makes the detector ideal for high gradient beam profiles such as those present in intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and radiosurgery. As the read-out electronics we use the X-ray Data Acquisition System with the Xchip developed by the CCLRC. Studies concerning the collection efficiency dependence on the polarization voltage and on the dose rate have been made in order to optimize the device operation. In the first tests, we have studied dose rate and energy dependences. Dose rate dependence was found to be lower than 2.1% up to 5 Gy min{sup -1}, and energy dependence lower than 2.5% up to 20 cm depth in solid water. Output factors and penumbras for several rectangular fields have been measured with the linear array and were compared with the results obtained with a 0.125 cm{sup 3} air ionization chamber and radiographic film, respectively. Finally, we have acquired profiles for an IMRT field and for a virtual wedge. These profiles have also been compared with radiographic film measurements. All the comparisons show a good correspondence. The device has proved its capability to verify on-line therapy beams with good spatial resolution and signal-to-noise ratio.

Development and operation of a pixel segmented liquid-filled linear array for radiotherapy quality assurance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pardo, J; Franco, L; Gomez, F; Iglesias, A; Pazos, A; Pena, J; Lobato, R; Mosquera, J; Pombar, M; Sendon, J

2005-01-01

A liquid isooctane (C 8 H 18 ) filled ionization linear array for radiotherapy quality assurance has been designed, built and tested. The detector consists of 128 pixels, each of them with an area of 1.7 mm x 1.7 mm and a gap of 0.5 mm. The small pixel size makes the detector ideal for high gradient beam profiles such as those present in intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and radiosurgery. As the read-out electronics we use the X-ray Data Acquisition System with the Xchip developed by the CCLRC. Studies concerning the collection efficiency dependence on the polarization voltage and on the dose rate have been made in order to optimize the device operation. In the first tests, we have studied dose rate and energy dependences. Dose rate dependence was found to be lower than 2.1% up to 5 Gy min -1 , and energy dependence lower than 2.5% up to 20 cm depth in solid water. Output factors and penumbras for several rectangular fields have been measured with the linear array and were compared with the results obtained with a 0.125 cm 3 air ionization chamber and radiographic film, respectively. Finally, we have acquired profiles for an IMRT field and for a virtual wedge. These profiles have also been compared with radiographic film measurements. All the comparisons show a good correspondence. The device has proved its capability to verify on-line therapy beams with good spatial resolution and signal-to-noise ratio

Characterization of Ca co-doped LSO:Ce scintillators coupled to SiPM for PET applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bisogni, M.G.; Collazuol, G.M.; Marcatili, S.; Melcher, C.L.; Del Guerra, A.

2011-01-01

Scintillators suitable for PET applications must be characterized by a high efficiency for gamma-ray detection, determined by a high density and atomic number of the crystal; a fast light signal that allows to achieve a good time resolution and to cope with high counting rates; a high light yield for a good energy and time resolution; a good linearity of the light output as a function of the energy to preserve the intrinsic energy resolution of the scintillator. Recently developed LSO:Ce scintillators, co-doped with Ca, have been produced by the University of Tennessee group. They are characterized by the improved performance of most the above-mentioned characteristics. The crystals, initially tested with PMTs, showed a higher light output, faster light pulse, improved energy resolution and reduced afterglow, as compared to the standard LSO:Ce crystals. Even though the PMTs still represent the gold standard photodetectors, the recently available SiPMs are now valid candidate to replace PMTs in the next generation of PET scanners thanks to their compactness, high spatial resolution performances, low bias operating voltage and, most important for combined PET/MRI systems, insensitivity to static and RF fields. In this work we present the performance of Ca co-doped LSO:Ce samples coupled to SiPMs and PMTs. In particular we have assessed their performances by evaluating the energy and time resolution.

Sub-100 ps coincidence time resolution for positron emission tomography with LSO:Ce codoped with Ca

CERN Document Server

Nemallapudi, Mythra Varun; Lecoq, Paul; Auffray, Etiennette; Ferri, Alessandro; Gola, Alberto; Piemonte, Claudio

2015-01-01

The coincidence time resolution (CTR) becomes a key parameter of 511keV gamma detection in time of flight positron emission tomography (TOF-PET). This is because additional information obtained through timing leads to a better noise suppression and therefore a better signal to noise ratio in the reconstructed image. In this paper we present the results of CTR measurements on two different SiPM technologies from FBK coupled to LSO:Ce codoped 0.4%Ca crystals. We compare the measurements performed at two separate test setups, i.e. at CERN and at FBK, showing that the obtained results agree within a few percent. We achieve a best CTR value of 85  ±  4 ps FWHM for 2  ×  2  ×  3 mm3 LSO:Ce codoped 0.4%Ca crystals, thus breaking the 100 ps barrier with scintillators similar to LSO:Ce or LYSO:Ce. We also demonstrate that a CTR of 140  ±  5 ps can be achieved for longer 2  ×  2  ×  20 mm3 crystals, which can readily be implemented in the current generation PET syst...

Depth of interaction resolution measurements for a high resolution PET detector using position sensitive avalanche photodiodes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang Yongfeng; Dokhale, Purushottam A; Silverman, Robert W; Shah, Kanai S; McClish, Mickel A; Farrell, Richard; Entine, Gerald; Cherry, Simon R

2006-01-01

We explore dual-ended read out of LSO arrays with two position sensitive avalanche photodiodes (PSAPDs) as a high resolution, high efficiency depth-encoding detector for PET applications. Flood histograms, energy resolution and depth of interaction (DOI) resolution were measured for unpolished LSO arrays with individual crystal sizes of 1.0, 1.3 and 1.5 mm, and for a polished LSO array with 1.3 mm pixels. The thickness of the crystal arrays was 20 mm. Good flood histograms were obtained for all four arrays, and crystals in all four arrays can be clearly resolved. Although the amplitude of each PSAPD signal decreases as the interaction depth moves further from the PSAPD, the sum of the two PSAPD signals is essentially constant with irradiation depth for all four arrays. The energy resolutions were similar for all four arrays, ranging from 14.7% to 15.4%. A DOI resolution of 3-4 mm (including the width of the irradiation band which is ∼2 mm) was obtained for all the unpolished arrays. The best DOI resolution was achieved with the unpolished 1 mm array (average 3.5 mm). The DOI resolution for the 1.3 mm and 1.5 mm unpolished arrays was 3.7 and 4.0 mm respectively. For the polished array, the DOI resolution was only 16.5 mm. Summing the DOI profiles across all crystals for the 1 mm array only degraded the DOI resolution from 3.5 mm to 3.9 mm, indicating that it may not be necessary to calibrate the DOI response separately for each crystal within an array. The DOI response of individual crystals in the array confirms this finding. These results provide a detailed characterization of the DOI response of these PSAPD-based PET detectors which will be important in the design and calibration of a PET scanner making use of this detector approach

Evaluation of pulmonary nodules: comparison of a prototype dual crystal (LSO/NAI) dual head coincidence camera and full ring positron emission tomography (PET)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Joshi, U.; Raijmakers, P.G.H.M.; Lingen, A. van; Comans, E.F.I.; Pijpers, R.; Teule, G.J.J.; Hoekstra, O.S.

2005-01-01

Purpose: To determine the concordance of a prototype dual head coincidence camera (LSO-PS) and full ring PET (BGO-PET) using 18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) in the evaluation of pulmonary nodules (PNs). Materials and methods: Patients referred for evaluation of ≤3 PNs (≤3 cm diameter) were prospectively studied on the same day with both BGO-PET and LSO-PS. Imaging was performed at 60 and 120 min after injection of 370 MBq FDG, respectively. Images were independently interpreted by four observers with each observer blinded to the other modality for the same patient. Lesions were scored in terms of relative intensity versus background. Non-attenuation corrected (nonAC) BGO-PET was used as the reference test. Results: Forty-seven patients with 54 PNs (mean diameter 1.7 cm, S.D. 0.7) were included. Twelve nodules were in the ≤1.0 cm - 27 in the 1.1-2.0 cm - and 15 in the 2.1-3.0 cm range. Interobserver agreement was similar for both FDG imaging modalities. Using a sensitive assessment strategy with LSO-PS (≥ faint intensity deemed positive), there was a 97% (38/39, 95%CI 87-100%) concordance with BGO-PET and one false positive case with LSO-PS. Conservative reading (moderate or intense intensity deemed positive) resulted in a 92% (36/39, 95%CI 80-97%) concordance with BGO-PET, without false positives. The only lesion missed by LSO-PS using both assessment strategies involved a nodule 1.5 cm diameter that demonstrated moderate increased FDG uptake on BGO-PET. Conclusion: Depending on the test positivity criteria, LSO-PS demonstrates a high concordance (92-97%) with nonAC BGO-PET for the characterization of pulmonary nodules

Active Pixel Sensors: Are CCD's Dinosaurs?

Science.gov (United States)

Fossum, Eric R.

1993-01-01

Charge-coupled devices (CCD's) are presently the technology of choice for most imaging applications. In the 23 years since their invention in 1970, they have evolved to a sophisticated level of performance. However, as with all technologies, we can be certain that they will be supplanted someday. In this paper, the Active Pixel Sensor (APS) technology is explored as a possible successor to the CCD. An active pixel is defined as a detector array technology that has at least one active transistor within the pixel unit cell. The APS eliminates the need for nearly perfect charge transfer -- the Achilles' heel of CCDs. This perfect charge transfer makes CCD's radiation 'soft,' difficult to use under low light conditions, difficult to manufacture in large array sizes, difficult to integrate with on-chip electronics, difficult to use at low temperatures, difficult to use at high frame rates, and difficult to manufacture in non-silicon materials that extend wavelength response.

ASIC Readout Circuit Architecture for Large Geiger Photodiode Arrays

Science.gov (United States)

Vasile, Stefan; Lipson, Jerold

2012-01-01

The objective of this work was to develop a new class of readout integrated circuit (ROIC) arrays to be operated with Geiger avalanche photodiode (GPD) arrays, by integrating multiple functions at the pixel level (smart-pixel or active pixel technology) in 250-nm CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) processes. In order to pack a maximum of functions within a minimum pixel size, the ROIC array is a full, custom application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) design using a mixed-signal CMOS process with compact primitive layout cells. The ROIC array was processed to allow assembly in bump-bonding technology with photon-counting infrared detector arrays into 3-D imaging cameras (LADAR). The ROIC architecture was designed to work with either common- anode Si GPD arrays or common-cathode InGaAs GPD arrays. The current ROIC pixel design is hardwired prior to processing one of the two GPD array configurations, and it has the provision to allow soft reconfiguration to either array (to be implemented into the next ROIC array generation). The ROIC pixel architecture implements the Geiger avalanche quenching, bias, reset, and time to digital conversion (TDC) functions in full-digital design, and uses time domain over-sampling (vernier) to allow high temporal resolution at low clock rates, increased data yield, and improved utilization of the laser beam.

The NUC and blind pixel eliminating in the DTDI application

Science.gov (United States)

Su, Xiao Feng; Chen, Fan Sheng; Pan, Sheng Da; Gong, Xue Yi; Dong, Yu Cui

2013-12-01

AS infrared CMOS Digital TDI (Time Delay and integrate) has a simple structure, excellent performance and flexible operation, it has been used in more and more applications. Because of the limitation of the Production process level, the plane array of the infrared detector has a large NU (non-uniformity) and a certain blind pixel rate. Both of the two will raise the noise and lead to the TDI works not very well. In this paper, for the impact of the system performance, the most important elements are analyzed, which are the NU of the optical system, the NU of the Plane array and the blind pixel in the Plane array. Here a reasonable algorithm which considers the background removal and the linear response model of the infrared detector is used to do the NUC (Non-uniformity correction) process, when the infrared detector array is used as a Digital TDI. In order to eliminate the impact of the blind pixel, the concept of surplus pixel method is introduced in, through the method, the SNR (signal to noise ratio) can be improved and the spatial and temporal resolution will not be changed. Finally we use a MWIR (Medium Ware Infrared) detector to do the experiment and the result proves the effectiveness of the method.

"Charlie,"development of a light-weight, virtual reality trainer for the LSO community: time to make the leap toward immersive VR

OpenAIRE

Greunke, Larry C.

2015-01-01

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited Landing Signal Officers (LSOs) are the backbone of tailhook naval aviation. Currently, once a junior officer is selected from a squadron to become an LSO, that person typically will go through an entire workup cycle before going to the Initial Formal Ground Training (IFGT) course. This means that an LSO will undergo months of on-the-job training at sea and assume different roles needed to recover aircraft before that individual receive...

A silicon pixel detector with routing for external VLSI read-out

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thomas, S.L.; Seller, P.

1988-07-01

A silicon pixel detector with an array of 32 by 16 hexagonal pixels has been designed and is being built on high resistivity silicon. The detector elements are reverse biased diodes consisting of p-implants in an n-type substrate and are fully depleted from the front to the back of the wafer. They are intended to measure high energy ionising particles traversing the detector. The detailed design of the pixels, their layout and method of read-out are discussed. A number of test structures have been incorporated onto the wafer to enable measurements to be made on individual pixels together with a variety of active devices. The results will give a better understanding of the operation of the pixel array, and will allow testing of computer simulations of more elaborate structures for the future. (author)

Optimization of a large-area detector-block based on SiPM and pixelated LYSO crystal arrays.

Science.gov (United States)

Calva-Coraza, E; Alva-Sánchez, H; Murrieta-Rodríguez, T; Martínez-Dávalos, A; Rodríguez-Villafuerte, M

2017-10-01

We present the performance evaluation of a large-area detector module based on the ArrayC-60035-64P, an 8×8 array of tileable, 7.2mm pitch, silicon photomultipliers (SiPM) by SensL, covering a total area of 57.4mm×57.4mm. We characterized the ArrayC-60035-64P, operating at room temperature, using LYSO pixelated crystal arrays of different pitch sizes (1.075, 1.430, 1.683, 2.080 and 2.280mm) to determine the resolvable crystal size. After an optimization process, a 7mm thick coupling light guide was used for all crystal pitches. To identify the interaction position a 16-channel (8 columns, 8 rows) symmetric charge division (SCD) readout board together with a center-of-gravity algorithm was used. Based on this, we assembled the detector modules using a 40×40 LYSO, 1.43mm pitch array, covering the total detector area. Calibration was performed using a 137 Cs source resulting in excellent crystal maps with minor geometric distortion, a mean 4.1 peak-to-valley ratio and 9.6% mean energy resolution for 662keV photons in the central region. The resolvability index was calculated in the x and y directions with values under 0.42 in all cases. We show that these large area SiPM arrays, combined with a 16-channel SCD readout board, can offer high spatial resolution, without processing a big number of signals, attaining excellent energy resolution and detector uniformity. Copyright © 2017 Associazione Italiana di Fisica Medica. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Performance measurements of hybrid PIN diode arrays

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jernigan, J.G.; Arens, J.F.; Collins, T.; Herring, J.; Shapiro, S.L.; Wilburn, C.D.

1990-05-01

We report on the successful effort to develop hybrid PIN diode arrays and to demonstrate their potential as components of vertex detectors. Hybrid pixel arrays have been fabricated by the Hughes Aircraft Co. by bump bonding readout chips developed by Hughes to an array of PIN diodes manufactured by Micron Semiconductor Inc. These hybrid pixel arrays were constructed in two configurations. One array format having 10 x 64 pixels, each 120 μm square, and the other format having 256 x 256 pixels, each 30 μm square. In both cases, the thickness of the PIN diode layer is 300 μm. Measurements of detector performance show that excellent position resolution can be achieved by interpolation. By determining the centroid of the charge cloud which spreads charge into a number of neighboring pixels, a spatial resolution of a few microns has been attained. The noise has been measured to be about 300 electrons (rms) at room temperature, as expected from KTC and dark current considerations, yielding a signal-to-noise ratio of about 100 for minimum ionizing particles. 4 refs., 13 figs

A practical depth-of-interaction PET/MR detector with dichotomous-orthogonal-symmetry decoding

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Yuxuan; Baghaei, Hossain; Yan, Han; Wong, Wai-Hoi

2015-01-01

Conventional dual-end depth-of-interaction (DOI) PET detector readout requires two 2D SiPM arrays; with top and bottom SiPM reading the same pixel, there is information redundancy. We proposed a dichotomous-orthogonal-symmetric (DOS) dual-end DOI readout to eliminate this redundancy to significantly reduce SiPM usage, electronic channels, and heat load. Reflecting films are used within the scintillator array to channel light exiting the top along the X-direction, while light exiting the bottom is channeled along the orthogonal Y-direction. Despite the unidirectional channeling on each end, the top readout can provide X-Y information using two 1-D SiPM arrays; similarly, the bottom readout also provides X-Y information with two 1-D SiPM arrays. Thus four 1-D SiPM arrays (4xN) are used to decode XYZ to replace two 2D SiPM arrays (2NxN); SiPM usage is reduced from 2N**2 to 4N. Monte Carlo simulations (GATE) were carried out to study the XY decoding accuracy, energy resolution, and DOI resolution. Coupling the DOS-DOI design with a channel-decoding scheme, an array of 15x15 LSO (2.4x2.4x20 mm pixels) can be decoded by 18 SiPMs (2 rows of nine 3x3mm SiPM) on top and 18 SiPMs at bottom, thus achieving a 10X reduction in SiPM usage, electronic channels and heat load. For BGO detectors, an 8x8 array (2.4x2.4x20 mm pixels) can be achieved with 6.4X reduction. Simulations show 5-6mm DOI resolution, 0.45-0.96mm XY decoding blurring, 20-24% energy resolution. This study shows the feasibility of the DOS-DOI design. Even comparing to non-DOI detectors, there is a 5X/3X SiPM reduction for LSO/BGO. The proposed detector may yield practical ultrahigh-resolution PET/MR systems with depth-of-interaction with a production cost below current non-DOI systems.

A novel gamma-ray detector with submillimeter resolutions using a monolithic MPPC array with pixelized Ce:LYSO and Ce:GGAG crystals

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kato, T., E-mail: katou.frme.8180@asagi.waseda.jp [Research Institute for Science and Engineering, Waseda University, 3-4-1, Ohkubo, Shinjuku, Tokyo (Japan); Kataoka, J.; Nakamori, T.; Miura, T.; Matsuda, H.; Kishimoto, A. [Research Institute for Science and Engineering, Waseda University, 3-4-1, Ohkubo, Shinjuku, Tokyo (Japan); Sato, K.; Ishikawa, Y.; Yamamura, K.; Nakamura, S.; Kawabata, N. [Solid State Division, Hamamatsu Photonics K. K., 1126-1, Ichino-cho, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka (Japan); Ikeda, H. [ISAS/JAXA, 3-1-1, Yoshinodai, Chuo-ku, Sagamihara-shi, Kanagawa (Japan); Yamamoto, S. [Kobe City College of Technology, 8-3, Gakuenhigashimati, Nishi-ku, Kobe-shi, Hyougo 651-2194 (Japan); Kamada, K. [Materials Research Laboratory, Furukawa Co., Ltd., 1-25-13, Kannondai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0856 (Japan)

2013-01-21

We have developed a large-area monolithic Multi-Pixel Photon Counter (MPPC) array consisting of 4×4 channels with a three-side buttable package. Each channel has a photosensitive area of 3×3 mm{sup 2} and 3600 Geiger mode avalanche photodiodes (APDs). For typical operational gain of 7.5×10{sup 5} at +20 °C, gain fluctuation over the entire MPPC device is only ±5.6%, and dark count rates (as measured at the 1 p.e. level) amount to ≤400kcps per channel. We first fabricated a gamma-ray camera consisting of the MPPC array with one-to-one coupling to a Ce-doped (Lu,Y){sub 2}(SiO{sub 4})O (Ce:LYSO) crystal array (4×4 array of 3×3×10 mm{sup 3} crystals). Energy and time resolutions of 11.5±0.5% (FWHM at 662 keV) and 493±22ps were obtained, respectively. When using the charge division resistor network, which compiles signals into four position-encoded analog outputs, the ultimate positional resolution is estimated as 0.19 mm in both X and Y directions, while energy resolution of 10.2±0.4% (FWHM) was obtained. Finally, we fabricated submillimeter Ce:LYSO and Ce-doped Gd{sub 3}Ga{sub 3}Al{sub 2}O{sub 12} (Ce:GGAG) scintillator matrices each consisting of 1.0×1.0, 0.7×0.7 and 0.5×0.5 mm{sup 2} pixels, to further improve the spatial resolution. In all types of Ce:LYSO and Ce:GGAG matrices, each crystal was clearly resolved in the position histograms when irradiated by a {sup 137}Cs source. The energy resolutions for 662 keV gamma-rays for each Ce:LYSO and Ce:GGAG scintillator matrix were ≤14.3%. These results suggest excellent potential for its use as a high spatial medical imaging device, particularly in positron emission tomography (PET). -- Highlights: ► We developed a newly designed large-area monolithic MPPC array. ► We obtained fine gain uniformity, and good energy and time resolutions when coupled to the LYSO scintillator. ► We fabricated gamma-ray camera consisting of the MPPC array and submillimeter pixelized LYSO and GGAG scintillators. ► In

Integrated Lens Antennas for Multi-Pixel Receivers

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Choonsup; Chattopadhyay, Goutam

2011-01-01

Future astrophysics and planetary experiments are expected to require large focal plane arrays with thousands of detectors. Feedhorns have excellent performance, but their mass, size, fabrication challenges, and expense become prohibitive for very large focal plane arrays. Most planar antenna designs produce broad beam patterns, and therefore require additional elements for efficient coupling to the telescope optics, such as substrate lenses or micromachined horns. An antenna array with integrated silicon microlenses that can be fabricated photolithographically effectively addresses these issues. This approach eliminates manual assembly of arrays of lenses and reduces assembly errors and tolerances. Moreover, an antenna array without metallic horns will reduce mass of any planetary instrument significantly. The design has a monolithic array of lens-coupled, leaky-wave antennas operating in the millimeter- and submillimeter-wave frequencies. Electromagnetic simulations show that the electromagnetic fields in such lens-coupled antennas are mostly confined in approximately 12 15 . This means that one needs to design a small-angle sector lens that is much easier to fabricate using standard lithographic techniques, instead of a full hyper-hemispherical lens. Moreover, this small-angle sector lens can be easily integrated with the antennas in an array for multi-pixel imager and receiver implementation. The leaky antenna is designed using double-slot irises and fed with TE10 waveguide mode. The lens implementation starts with a silicon substrate. Photoresist with appropriate thickness (optimized for the lens size) is spun on the substrate and then reflowed to get the desired lens structure. An antenna array integrated with individual lenses for higher directivity and excellent beam profile will go a long way in realizing multi-pixel arrays and imagers. This technology will enable a new generation of compact, low-mass, and highly efficient antenna arrays for use in multi-pixel

Absolute gain calibration system for the 349-pixel imaging element of the tactic telescope array

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tickoo, A.K.; Dhar, V.K.; Venugopal, K.; Kaul, S.K.; Koul, R.; Bhatt, N.; Goyal, H.C.; Bhat, C.L.

2001-01-01

The imaging Element of the 4-element TACTIC telescope array has been in operation at Mt. Abu since 1997, for carrying detailed investigations of gamma-ray sources in the TeV energy range. In order to characterize the progenitor particle (Gamma-ray/cosmic-ray), a relative gain calibration system, based on a high intensity LED, has been in operation. However, for calorimetric purposes, an absolute gain calibration system is necessary and has been developed for an on-line calibration of 4 out of 349-pixels of its imaging camera, using 241 Am based light pulsers. The details of the experimental set-up and the results obtained so far are presented in this paper. (author)

ISPA (imaging silicon pixel array) experiment

CERN Multimedia

Patrice Loïez

2002-01-01

The ISPA tube is a position-sensitive photon detector. It belongs to the family of hybrid photon detectors (HPD), recently developed by CERN and INFN with leading photodetector firms. HPDs confront in a vacuum envelope a photocathode and a silicon detector. This can be a single diode or a pixelized detector. The electrons generated by the photocathode are efficiently detected by the silicon anode by applying a high-voltage difference between them. ISPA tube can be used in high-energy applications as well as bio-medical and imaging applications.

Innovations in IR projector arrays

Science.gov (United States)

Cole, Barry E.; Higashi, B.; Ridley, Jeff A.; Holmen, J.; Newstrom, K.; Zins, C.; Nguyen, K.; Weeres, Steven R.; Johnson, Burgess R.; Stockbridge, Robert G.; Murrer, Robert Lee; Olson, Eric M.; Bergin, Thomas P.; Kircher, James R.; Flynn, David S.

2000-07-01

In the past year, Honeywell has developed a 512 X 512 snapshot scene projector containing pixels with very high radiance efficiency. The array can operate in both snapshot and raster mode. The array pixels have near black body characteristics, high radiance outputs, broad band performance, and high speed. IR measurements and performance of these pixels will be described. In addition, a vacuum probe station that makes it possible to select the best die for packaging and delivery based on wafer level radiance screening, has been developed and is in operation. This system, as well as other improvements, will be described. Finally, a review of the status of the present projectors and plans for future arrays is included.

A count rate model for PET and its application to an LSO HR PLUS scanner

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moisan, C.; Rogers, J.G.; Douglas, J.L.

1996-10-01

We present a count rate model for PET. Considering a standard 20 x 20 cm phantom in the field-of-view of a cylindrical septaless tomograph, the model computes the acceptance to prompt and random events from simple geometric considerations. Dead time factors at all stages of a typical event acquisition architecture are calculated from specified processing clock cycles. Validations of the model's predictions against the measured performances of the ECAT-953B and the EXACT HR PLUS are presented. The model is then used to investigate the benefit of using detectors made of LSO in the EXACT HR PLUS scanner geometry. The results indicate that in replacing BGO by the faster LSO, one can count on an increase of the peak noise-equivalent-count rate by a factor 2.2. This gain will be achieved by using a 5 nsec coincidence window, buckets operating on 128 nsec clock cycle, and front-end data acquisition that can sustain a total rate of 2.9 MHz. (authors)

A prototype pixel readout chip for asynchronous detection applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Raymond, D.M.; Hall, G.; Lewis, A.J.; Sharp, P.H.

1991-01-01

A two-dimensional array of amplifier cells has been fabricated as a prototype readout system for a matching array of silicon diode detectors. Each cell contains a preamplifier, shaping amplifier, comparator and analogue signal storage in an area of 300 μmx320 μm using 3 μm CMOS technology. Full size chips will be bump bonded to pixel detector arrays. Low noise and asynchronous operation are novel design features. With noise levels of less than 250 rms electrons for input capacitances up to 600 fF, pixel detectors will be suitable for autoradiography, synchrotron X-ray and high energy particle detection applications. The design of the prototype chip is presented and future developments and prospects for applications are discussed. (orig.)

New Optimizations of Microcalorimeter Arrays for High-Resolution Imaging X-ray Spectroscopy

Science.gov (United States)

Kilbourne, Caroline

We propose to continue our successful research program in developing arrays of superconducting transition-edge sensors (TES) for x-ray astrophysics. Our standard 0.3 mm TES pixel achieves better than 2.5-eV resolution, and we now make 32x32 arrays of such pixels. We have also achieved better than 1-eV resolution in smaller pixels, and promising performance in a range of position-sensitive designs. We propose to continue to advance the designs of both the single-pixel and position-sensitive microcalorimeters so that we can produce arrays suitable for several x-ray spectroscopy observatories presently in formulation. We will also investigate various array and pixel optimizations such as would be needed for large arrays for surveys, large- pixel arrays for diffuse soft x-ray measurements, or sub-arrays of fast pixels optimized for neutron-star burst spectroscopy. In addition, we will develop fabrication processes for integrating sub-arrays with very different pixel designs into a monolithic focal-plane array to simplify the design of the focal-plane assembly and make feasible new detector configurations such as the one currently baselined for AXSIO. Through a series of measurements on test devices, we have improved our understanding of the weak-link physics governing the observed resistive transitions in TES detectors. We propose to build on that work and ultimately use the results to improve the immunity of the detector to environmental magnetic fields, as well as its fundamental performance, in each of the targeted optimizations we are developing.

Real-time generation of images with pixel-by-pixel spectra for a coded aperture imager with high spectral resolution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ziock, K.P.; Burks, M.T.; Craig, W.; Fabris, L.; Hull, E.L.; Madden, N.W.

2003-01-01

The capabilities of a coded aperture imager are significantly enhanced when a detector with excellent energy resolution is used. We are constructing such an imager with a 1.1 cm thick, crossed-strip, planar detector which has 38 strips of 2 mm pitch in each dimension followed by a large coaxial detector. Full value from this system is obtained only when the images are 'fully deconvolved' meaning that the energy spectrum is available from each pixel in the image. The large number of energy bins associated with the spectral resolution of the detector, and the fixed pixel size, present significant computational challenges in generating an image in a timely manner at the conclusion of a data acquisition. The long computation times currently preclude the generation of intermediate images during the acquisition itself. We have solved this problem by building the images on-line as each event comes in using pre-imaged arrays of the system response. The generation of these arrays and the use of fractional mask-to-detector pixel sampling is discussed

CMOS Active-Pixel Image Sensor With Simple Floating Gates

Science.gov (United States)

Fossum, Eric R.; Nakamura, Junichi; Kemeny, Sabrina E.

1996-01-01

Experimental complementary metal-oxide/semiconductor (CMOS) active-pixel image sensor integrated circuit features simple floating-gate structure, with metal-oxide/semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) as active circuit element in each pixel. Provides flexibility of readout modes, no kTC noise, and relatively simple structure suitable for high-density arrays. Features desirable for "smart sensor" applications.

Development of a fast pixel array detector for use in microsecond time-resolved x-ray diffraction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barna, S.L.; Gruner, S.M.; Shepherd, J.A.

1995-01-01

A large-area pixel x-ray detector is being developed to collect eight successive frames of wide dynamic range two-dimensional images at 200kHz rates. Such a detector, in conjunction with a synchrotron radiation x-ray source, will enable time-resolved x-ray studies of proteins and other materials on time scales which have previously been inaccessible. The detector will consist of an array of fully-depleted 150 micron square diodes connected to a CMOS integrated electronics layer with solder bump-bonding. During each framing period, the current resulting from the x-rays stopped in the diodes is integrated in the electronics layer, and then stored in one of eight storage capacitors underneath the pixel. After the last frame, the capacitors are read out at standard data transmission rates. The detector has been designed for a well-depth of at least 10,000 x-rays (at 20keV), and a noise level of one x-ray. Ultimately, the authors intend to construct a detector with over one million pixels (1024 by 1024). They present the results of their development effort and various features of the design. The electronics design is discussed, with special attention to the performance requirements. The choice and design of the detective diodes, as they relate to x-ray stopping power and charge collection, are presented. An analysis of various methods of bump bonding is also presented. Finally, the authors discuss the possible need for a radiation-blocking layer, to be placed between the electronics and the detective layer, and various methods they have pursued in the construction of such a layer

Readout and characterisation of new silicon pixel photodiode array for use in PET

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hooper, P.; Ward, G.; Lerch, R.; Rozenfeld, A.

2002-01-01

Full text: Positron emission tomography (PET) is a functional imaging tool, which is able to quantify physiological, and biochemical processes in vivo using short-lived cyclotron-produced radiotracers. The main physical principle of PET is the simultaneous measurement of two 511 keV photons which are emitted in opposite directions following the annihilation of a positron in tissue. The accuracy of tracking these photons determines the accuracy of localising the radiotracer in the body, which is referred to as the spatial resolution of the system. Compared with conventional single photon imaging with gamma cameras, PET provides superior spatial resolution and sensitivity. However, compared with anatomical imaging techniques, the spatial resolution remains relatively poor at approximately 4-6 mm full width at half maximum (FWHM), compared with 1 mm FWHM for MRI. The Centre for Medical Radiation Physics at the University of Wollongong is developing a new Positron Emission Tomography (PET) detection sub-module that will significantly improve the spatial resolution of PET. The new sub-module design is simple and robust to minimise module assembly complications and is completely independent of photomultiplier tubes. The new sub-module has also been designed to maximise its flexibility for easy sub-module coupling so as to form a complete, customised, detection module to be used in PET scanners dedicated to human brain and breast, and small animal studies. A new computer controlled gantry allows the system to be used for PET and SPECT applications. Silicon 8x8 detector arrays have been developed by CMRP and will be optically coupled scintillation crystals and readout using the VIKING tM hybrid preamplifier chip to form the basis of the new module Characterisation of the pixel photodiode array has been performed to check the uniformity of the response of the array. This characterisation has been done using a pulsed, near infra-red laser diode system and alpha particles

Spatial light modulator array with heat minimization and image enhancement features

Science.gov (United States)

Jain, Kanti [Briarcliff Manor, NY; Sweatt, William C [Albuquerque, NM; Zemel, Marc [New Rochelle, NY

2007-01-30

An enhanced spatial light modulator (ESLM) array, a microelectronics patterning system and a projection display system using such an ESLM for heat-minimization and resolution enhancement during imaging, and the method for fabricating such an ESLM array. The ESLM array includes, in each individual pixel element, a small pixel mirror (reflective region) and a much larger pixel surround. Each pixel surround includes diffraction-grating regions and resolution-enhancement regions. During imaging, a selected pixel mirror reflects a selected-pixel beamlet into the capture angle of a projection lens, while the diffraction grating of the pixel surround redirects heat-producing unused radiation away from the projection lens. The resolution-enhancement regions of selected pixels provide phase shifts that increase effective modulation-transfer function in imaging. All of the non-selected pixel surrounds redirect all radiation energy away from the projection lens. All elements of the ESLM are fabricated by deposition, patterning, etching and other microelectronic process technologies.

ISPA (imaging silicon pixel array) experiment

CERN Document Server

Patrice Loïez

2002-01-01

Application components of ISPA tubes are shown: the CERN-developed anode chip, special windows for gamma and x-ray detection, scintillating crystal and fibre arrays for imaging and tracking of ionizing particles.

Active pixel sensor array with electronic shuttering

Science.gov (United States)

Fossum, Eric R. (Inventor)

2002-01-01

An active pixel cell includes electronic shuttering capability. The cell can be shuttered to prevent additional charge accumulation. One mode transfers the current charge to a storage node that is blocked against accumulation of optical radiation. The charge is sampled from a floating node. Since the charge is stored, the node can be sampled at the beginning and the end of every cycle. Another aspect allows charge to spill out of the well whenever the charge amount gets higher than some amount, thereby providing anti blooming.

High-dynamic-range coherent diffractive imaging: ptychography using the mixed-mode pixel array detector

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Giewekemeyer, Klaus, E-mail: klaus.giewekemeyer@xfel.eu [European XFEL GmbH, Hamburg (Germany); Philipp, Hugh T. [Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (United States); Wilke, Robin N. [Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen (Germany); Aquila, Andrew [European XFEL GmbH, Hamburg (Germany); Osterhoff, Markus [Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen (Germany); Tate, Mark W.; Shanks, Katherine S. [Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (United States); Zozulya, Alexey V. [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Hamburg (Germany); Salditt, Tim [Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen (Germany); Gruner, Sol M. [Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (United States); Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (United States); Kavli Institute of Cornell for Nanoscience, Ithaca, NY (United States); Mancuso, Adrian P. [European XFEL GmbH, Hamburg (Germany)

2014-08-07

The advantages of a novel wide dynamic range hard X-ray detector are demonstrated for (ptychographic) coherent X-ray diffractive imaging. Coherent (X-ray) diffractive imaging (CDI) is an increasingly popular form of X-ray microscopy, mainly due to its potential to produce high-resolution images and the lack of an objective lens between the sample and its corresponding imaging detector. One challenge, however, is that very high dynamic range diffraction data must be collected to produce both quantitative and high-resolution images. In this work, hard X-ray ptychographic coherent diffractive imaging has been performed at the P10 beamline of the PETRA III synchrotron to demonstrate the potential of a very wide dynamic range imaging X-ray detector (the Mixed-Mode Pixel Array Detector, or MM-PAD). The detector is capable of single photon detection, detecting fluxes exceeding 1 × 10{sup 8} 8-keV photons pixel{sup −1} s{sup −1}, and framing at 1 kHz. A ptychographic reconstruction was performed using a peak focal intensity on the order of 1 × 10{sup 10} photons µm{sup −2} s{sup −1} within an area of approximately 325 nm × 603 nm. This was done without need of a beam stop and with a very modest attenuation, while ‘still’ images of the empty beam far-field intensity were recorded without any attenuation. The treatment of the detector frames and CDI methodology for reconstruction of non-sensitive detector regions, partially also extending the active detector area, are described.

Fully integrated CMOS pixel detector for high energy particles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vanstraelen, G.; Debusschere, I.; Claeys, C.; Declerck, G.

1989-01-01

A novel type of position and energy sensitive, monolithic pixel array with integrated readout electronics is proposed. Special features of the design are a reduction of the number of output channels and of the amount of output data, and the use of transistors on the high resistivity silicon. The number of output channels for the detector array is reduced by handling in parallel a number of pixels, chosen as a function of the time resolution required for the system, and by the use of an address decoder. A further reduction of data is achieved by reading out only those pixels which have been activated. The pixel detector circuit will be realized in a 3 μm p-well CMOS process, which is optimized for the full integration of readout electronics and detector diodes on high resistivity Si. A retrograde well is formed by means of a high energy implantation, followed by the appropriate temperature steps. The optimization of the well shape takes into account the high substrate bias applied during the detector operation. The design is largely based on the use of MOS transistors on the high resistivity silicon itself. These have proven to perform as well as transistors on standard doped substrate. The basic building elements as well as the design strategy of the integrated pixel detector are presented in detail. (orig.)

How many pixels does it take to make a good 4"×6" print? Pixel count wars revisited

Science.gov (United States)

Kriss, Michael A.

2011-01-01

In the early 1980's the future of conventional silver-halide photographic systems was of great concern due to the potential introduction of electronic imaging systems then typified by the Sony Mavica analog electronic camera. The focus was on the quality of film-based systems as expressed in the number of equivalent number pixels and bits-per-pixel, and how many pixels would be required to create an equivalent quality image from a digital camera. It was found that 35-mm frames, for ISO 100 color negative film, contained equivalent pixels of 12 microns for a total of 18 million pixels per frame (6 million pixels per layer) with about 6 bits of information per pixel; the introduction of new emulsion technology, tabular AgX grains, increased the value to 8 bit per pixel. Higher ISO speed films had larger equivalent pixels, fewer pixels per frame, but retained the 8 bits per pixel. Further work found that a high quality 3.5" x 5.25" print could be obtained from a three layer system containing 1300 x 1950 pixels per layer or about 7.6 million pixels in all. In short, it became clear that when a digital camera contained about 6 million pixels (in a single layer using a color filter array and appropriate image processing) that digital systems would challenge and replace conventional film-based system for the consumer market. By 2005 this became the reality. Since 2005 there has been a "pixel war" raging amongst digital camera makers. The question arises about just how many pixels are required and are all pixels equal? This paper will provide a practical look at how many pixels are needed for a good print based on the form factor of the sensor (sensor size) and the effective optical modulation transfer function (optical spread function) of the camera lens. Is it better to have 16 million, 5.7-micron pixels or 6 million 7.8-micron pixels? How does intrinsic (no electronic boost) ISO speed and exposure latitude vary with pixel size? A systematic review of these issues will

Vertically integrated pixel readout chip for high energy physics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Deptuch, Grzegorz; Demarteau, Marcel; Hoff, James; Khalid, Farah; Lipton, Ronald; Shenai, Alpana; Trimpl, Marcel; Yarema, Raymond; Zimmerman, Tom

2011-01-01

We report on the development of the vertex detector pixel readout chips based on multi-tier vertically integrated electronics for the International Linear Collider. Some testing results of the VIP2a prototype are presented. The chip is the second iteration of the silicon implementation of the prototype, data-pushed concept of the readout developed at Fermilab. The device was fabricated in the 3D MIT-LL 0.15 (micro)m fully depleted SOI process. The prototype is a three-tier design, featuring 30 x 30 (micro)m 2 pixels, laid out in an array of 48 x 48 pixels.

Active pixel sensor pixel having a photodetector whose output is coupled to an output transistor gate

Science.gov (United States)

Fossum, Eric R. (Inventor); Nakamura, Junichi (Inventor); Kemeny, Sabrina E. (Inventor)

2005-01-01

An imaging device formed as a monolithic complementary metal oxide semiconductor integrated circuit in an industry standard complementary metal oxide semiconductor process, the integrated circuit including a focal plane array of pixel cells, each one of the cells including a photogate overlying the substrate for accumulating photo-generated charge in an underlying portion of the substrate and a charge coupled device section formed on the substrate adjacent the photogate having a sensing node and at least one charge coupled device stage for transferring charge from the underlying portion of the substrate to the sensing node. There is also a readout circuit, part of which can be disposed at the bottom of each column of cells and be common to all the cells in the column. A Simple Floating Gate (SFG) pixel structure could also be employed in the imager to provide a non-destructive readout and smaller pixel sizes.

Vibrotactile using micromachined electromagnetic actuators array

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Talbi, A; Ducloux, O; Tiercelin, N; Deblock, Y; Pernod, P; Preobrazhensky, V

2006-01-01

One motivating application of this technology is the development of a tactile display interface, where discrete mechanical actuators apply vibratory excitation at discrete locations on the skin. Specifically, this paper describes the development fabrication and characterization of a 4 x 4 micro-actuator array of vibrating pixels for fingertip tactile communication. The vibrting pixels are generated by using an electromagnetic microresonator. The fabrication sequence and the actuation performance of the array are also presented

A novel CMOS sensor with in-pixel auto-zeroed discrimination for charged particle tracking

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Degerli, Y; Guilloux, F; Orsini, F

2014-01-01

With the aim of developing fast and granular Monolithic Active Pixels Sensors (MAPS) as new charged particle tracking detectors for high energy physics experiments, a new rolling shutter binary pixel architecture concept (RSBPix) with in-pixel correlated double sampling, amplification and discrimination is presented. The discriminator features auto-zeroing in order to compensate process-related transistor mismatches. In order to validate the pixel, a first monolithic CMOS sensor prototype, including a pixel array of 96 × 64 pixels, has been designed and fabricated in the Tower-Jazz 0.18 μm CMOS Image Sensor (CIS) process. Results of laboratory tests are presented

Physical Limitations To Nonuniformity Correction In IR Focal Plane Arrays

Science.gov (United States)

Scribner, D. A.; Kruer, M. R.; Gridley, J. C.; Sarkady, K.

1988-05-01

Simple nonuniformity correction algorithms currently in use can be severely limited by nonlinear response characteristics of the individual pixels in an IR focal plane array. Although more complicated multi-point algorithms improve the correction process they too can be limited by nonlinearities. Furthermore, analysis of single pixel noise power spectrums usually show some level of 1 /f noise. This in turn causes pixel outputs to drift independent of each other thus causing the spatial noise (often called fixed pattern noise) of the array to increase as a function of time since the last calibration. Measurements are presented for two arrays (a HgCdTe hybrid and a Pt:Si CCD) describing pixel nonlinearities, 1/f noise, and residual spatial noise (after nonuniforming correction). Of particular emphasis is spatial noise as a function of the lapsed time since the last calibration and the calibration process selected. The resulting spatial noise is examined in terms of its effect on the NEAT performance of each array tested and comparisons are made. Finally, a discussion of implications for array developers is given.

Digital Architecture of the New ATLAS Pixel Chip FE-I4

CERN Document Server

"Barbero, M; The ATLAS collaboration

2009-01-01

With the high hit rate foreseen for the innermost layers at an upgraded LHC, the current ATLAS Front-End pixel chip FE-I3 would start being inefficient. The main source of inefficiency comes from the copying mechanism of the pixel hits from the pixel array to the end of column buffers. A new ATLAS pixel chip FE-I4 is being developed in a 130 nm technology for use both in the framework of the Insertable B-Layer (IBL) project and for the outer layers of Super-LHC. FE-I4 is 80×336 pixels wide and features a reduced pixel size of 50×250 μm2. In the current design, a new digital architecture is introduced in which hit memories are distributed across the entire chip and the pixels organized in regions. Additional features include neighbor hit checking which allows a timewalk-less hit recording.

Efficiency of Lu2SiO5:Ce (LSO) powder phosphor as X-ray to light converter under mammographic imaging conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

David, S.; Michail, C.; Valais, I.; Nikolopoulos, D.; Liaparinos, P.; Kalivas, N.; Kalatzis, I.; Toutountzis, A.; Efthimiou, N.; Loudos, G.; Sianoudis, I.; Cavouras, D.; Dimitropoulos, N.; Nomicos, C.D.; Kandarakis, I.; Panayiotakis, G.S.

2007-01-01

The aim of the present study was to examine the light emission efficiency of Lu 2 SiO 5 :Ce (LSO) powder scintillator under X-ray mammographic imaging conditions. Powder LSO scintillator has never been used in X-ray imaging. For the purposes of the present study, a 25 mg/cm 2 thick scintillating screen was prepared in our laboratory, by sedimentation of Lu 2 SiO 5 :Ce powder. Absolute luminescence efficiency measurements were performed within the range of X-ray tube voltages (22-49 kVp) used in mammographic applications. Parameters related to X-ray detection, i.e. the energy absorption efficiency (EAE) and the quantum detection efficiency (QDE) were calculated. A theoretical model, describing radiation and light transfer, was employed to fit experimental data and to estimate values of the intrinsic conversion efficiency and the light attenuation coefficients of the screen. The spectral compatibility of the LSO powder scintillator to mammographic X-ray films and to various electronic optical detectors was determined by performing light emission spectrum measurements and by taking into account the spectral sensitivity of the optical detectors. Results in the voltage range used in mammography showed that Lu 2 SiO 5 :Ce powder scintillator has approximately 10% higher values of QDE and 4.5% higher values of EAE than Gd 2 O 2 S:Tb

Bio-Inspired Asynchronous Pixel Event Tricolor Vision Sensor.

Science.gov (United States)

Lenero-Bardallo, Juan Antonio; Bryn, D H; Hafliger, Philipp

2014-06-01

This article investigates the potential of the first ever prototype of a vision sensor that combines tricolor stacked photo diodes with the bio-inspired asynchronous pixel event communication protocol known as Address Event Representation (AER). The stacked photo diodes are implemented in a 22 × 22 pixel array in a standard STM 90 nm CMOS process. Dynamic range is larger than 60 dB and pixels fill factor is 28%. The pixels employ either simple pulse frequency modulation (PFM) or a Time-to-First-Spike (TFS) mode. A heuristic linear combination of the chip's inherent pseudo colors serves to approximate RGB color representation. Furthermore, the sensor outputs can be processed to represent the radiation in the near infrared (NIR) band without employing external filters, and to color-encode direction of motion due to an asymmetry in the update rates of the different diode layers.

Challenges of small-pixel infrared detectors: a review.

Science.gov (United States)

Rogalski, A; Martyniuk, P; Kopytko, M

2016-04-01

In the last two decades, several new concepts for improving the performance of infrared detectors have been proposed. These new concepts particularly address the drive towards the so-called high operating temperature focal plane arrays (FPAs), aiming to increase detector operating temperatures, and as a consequence reduce the cost of infrared systems. In imaging systems with the above megapixel formats, pixel dimension plays a crucial role in determining critical system attributes such as system size, weight and power consumption (SWaP). The advent of smaller pixels has also resulted in the superior spatial and temperature resolution of these systems. Optimum pixel dimensions are limited by diffraction effects from the aperture, and are in turn wavelength-dependent. In this paper, the key challenges in realizing optimum pixel dimensions in FPA design including dark current, pixel hybridization, pixel delineation, and unit cell readout capacity are outlined to achieve a sufficiently adequate modulation transfer function for the ultra-small pitches involved. Both photon and thermal detectors have been considered. Concerning infrared photon detectors, the trade-offs between two types of competing technology-HgCdTe material systems and III-V materials (mainly barrier detectors)-have been investigated.

320 x 240 uncooled IRFPA with pixel wise thin film vacuum packaging

Science.gov (United States)

Yon, J.-J.; Dumont, G.; Rabaud, W.; Becker, S.; Carle, L.; Goudon, V.; Vialle, C.; Hamelin, A.; Arnaud, A.

2012-10-01

Silicon based vacuum packaging is a key enabling technology for achieving affordable uncooled Infrared Focal Plane Arrays (IRFPA) as required by the promising mass market for very low cost IR applications, such as automotive driving assistance, energy loss monitoring in buildings, motion sensors… Among the various approaches studied worldwide, the CEA, LETI is developing a unique technology where each bolometer pixel is sealed under vacuum at the wafer level, using an IR transparent thin film deposition. This technology referred to as PLP (Pixel Level Packaging), leads to an array of hermetic micro-caps each containing a single microbolometer. Since the successful demonstration that the PLP technology, when applied on a single microbolometer pixel, can provide the required vacuum noise and NETD distributions, the paper also puts emphasis on additional key features such as thermal time constant, image quality, and ageing properties.

Active pixel sensor with intra-pixel charge transfer

Science.gov (United States)

Fossum, Eric R. (Inventor); Mendis, Sunetra (Inventor); Kemeny, Sabrina E. (Inventor)

2004-01-01

An imaging device formed as a monolithic complementary metal oxide semiconductor integrated circuit in an industry standard complementary metal oxide semiconductor process, the integrated circuit including a focal plane array of pixel cells, each one of the cells including a photogate overlying the substrate for accumulating photo-generated charge in an underlying portion of the substrate, a readout circuit including at least an output field effect transistor formed in the substrate, and a charge coupled device section formed on the substrate adjacent the photogate having a sensing node connected to the output transistor and at least one charge coupled device stage for transferring charge from the underlying portion of the substrate to the sensing node.

Mercuric iodide room-temperature array detectors for gamma-ray imaging

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Patt, B. [Xsirius, Inc, Camarillo, CA (United States)

1994-11-15

Significant progress has been made recently in the development of mercuric iodide detector arrays for gamma-ray imaging, making real the possibility of constructing high-performance small, light-weight, portable gamma-ray imaging systems. New techniques have been applied in detector fabrication and then low noise electronics which have produced pixel arrays with high-energy resolution, high spatial resolution, high gamma stopping efficiency. Measurements of the energy resolution capability have been made on a 19-element protypical array. Pixel energy resolutions of 2.98% fwhm and 3.88% fwhm were obtained at 59 keV (241-Am) and 140-keV (99m-Tc), respectively. The pixel spectra for a 14-element section of the data is shown together with the composition of the overlapped individual pixel spectra. These techniques are now being applied to fabricate much larger arrays with thousands of pixels. Extension of these principles to imaging scenarios involving gamma-ray energies up to several hundred keV is also possible. This would enable imaging of the 208 keV and 375-414 keV 239-Pu and 240-Pu structures, as well as the 186 keV line of 235-U.

Hybrid active pixel sensors in infrared astronomy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Finger, Gert; Dorn, Reinhold J.; Meyer, Manfred; Mehrgan, Leander; Stegmeier, Joerg; Moorwood, Alan

2005-01-01

Infrared astronomy is currently benefiting from three main technologies providing high-performance hybrid active pixel sensors. In the near infrared from 1 to 5 μm two technologies, both aiming for buttable 2Kx2K mosaics, are competing, namely InSb and HgCdTe grown by LPE or MBE on Al 2 O 3 , Si or CdZnTe substrates. Blocked impurity band Si:As arrays cover the mid infrared spectral range from 8 to 28 μm. Adaptive optics combined with multiple integral field units feeding high-resolution spectrographs drive the requirements for the array format of infrared sensors used at ground-based infrared observatories. The pixel performance is now approaching fundamental limits. In view of this development, a detection limit for the photon flux of the ideal detector will be derived, depending only on the temperature and the impedance of the detector. It will be shown that this limit is approximated by state of the art infrared arrays for long on-chip integrations. Different detector materials are compared and strategies to populate large focal planes are discussed. The need for the development of small-format low noise sensors for adaptive optics and interferometry will be pointed out

Plasmonic nanospherical dimers for color pixels

KAUST Repository

Alrasheed, Salma

2018-04-20

Display technologies are evolving more toward higher resolution and miniaturization. Plasmonic color pixels can offer solutions to realize such technologies due to their sharp resonances and selective scattering and absorption at particular wavelengths. Metal nanosphere dimers are capable of supporting plasmon resonances that can be tuned to span the entire visible spectrum. In this article, we demonstrate numerically bright color pixels that are highly polarized and broadly tuned using periodic arrays of metal nanosphere dimers on a glass substrate. We show that it is possible to obtain RGB pixels in the reflection mode. The longitudinal plasmon resonance of nanosphere dimers along the axis of the dimer is the main contributor to the color of the pixel, while far-field diffractive coupling further enhances and tunes the plasmon resonance. The computational method used is the finite-difference time-domain method. The advantages of this approach include simplicity of the design, bright coloration, and highly polarized function. In addition, we show that it is possible to obtain different colors by varying the angle of incidence, the periodicity, the size of the dimer, the gap, and the substrate thickness.

A silicon pixel detector prototype for the CLIC vertex detector

CERN Multimedia

AUTHOR|(INSPIRE)INSPIRE-00714258

2017-01-01

A silicon pixel detector prototype for CLIC, currently under study for the innermost detector surrounding the collision point. The detector is made of a High-Voltage CMOS sensor (top) and a CLICpix2 readout chip (bottom) that are glued to each other. Both parts have a size of 3.3 x 4.0 $mm^2$ and consist of an array of 128 x 128 pixels of 25 x 25 $\\micro m^2$ size.

Modeling Charge Collection in Detector Arrays

Science.gov (United States)

Hardage, Donna (Technical Monitor); Pickel, J. C.

2003-01-01

A detector array charge collection model has been developed for use as an engineering tool to aid in the design of optical sensor missions for operation in the space radiation environment. This model is an enhancement of the prototype array charge collection model that was developed for the Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST) program. The primary enhancements were accounting for drift-assisted diffusion by Monte Carlo modeling techniques and implementing the modeling approaches in a windows-based code. The modeling is concerned with integrated charge collection within discrete pixels in the focal plane array (FPA), with high fidelity spatial resolution. It is applicable to all detector geometries including monolithc charge coupled devices (CCDs), Active Pixel Sensors (APS) and hybrid FPA geometries based on a detector array bump-bonded to a readout integrated circuit (ROIC).

Amorphous silicon pixel radiation detectors and associated thin film transistor electronics readout

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Perez-Mendez, V.; Drewery, J.; Hong, W.S.; Jing, T.; Kaplan, S.N.; Lee, H.; Mireshghi, A.

1994-10-01

We describe the characteristics of thin (1 μm) and thick (>30 μm) hydrogenated amorphous silicon p-i-n diodes which are optimized for detecting and recording the spatial distribution of charged particles, x-rays and γ rays. For x-ray, γ ray, and charged particle detection we can use thin p-i-n photosensitive diode arrays coupled to evaporated layers of suitable scintillators. For direct detection of charged particles with high resistance to radiation damage, we use the thick p-i-n diode arrays. Deposition techniques using helium dilution, which produce samples with low stress are described. Pixel arrays for flux exposures can be readout by transistor, single diode or two diode switches. Polysilicon charge sensitive pixel amplifiers for single event detection are described. Various applications in nuclear, particle physics, x-ray medical imaging, neutron crystallography, and radionuclide chromatography are discussed

Parallel multispot smFRET analysis using an 8-pixel SPAD array

Science.gov (United States)

Ingargiola, A.; Colyer, R. A.; Kim, D.; Panzeri, F.; Lin, R.; Gulinatti, A.; Rech, I.; Ghioni, M.; Weiss, S.; Michalet, X.

2012-02-01

Single-molecule Förster resonance energy transfer (smFRET) is a powerful tool for extracting distance information between two fluorophores (a donor and acceptor dye) on a nanometer scale. This method is commonly used to monitor binding interactions or intra- and intermolecular conformations in biomolecules freely diffusing through a focal volume or immobilized on a surface. The diffusing geometry has the advantage to not interfere with the molecules and to give access to fast time scales. However, separating photon bursts from individual molecules requires low sample concentrations. This results in long acquisition time (several minutes to an hour) to obtain sufficient statistics. It also prevents studying dynamic phenomena happening on time scales larger than the burst duration and smaller than the acquisition time. Parallelization of acquisition overcomes this limit by increasing the acquisition rate using the same low concentrations required for individual molecule burst identification. In this work we present a new two-color smFRET approach using multispot excitation and detection. The donor excitation pattern is composed of 4 spots arranged in a linear pattern. The fluorescent emission of donor and acceptor dyes is then collected and refocused on two separate areas of a custom 8-pixel SPAD array. We report smFRET measurements performed on various DNA samples synthesized with various distances between the donor and acceptor fluorophores. We demonstrate that our approach provides identical FRET efficiency values to a conventional single-spot acquisition approach, but with a reduced acquisition time. Our work thus opens the way to high-throughput smFRET analysis on freely diffusing molecules.

Array-scale performance of TES X-ray Calorimeters Suitable for Constellation-X

Science.gov (United States)

Kilbourne, C. A.; Bandler, S. R.; Brown, A. D.; Chervenak, J. A.; Eckart, M. E.; Finkbeiner, F. M.; Iyomoto, N.; Kelley, R. L.; Porter, F. S.; Smith, S. J.;

A Multi-Modality CMOS Sensor Array for Cell-Based Assay and Drug Screening.

Science.gov (United States)

Chi, Taiyun; Park, Jong Seok; Butts, Jessica C; Hookway, Tracy A; Su, Amy; Zhu, Chengjie; Styczynski, Mark P; McDevitt, Todd C; Wang, Hua

2015-12-01

In this paper, we present a fully integrated multi-modality CMOS cellular sensor array with four sensing modalities to characterize different cell physiological responses, including extracellular voltage recording, cellular impedance mapping, optical detection with shadow imaging and bioluminescence sensing, and thermal monitoring. The sensor array consists of nine parallel pixel groups and nine corresponding signal conditioning blocks. Each pixel group comprises one temperature sensor and 16 tri-modality sensor pixels, while each tri-modality sensor pixel can be independently configured for extracellular voltage recording, cellular impedance measurement (voltage excitation/current sensing), and optical detection. This sensor array supports multi-modality cellular sensing at the pixel level, which enables holistic cell characterization and joint-modality physiological monitoring on the same cellular sample with a pixel resolution of 80 μm × 100 μm. Comprehensive biological experiments with different living cell samples demonstrate the functionality and benefit of the proposed multi-modality sensing in cell-based assay and drug screening.

Semiconductor Pixel detectors and their applications in life sciences

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jakubek, J

2009-01-01

Recent advances in semiconductor technology allow construction of highly efficient and low noise pixel detectors of ionizing radiation. Steadily improving quality of front end electronics enables fast digital signal processing in each pixel which offers recording of more complete information about each detected quantum (energy, time, number of particles). All these features improve an extend applicability of pixel technology in different fields. Some applications of this technology especially for imaging in life sciences will be shown (energy and phase sensitive X-ray radiography and tomography, radiography with heavy charged particles, neutron radiography, etc). On the other hand a number of obstacles can limit the detector performance if not handled. The pixel detector is in fact an array of individual detectors (pixels), each of them has its own efficiency, energy calibration and also noise. The common effort is to make all these parameters uniform for all pixels. However an ideal uniformity can be never reached. Moreover, it is often seen that the signal in one pixel can affect the neighbouring pixels due to various reasons (e.g. charge sharing). All such effects have to be taken into account during data processing to avoid false data interpretation. A brief view into the future of pixel detectors and their applications including also spectroscopy, tracking and dosimetry is given too. Special attention is paid to the problem of detector segmentation in context of the charge sharing effect.

A new generation of small pixel pitch/SWaP cooled infrared detectors

Science.gov (United States)

Espuno, L.; Pacaud, O.; Reibel, Y.; Rubaldo, L.; Kerlain, A.; Péré-Laperne, N.; Dariel, A.; Roumegoux, J.; Brunner, A.; Kessler, A.; Gravrand, O.; Castelein, P.

2015-10-01

Following clear technological trends, the cooled IR detectors market is now in demand for smaller, more efficient and higher performance products. This demand pushes products developments towards constant innovations on detectors, read-out circuits, proximity electronics boards, and coolers. Sofradir was first to show a 10μm focal plane array (FPA) at DSS 2012, and announced the DAPHNIS 10μm product line back in 2014. This pixel pitch is a key enabler for infrared detectors with increased resolution. Sofradir recently achieved outstanding products demonstrations at this pixel pitch, which clearly demonstrate the benefits of adopting 10μm pixel pitch focal plane array-based detectors. Both HD and XGA Daphnis 10μm products also benefit from a global video datapath efficiency improvement by transitioning to digital video interfaces. Moreover, innovative smart pixels functionalities drastically increase product versatility. In addition to this strong push towards a higher pixels density, Sofradir acknowledges the need for smaller and lower power cooled infrared detector. Together with straightforward system interfaces and better overall performances, latest technological advances on SWAP-C (Size, Weight, Power and Cost) Sofradir products enable the advent of a new generation of high performance portable and agile systems (handheld thermal imagers, unmanned aerial vehicles, light gimbals etc...). This paper focuses on those features and performances that can make an actual difference in the field.

High-aggregate-capacity visible light communication links using stacked multimode polymer waveguides and micro-pixelated LED arrays

Science.gov (United States)

Bamiedakis, N.; McKendry, J. J. D.; Xie, E.; Gu, E.; Dawson, M. D.; Penty, R. V.; White, I. H.

2018-02-01

In recent years, light emitting diodes (LEDs) have gained renewed interest for use in visible light communication links (VLC) owing to their potential use as both high-quality power-efficient illumination sources as well as low-cost optical transmitters in free-space and guided-wave links. Applications that can benefit from their use include optical wireless systems (LiFi and Internet of Things), in-home and automotive networks, optical USBs and short-reach low-cost optical interconnects. However, VLC links suffer from the limited LED bandwidth (typically 100 MHz). As a result, a combination of novel LED devices, advanced modulation formats and multiplexing methods are employed to overcome this limitation and achieve high-speed (>1 Gb/s) data transmission over such links. In this work, we present recent advances in the formation of high-aggregate-capacity low cost guided wave VLC links using stacked polymer multimode waveguides and matching micro-pixelated LED (μLED) arrays. μLEDs have been shown to exhibit larger bandwidths (>200 MHz) than conventional broad-area LEDs and can be formed in large array configurations, while multimode polymer waveguides enable the formation of low-cost optical links onto standard PCBs. Here, three- and four-layered stacks of multimode waveguides, as well as matching GaN μLED arrays, are fabricated in order to generate high-density yet low-cost optical interconnects. Different waveguide topologies are implemented and are investigated in terms of loss and crosstalk performance. The initial results presented herein demonstrate good intrinsic crosstalk performance and indicate the potential to achieve >= 0.5 Tb/s/mm2 aggregate interconnection capacity using this low-cost technology.

RAPS: an innovative active pixel for particle detection integrated in CMOS technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Passeri, Daniele; Placidi, Pisana; Verducci, Leonardo; Ciampolini, Paolo; Matrella, Guido; Marras, Alessandro; Bilei, G.M.

2004-01-01

In this paper we discuss some design, implementation and test issues, with respect to the development of the RAPS01 chip in the framework of the Radiation Active Pixel Sensors (RAPS) INFN project. The project aimed at verifying feasibility of smart, high-resolution pixel arrays with a fully standard, submicron CMOS technology for particle detection purposes. Layout optimization of the pixel, including sensitive element and local read and amplification circuits has been carried out. Different basic pixel schemes and read-out options have been proposed and devised. Chip fabrication has been completed and test phase is now under way: to this purpose a suitable test environment has been devised and test strategies have been planned

Progress report on the use of hybrid silicon pin diode arrays in high energy physics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shapiro, S.L.; Jernigan, J.G.; Arens, J.F.

1990-05-01

We report on the successful effort to develop hybrid PIN diode arrays and to demonstrate their potential as components of vertex detectors. Hybrid pixel arrays have been fabricated by the Hughes Aircraft Co. by bump-bonding readout chips developed by Hughes to an array of PIN diodes manufactured by Micron Semiconductor Inc. These hybrid pixel arrays were constructed in two configurations. One array format has 10 x 64 pixels, each 120 μm square; and the other format has 256 x 156 pixels, each 30 μm square. In both cases, the thickness of the PIN diode layer is 300 μm. Measurements of detector performance show that excellent position resolution can be achieved by interpolation. By determining the centroid of the charge cloud which spreads charge into a number of neighboring pixels, a spatial resolution of a few microns has been attained. The noise has been measured to be about 300 electrons (rms) at room temperature, as expected from KTC and dark current considerations, yielding a signal-to-noise ratio of about 100 for minimum ionizing particles. 4 refs., 17 figs

Detector Sampling of Optical/IR Spectra: How Many Pixels per FWHM?

Science.gov (United States)

Robertson, J. Gordon

2017-08-01

Most optical and IR spectra are now acquired using detectors with finite-width pixels in a square array. Each pixel records the received intensity integrated over its own area, and pixels are separated by the array pitch. This paper examines the effects of such pixellation, using computed simulations to illustrate the effects which most concern the astronomer end-user. It is shown that coarse sampling increases the random noise errors in wavelength by typically 10-20 % at 2 pixels per Full Width at Half Maximum, but with wide variation depending on the functional form of the instrumental Line Spread Function (i.e. the instrumental response to a monochromatic input) and on the pixel phase. If line widths are determined, they are even more strongly affected at low sampling frequencies. However, the noise in fitted peak amplitudes is minimally affected by pixellation, with increases less than about 5%. Pixellation has a substantial but complex effect on the ability to see a relative minimum between two closely spaced peaks (or relative maximum between two absorption lines). The consistent scale of resolving power presented by Robertson to overcome the inadequacy of the Full Width at Half Maximum as a resolution measure is here extended to cover pixellated spectra. The systematic bias errors in wavelength introduced by pixellation, independent of signal/noise ratio, are examined. While they may be negligible for smooth well-sampled symmetric Line Spread Functions, they are very sensitive to asymmetry and high spatial frequency sub-structure. The Modulation Transfer Function for sampled data is shown to give a useful indication of the extent of improperly sampled signal in an Line Spread Function. The common maxim that 2 pixels per Full Width at Half Maximum is the Nyquist limit is incorrect and most Line Spread Functions will exhibit some aliasing at this sample frequency. While 2 pixels per Full Width at Half Maximum is nevertheless often an acceptable minimum for

Development and characterization of a TES optical imaging array for astrophysics applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Burney, J.; Bay, T.J.; Brink, P.L.; Cabrera, B.; Castle, J.P.; Romani, R.W.; Tomada, A.; Nam, S.W.; Miller, A.J.; Martinis, J.; Wang, E.; Kenny, T.; Young, B.A.

2004-01-01

Our research group has successfully developed photon detectors capable of both time-stamping and energy-resolving individual photons at very high rates in a wide band from the near-IR through optical and into the near-UV. We have fabricated 32-pixel arrays of these Transition-Edge Sensor (TES) devices and have mounted them in an adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator equipped with windows for direct imaging. We have characterized single pixel behavior; we have also begun operating multiple pixels simultaneously, starting the scaling process towards use of the full array. We emphasize the development of a metalized mask for our array that blocks photons from hitting the inter-pixel areas and reflects them onto the TESs. We also present calibration data on detector resolution, electronics noise, and optical alignment

Fabrication of close-packed TES microcalorimeter arrays using superconducting molybdenum/gold transition-edge sensors

Science.gov (United States)

Finkbeiner, F. M.; Brekosky, R. P.; Chervenak, J. A.; Figueroa-Feliciano, E.; Li, M. J.; Lindeman, M. A.; Stahle, C. K.; Stahle, C. M.; Tralshawala, N.

2002-02-01

We present an overview of our efforts in fabricating Transition-Edge Sensor (TES) microcalorimeter arrays for use in astronomical x-ray spectroscopy. Two distinct types of array schemes are currently pursued: 5×5 single pixel TES array where each pixel is a TES microcalorimeter, and Position-Sensing TES (PoST) array. In the latter, a row of 7 or 15 thermally-linked absorber pixels is read out by two TES at its ends. Both schemes employ superconducting Mo/Au bilayers as the TES. The TES are placed on silicon nitride membranes for thermal isolation from the structural frame. The silicon nitride membranes are prepared by a Deep Reactive Ion Etch (DRIE) process into a silicon wafer. In order to achieve the concept of closely packed arrays without decreasing its structural and functional integrity, we have already developed the technology to fabricate arrays of cantilevered pixel-sized absorbers and slit membranes in silicon nitride films. Furthermore, we have started to investigate ultra-low resistance through-wafer micro-vias to bring the electrical contact out to the back of a wafer. .

Colorization-Based RGB-White Color Interpolation using Color Filter Array with Randomly Sampled Pattern.

Science.gov (United States)

Oh, Paul; Lee, Sukho; Kang, Moon Gi

2017-06-28

Recently, several RGB-White (RGBW) color filter arrays (CFAs) have been proposed, which have extra white (W) pixels in the filter array that are highly sensitive. Due to the high sensitivity, the W pixels have better SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio) characteristics than other color pixels in the filter array, especially, in low light conditions. However, most of the RGBW CFAs are designed so that the acquired RGBW pattern image can be converted into the conventional Bayer pattern image, which is then again converted into the final color image by using conventional demosaicing methods, i.e., color interpolation techniques. In this paper, we propose a new RGBW color filter array based on a totally different color interpolation technique, the colorization algorithm. The colorization algorithm was initially proposed for colorizing a gray image into a color image using a small number of color seeds. Here, we adopt this algorithm as a color interpolation technique, so that the RGBW color filter array can be designed with a very large number of W pixels to make the most of the highly sensitive characteristics of the W channel. The resulting RGBW color filter array has a pattern with a large proportion of W pixels, while the small-numbered RGB pixels are randomly distributed over the array. The colorization algorithm makes it possible to reconstruct the colors from such a small number of RGB values. Due to the large proportion of W pixels, the reconstructed color image has a high SNR value, especially higher than those of conventional CFAs in low light condition. Experimental results show that many important information which are not perceived in color images reconstructed with conventional CFAs are perceived in the images reconstructed with the proposed method.

Characterization of the column-based priority logic readout of Topmetal-II− CMOS pixel direct charge sensor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

An, M.; Zhang, W.; Xiao, L.; Gao, C.; Chen, C.; Huang, G.; Ji, R.; Liu, J.; Pei, H.; Sun, X.; Wang, K.; Yang, P.; Zhou, W.; Han, M.; Mei, Y.; Li, X.; Sun, Q.

2017-01-01

We present the detailed study of the digital readout of Topmetal-II - CMOS pixel direct charge sensor. Topmetal-II - is an integrated sensor with an array of 72×72 pixels each capable of directly collecting external charge through exposed metal electrodes in the topmost metal layer. In addition to the time-shared multiplexing readout of the analog output from Charge Sensitive Amplifiers in each pixel, hits are also generated through comparators in each pixel with individually adjustable thresholds. The hits are read out via a column-based priority logic structure, retaining both hit location and time information. The in-array column-based priority logic features with a full clock-less circuitry hence there is no continuously running clock distributed in the pixel and matrix logic. These characteristics enable its use as the charge readout device in future Time Projection Chambers without gaseous gain mechanism, which has unique advantages in low background and low rate-density experiments. We studied the detailed working behavior and performance of this readout, and demonstrated its functional validity and potential in imaging applications.

Smart trigger logic for focal plane arrays

Science.gov (United States)

Levy, James E; Campbell, David V; Holmes, Michael L; Lovejoy, Robert; Wojciechowski, Kenneth; Kay, Randolph R; Cavanaugh, William S; Gurrieri, Thomas M

2014-03-25

An electronic device includes a memory configured to receive data representing light intensity values from pixels in a focal plane array and a processor that analyzes the received data to determine which light values correspond to triggered pixels, where the triggered pixels are those pixels that meet a predefined set of criteria, and determines, for each triggered pixel, a set of neighbor pixels for which light intensity values are to be stored. The electronic device also includes a buffer that temporarily stores light intensity values for at least one previously processed row of pixels, so that when a triggered pixel is identified in a current row, light intensity values for the neighbor pixels in the previously processed row and for the triggered pixel are persistently stored, as well as a data transmitter that transmits the persistently stored light intensity values for the triggered and neighbor pixels to a data receiver.

Evaluation of 320x240 pixel LEC GaAs Schottky barrier X-ray imaging arrays, hybridized to CMOS readout circuit based on charge integration

CERN Document Server

Irsigler, R; Alverbro, J; Borglind, J; Froejdh, C; Helander, P; Manolopoulos, S; O'Shea, V; Smith, K

1999-01-01

320x240 pixels GaAs Schottky barrier detector arrays were fabricated, hybridized to silicon readout circuits, and subsequently evaluated. The detector chip was based on semi-insulating LEC GaAs material. The square shaped pixel detector elements were of the Schottky barrier type and had a pitch of 38 mu m. The GaAs wafers were thinned down prior to the fabrication of the ohmic back contact. After dicing, the chips were indium bump, flip-chip bonded to CMOS readout circuits based on charge integration, and finally evaluated. A bias voltage between 50 and 100 V was sufficient to operate the detector. Results on I-V characteristics, noise behaviour and response to X-ray radiation are presented. Images of various objects and slit patterns were acquired by using a standard dental imaging X-ray source. The work done was a part of the XIMAGE project financed by the European Community (Brite-Euram). (author)

Development and clinical evaluation of an ionization chamber array with 3.5 mm pixel pitch for quality assurance in advanced radiotherapy techniques.

Science.gov (United States)

Togno, M; Wilkens, J J; Menichelli, D; Oechsner, M; Perez-Andujar, A; Morin, O

2016-05-01

To characterize a new air vented ionization chamber technology, suitable to build detector arrays with small pixel pitch and independence of sensitivity on dose per pulse. The prototype under test is a linear array of air vented ionization chambers, consisting of 80 pixels with 3.5 mm pixel pitch distance and a sensitive volume of about 4 mm(3). The detector has been characterized with (60)Co radiation and MV x rays from different linear accelerators (with flattened and unflattened beam qualities). Sensitivity dependence on dose per pulse has been evaluated under MV x rays by changing both the source to detector distance and the beam quality. Bias voltage has been varied in order to evaluate the charge collection efficiency in the most critical conditions. Relative dose profiles have been measured for both flattened and unflattened distributions with different field sizes. The reference detectors were a commercial array of ionization chambers and an amorphous silicon flat panel in direct conversion configuration. Profiles of dose distribution have been measured also with intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), and volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) patient plans. Comparison has been done with a commercial diode array and with Gafchromic EBT3 films. Repeatability and stability under continuous gamma irradiation are within 0.3%, in spite of low active volume and sensitivity (∼200 pC/Gy). Deviation from linearity is in the range [0.3%, -0.9%] for a dose of at least 20 cGy, while a worsening of linearity is observed below 10 cGy. Charge collection efficiency with 2.67 mGy/pulse is higher than 99%, leading to a ±0.9% sensitivity change in the range 0.09-2.67 mGy/pulse (covering all flattened and unflattened beam qualities). Tissue to phantom ratios show an agreement within 0.6% with the reference detector up to 34 cm depth. For field sizes in the range 2 × 2 to 15 × 15 cm(2), the output factors are in agreement with a

Development and clinical evaluation of an ionization chamber array with 3.5 mm pixel pitch for quality assurance in advanced radiotherapy techniques

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Togno, M., E-mail: michele.togno@iba-group.com [Physik-Department, Technische Universität München, Munich 85748 (Germany); Department of Radiation Oncology, Technische Universität München, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Munich 81675 (Germany); IBA Dosimetry GmbH, Schwarzenbruck 90592 (Germany); Wilkens, J. J. [Physik-Department, Technische Universität München, Munich 85748, Germany and Department of Radiation Oncology, Technische Universität München, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Munich 81675 (Germany); Menichelli, D. [IBA Dosimetry GmbH, Schwarzenbruck 90592 (Germany); Oechsner, M. [Department of Radiation Oncology, Technische Universität München, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Munich 81675 (Germany); Perez-Andujar, A.; Morin, O. [Department of Radiation Oncology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California 94143 (United States)

2016-05-15

Purpose: To characterize a new air vented ionization chamber technology, suitable to build detector arrays with small pixel pitch and independence of sensitivity on dose per pulse. Methods: The prototype under test is a linear array of air vented ionization chambers, consisting of 80 pixels with 3.5 mm pixel pitch distance and a sensitive volume of about 4 mm{sup 3}. The detector has been characterized with {sup 60}Co radiation and MV x rays from different linear accelerators (with flattened and unflattened beam qualities). Sensitivity dependence on dose per pulse has been evaluated under MV x rays by changing both the source to detector distance and the beam quality. Bias voltage has been varied in order to evaluate the charge collection efficiency in the most critical conditions. Relative dose profiles have been measured for both flattened and unflattened distributions with different field sizes. The reference detectors were a commercial array of ionization chambers and an amorphous silicon flat panel in direct conversion configuration. Profiles of dose distribution have been measured also with intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), and volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) patient plans. Comparison has been done with a commercial diode array and with Gafchromic EBT3 films. Results: Repeatability and stability under continuous gamma irradiation are within 0.3%, in spite of low active volume and sensitivity (∼200 pC/Gy). Deviation from linearity is in the range [0.3%, −0.9%] for a dose of at least 20 cGy, while a worsening of linearity is observed below 10 cGy. Charge collection efficiency with 2.67 mGy/pulse is higher than 99%, leading to a ±0.9% sensitivity change in the range 0.09–2.67 mGy/pulse (covering all flattened and unflattened beam qualities). Tissue to phantom ratios show an agreement within 0.6% with the reference detector up to 34 cm depth. For field sizes in the range 2 × 2 to 15 × 15 cm{sup 2}, the

The Kepler DB, a Database Management System for Arrays, Sparse Arrays and Binary Data

Science.gov (United States)

McCauliff, Sean; Cote, Miles T.; Girouard, Forrest R.; Middour, Christopher; Klaus, Todd C.; Wohler, Bill

2010-01-01

The Kepler Science Operations Center stores pixel values on approximately six million pixels collected every 30-minutes, as well as data products that are generated as a result of running the Kepler science processing pipeline. The Kepler Database (Kepler DB) management system was created to act as the repository of this information. After one year of ight usage, Kepler DB is managing 3 TiB of data and is expected to grow to over 10 TiB over the course of the mission. Kepler DB is a non-relational, transactional database where data are represented as one dimensional arrays, sparse arrays or binary large objects. We will discuss Kepler DB's APIs, implementation, usage and deployment at the Kepler Science Operations Center.

The Kepler DB: a database management system for arrays, sparse arrays, and binary data

Science.gov (United States)

McCauliff, Sean; Cote, Miles T.; Girouard, Forrest R.; Middour, Christopher; Klaus, Todd C.; Wohler, Bill

2010-07-01

The Kepler Science Operations Center stores pixel values on approximately six million pixels collected every 30 minutes, as well as data products that are generated as a result of running the Kepler science processing pipeline. The Kepler Database management system (Kepler DB)was created to act as the repository of this information. After one year of flight usage, Kepler DB is managing 3 TiB of data and is expected to grow to over 10 TiB over the course of the mission. Kepler DB is a non-relational, transactional database where data are represented as one-dimensional arrays, sparse arrays or binary large objects. We will discuss Kepler DB's APIs, implementation, usage and deployment at the Kepler Science Operations Center.

Fast Imaging Detector Readout Circuits with In-Pixel ADCs for Fourier Transform Imaging Spectrometers

Science.gov (United States)

Rider, D.; Blavier, J-F.; Cunningham, T.; Hancock, B.; Key, R.; Pannell, Z.; Sander, S.; Seshadri, S.; Sun, C.; Wrigley, C.

2011-01-01

Focal plane arrays (FPAs) with high frame rates and many pixels benefit several upcoming Earth science missions including GEO-CAPE, GACM, and ACE by enabling broader spatial coverage and higher spectral resolution. FPAs for the PanFTS, a high spatial resolution Fourier transform spectrometer and a candidate instrument for the GEO-CAPE mission are the focus of the developments reported here, but this FPA technology has the potential to enable a variety of future measurements and instruments. The ESTO ACT Program funded the developed of a fast readout integrated circuit (ROIC) based on an innovative in-pixel analog-to-digital converter (ADC). The 128 X 128 pixel ROIC features 60 ?m pixels, a 14-bit ADC in each pixel and operates at a continuous frame rate of 14 kHz consuming only 1.1 W of power. The ROIC outputs digitized data completely eliminating the bulky, power consuming signal chains needed by conventional FPAs. The 128 X 128 pixel ROIC has been fabricated in CMOS and tested at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The current version is designed to be hybridized with PIN photodiode arrays via indium bump bonding for light detection in the visible and ultraviolet spectral regions. However, the ROIC design incorporates a small photodiode in each cell to permit detailed characterization of the ROICperformance without the need for hybridization. We will describe the essential features of the ROIC design and present results of ROIC performance measurements.

Bonding techniques for hybrid active pixel sensors (HAPS)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bigas, M. [Centre Nacional de Microelectronica, CNM-IMB (CSIC), Campus Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona (Spain)]. E-mail: Marc.Bigas@cnm.es; Cabruja, E. [Centre Nacional de Microelectronica, CNM-IMB (CSIC), Campus Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona (Spain)]. E-mail: Enric.Cabruja@cnm.es; Lozano, M. [Centre Nacional de Microelectronica, CNM-IMB (CSIC), Campus Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona (Spain)

2007-05-01

A hybrid active pixel sensor (HAPS) consists of an array of sensing elements which is connected to an electronic read-out unit. The most used way to connect these two different devices is bump bonding. This interconnection technique is very suitable for these systems because it allows a very fine pitch and a high number of I/Os. However, there are other interconnection techniques available such as direct bonding. This paper, as a continuation of a review [M. Lozano, E. Cabruja, A. Collado, J. Santander, M. Ullan, Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A 473 (1-2) (2001) 95-101] published in 2001, presents an update of the different advanced bonding techniques available for manufacturing a hybrid active pixel detector.

APD arrays and large-area APDs via a new planar process

CERN Document Server

Farrell, R; Vanderpuye, K; Grazioso, R; Myers, R; Entine, G

2000-01-01

A fabrication process has been developed which allows the beveled-edge-type of avalanche photodiode (APD) to be made without the need for the artful bevel formation steps. This new process, applicable to both APD arrays and to discrete detectors, greatly simplifies manufacture and should lead to significant cost reduction for such photodetectors. This is achieved through a simple innovation that allows isolation around the device or array pixel to be brought into the plane of the surface of the silicon wafer, hence a planar process. A description of the new process is presented along with performance data for a variety of APD device and array configurations. APD array pixel gains in excess of 10 000 have been measured. Array pixel coincidence timing resolution of less than 5 ns has been demonstrated. An energy resolution of 6% for 662 keV gamma-rays using a CsI(T1) scintillator on a planar processed large-area APD has been recorded. Discrete APDs with active areas up to 13 cm sup 2 have been operated.

Photovoltaic Pixels for Neural Stimulation: Circuit Models and Performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Boinagrov, David; Lei, Xin; Goetz, Georges; Kamins, Theodore I; Mathieson, Keith; Galambos, Ludwig; Harris, James S; Palanker, Daniel

2016-02-01

Photovoltaic conversion of pulsed light into pulsed electric current enables optically-activated neural stimulation with miniature wireless implants. In photovoltaic retinal prostheses, patterns of near-infrared light projected from video goggles onto subretinal arrays of photovoltaic pixels are converted into patterns of current to stimulate the inner retinal neurons. We describe a model of these devices and evaluate the performance of photovoltaic circuits, including the electrode-electrolyte interface. Characteristics of the electrodes measured in saline with various voltages, pulse durations, and polarities were modeled as voltage-dependent capacitances and Faradaic resistances. The resulting mathematical model of the circuit yielded dynamics of the electric current generated by the photovoltaic pixels illuminated by pulsed light. Voltages measured in saline with a pipette electrode above the pixel closely matched results of the model. Using the circuit model, our pixel design was optimized for maximum charge injection under various lighting conditions and for different stimulation thresholds. To speed discharge of the electrodes between the pulses of light, a shunt resistor was introduced and optimized for high frequency stimulation.

Preliminary test results from a telescope of Hughes pixel arrays at FNAL

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jernigan, J.G.; Arens, J.; Vezie, D.; Collins, T.; Krider, J.; Skubic, P.

1992-09-01

In December of 1991 three silicon hybrid pixel detectors each having 2.56 x 2.56 pixels 30 μm square, made by the Hughes Aircraft Company, were placed in a high energy muon beam at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. Straight tracks were recorded in these detectors at angles to the normal to the plane of the silicon ranging from 0 to 45 degrees. In this note, preliminary results are presented on the straight through tracks, i.e., those passing through the telescope at normal incidence. Pulse height data, signal-to-noise data, and preliminary straight line fits to the data resulting in residual distributions are presented. Preliminary calculations show spatial resolution of less than 5 μm in two dimensions

A CMOS In-Pixel CTIA High Sensitivity Fluorescence Imager.

Science.gov (United States)

Murari, Kartikeya; Etienne-Cummings, Ralph; Thakor, Nitish; Cauwenberghs, Gert

2011-10-01

Traditionally, charge coupled device (CCD) based image sensors have held sway over the field of biomedical imaging. Complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) based imagers so far lack sensitivity leading to poor low-light imaging. Certain applications including our work on animal-mountable systems for imaging in awake and unrestrained rodents require the high sensitivity and image quality of CCDs and the low power consumption, flexibility and compactness of CMOS imagers. We present a 132×124 high sensitivity imager array with a 20.1 μm pixel pitch fabricated in a standard 0.5 μ CMOS process. The chip incorporates n-well/p-sub photodiodes, capacitive transimpedance amplifier (CTIA) based in-pixel amplification, pixel scanners and delta differencing circuits. The 5-transistor all-nMOS pixel interfaces with peripheral pMOS transistors for column-parallel CTIA. At 70 fps, the array has a minimum detectable signal of 4 nW/cm(2) at a wavelength of 450 nm while consuming 718 μA from a 3.3 V supply. Peak signal to noise ratio (SNR) was 44 dB at an incident intensity of 1 μW/cm(2). Implementing 4×4 binning allowed the frame rate to be increased to 675 fps. Alternately, sensitivity could be increased to detect about 0.8 nW/cm(2) while maintaining 70 fps. The chip was used to image single cell fluorescence at 28 fps with an average SNR of 32 dB. For comparison, a cooled CCD camera imaged the same cell at 20 fps with an average SNR of 33.2 dB under the same illumination while consuming over a watt.

CMOS Active-Pixel Image Sensor With Intensity-Driven Readout

Science.gov (United States)

Langenbacher, Harry T.; Fossum, Eric R.; Kemeny, Sabrina

1996-01-01

Proposed complementary metal oxide/semiconductor (CMOS) integrated-circuit image sensor automatically provides readouts from pixels in order of decreasing illumination intensity. Sensor operated in integration mode. Particularly useful in number of image-sensing tasks, including diffractive laser range-finding, three-dimensional imaging, event-driven readout of sparse sensor arrays, and star tracking.

A positron emission tomograph based on LSO-APD modules with a sampling ADC read-out system for a students' advanced laboratory course

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schneider, Florian R.; Mann, Alexander B.; Technische Univ. Muenchen, Klinikum rechts der Isar; Konorov, Igor; Paul, Stephan; Delso, Gaspar; Ziegler, Sibylle I.

2012-01-01

A one-day laboratory course on positron emission tomography (PET) for the education of physics students and PhD students in medical physics has been set up. In the course, the physical background and the principles of a PET scanner are introduced. Course attendees set the system in operation, calibrate it using a 22 Na point source and reconstruct different source geometries filled with 18 F. The PET scanner features an individual channel read-out of 96 lutetium oxyorthosilicate (LSO) scintillator crystals coupled to avalanche photodiodes (APD). The analog data of each APD are digitized by fast sampling analog to digital converters (SADC) and processed within field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) to extract amplitudes and time stamps. All SADCs are continuously sampling with a precise rate of 80 MHz, which is synchronous for the whole system. The data is transmitted via USB to a Linux PC, where further processing and the image reconstruction are performed. The course attendees get an insight into detector techniques, modern read-out electronics, data acquisition and PET image reconstruction. In addition, a short introduction to some common software applications used in particle and high energy physics is part of the course. (orig.)

Wide field and diffraction limited array camera for SIRTF

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fazio, G.G.; Koch, D.G.; Melnick, G.J.

1986-01-01

The Infrared Array Camera for the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF/IRAC) is capable of two-dimensional photometry in either a wide field or diffraction-limited mode over the wavelength interval from 2 to 30 microns. Three different two-dimensional direct readout (DRO) array detectors are being considered: Band 1-InSb or Si:In (2-5 microns) 128 x 128 pixels, Band 2-Si:Ga (5-18 microns) 64 x 64 pixels, and Band 3-Si:Sb (18-30 microns) 64 x 64 pixels. The hybrid DRO readout architecture has the advantages of low read noise, random pixel access with individual readout rates, and nondestructive readout. The scientific goals of IRAC are discussed, which are the basis for several important requirements and capabilities of the array camera: (1) diffraction-limited resolution from 2-30 microns, (2) use of the maximum unvignetted field of view of SIRTF, (3) simultaneous observations within the three infrared spectral bands, and (4) the capability for broad and narrow bandwidth spectral resolution. A strategy has been developed to minimize the total electronic and environmental noise sources to satisfy the scientific requirements. 7 references

A High-Speed, Event-Driven, Active Pixel Sensor Readout for Photon-Counting Microchannel Plate Detectors

Science.gov (United States)

Kimble, Randy A.; Pain, Bedabrata; Norton, Timothy J.; Haas, J. Patrick; Oegerle, William R. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

Silicon array readouts for microchannel plate intensifiers offer several attractive features. In this class of detector, the electron cloud output of the MCP intensifier is converted to visible light by a phosphor; that light is then fiber-optically coupled to the silicon array. In photon-counting mode, the resulting light splashes on the silicon array are recognized and centroided to fractional pixel accuracy by off-chip electronics. This process can result in very high (MCP-limited) spatial resolution while operating at a modest MCP gain (desirable for dynamic range and long term stability). The principal limitation of intensified CCD systems of this type is their severely limited local dynamic range, as accurate photon counting is achieved only if there are not overlapping event splashes within the frame time of the device. This problem can be ameliorated somewhat by processing events only in pre-selected windows of interest of by using an addressable charge injection device (CID) for the readout array. We are currently pursuing the development of an intriguing alternative readout concept based on using an event-driven CMOS Active Pixel Sensor. APS technology permits the incorporation of discriminator circuitry within each pixel. When coupled with suitable CMOS logic outside the array area, the discriminator circuitry can be used to trigger the readout of small sub-array windows only when and where an event splash has been detected, completely eliminating the local dynamic range problem, while achieving a high global count rate capability and maintaining high spatial resolution. We elaborate on this concept and present our progress toward implementing an event-driven APS readout.

FE-I4 Chip Development for Upgraded ATLAS Pixel Detector at LHC

CERN Document Server

Barbero, M; The ATLAS collaboration

2010-01-01

A new ATLAS pixel chip FE-I4 has been developed for use in upgraded LHC luminosity environments, including the near-term Insertable B-Layer upgrade. FE-I4 is designed in a 130 nm CMOS technology, presenting advantages in terms of radiation tolerance and digital logic density compared to the 0.25 μm CMOS technology used for the current ATLAS pixel IC, FE-I3. FE-I4 architecture is based on an array of 80×336 pixels, each 50×250 μm2, consisting of analog and digital sections. The analog pixel section is designed for low power consumption and compatibility to several sensor candidates. It is based on a two-stage architecture with a pre-amp AC-coupled to a second stage of amplification. It features leakage current compensation circuitry, local 4-bit pre-amp feedback tuning and a discriminator locally adjusted through 5 configuration bits. The digital architecture is based on a 4-pixel unit called Pixel Digital Region (PDR) allowing for local storage of hits in 5-deep data buffers at pixel level for the duratio...

Next generation sub-millimeter wave focal plane array coupling concepts: an ESA TRP project to develop multichroic focal plane pixels for future CMB polarization experiments

Science.gov (United States)

Trappe, N.; Bucher, M.; De Bernardis, P.; Delabrouille, J.; Deo, P.; DePetris, M.; Doherty, S.; Ghribi, A.; Gradziel, M.; Kuzmin, L.; Maffei, B.; Mahashabde, S.; Masi, S.; Murphy, J. A.; Noviello, F.; O'Sullivan, C.; Pagano, L.; Piacentini, F.; Piat, M.; Pisano, G.; Robinson, M.; Stompor, R.; Tartari, A.; van der Vorst, M.; Verhoeve, P.

2016-07-01

The main objective of this activity is to develop new focal plane coupling array concepts and technologies that optimise the coupling from reflector optics to the large number of detectors for next generation sub millimetre wave telescopes particularly targeting measurement of the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). In this 18 month TRP programme the consortium are tasked with developing, manufacturing and experimentally verifying a prototype multichroic pixel which would be suitable for the large focal plane arrays which will be demanded to reach the required sensitivity of future CMB polarization missions. One major development was to have multichroic operation to potentially reduce the required focal plane size of a CMB mission. After research in the optimum telescope design and definition of requirements based on a stringent science case review, a number of compact focal plane architecture concepts were investigated before a pixel demonstrator consisting of a planar mesh lens feeding a backend Resonant Cold Electron Bolometer RCEB for filtering and detection of the dual frequency signal was planned for manufacture and test. In this demonstrator the frequencies of the channels was chosen to be 75 and 105 GHz in the w band close to the peak CMB signal. In the next year the prototype breadboards will be developed to test the beams produced by the manufactured flat lenses fed by a variety of antenna configurations and the spectral response of the RCEBs will also be verified.

The ALICE silicon pixel detector front-end and read-out electronics

CERN Document Server

Kluge, A

2006-01-01

The ALICE silicon pixel detector (SPD) comprises the two innermost barrel layers of the ALICE inner tracker system. The SPD includes 120 half staves each of which consists of a linear array of 10 ALICE pixel chips bump bonded to two silicon sensors. Each pixel chip contains 8192 active cells, so the total number of pixel cells in the SPD is ≈107. The tight material budget and the limitation in physical dimensions required by the detector design introduce new challenges for the integration of the on-detector electronics. An essential part of the half stave is a low-mass multi-layer flex that carries power, ground, and signals to the pixel chips. Each half stave is read out using a multi-chip module (MCM). The MCM contains three radiation hard ASICs and an 800 Mbit/s custom developed optical link for the data transfer between the detector and the control room. The detector components are less than 3 mm thick. The production of the half-staves and MCMs is currently under way. Test results as well as on overvie...

Single Photon Detection with Semiconductor Pixel Arrays for Medical Imaging Applications

CERN Document Server

Mikulec, B

2000-01-01

This thesis explores the functioning of a single photon counting pixel detector for X-ray imaging. It considers different applications for such a device, but focuses mainly on the field of medical imaging. The new detector comprises a CMOS read-out chip called PCC containing 4096 identical channels each of which counts X-ray hits. The conversion of the X-rays to electric charge takes place in a semiconductor sensor which is segmented into 4096 matching square diodes of side length 170 um, the 'pixels'. The photon counting concept is based on setting a threshold in energy above which a hit is registered. The immediate advantages are the elimination of background and the in principle unlimited dynamic range. Moreover, this approach allows the use of an electronic shutter for arbitrary measurement periods. As the device was intended for operation in the energy range of ~10-70 keV, gallium arsenide was selected as the preferred sensor material. The development of this detector followed on from about 10 years of r...

Characterization of a large-format, fine-pitch CdZnTe pixel detector for the HEFT balloon-Borne experiment

OpenAIRE

Chen, C. M. Hubert; Cook, Walter R.; Harrison, Fiona A.; Lin, Jiao Y. Y.

2004-01-01

We have developed a large-format CdZnTe pixel detector with custom, low-noise ASIC readout, for astrophysical applications. In particular, this detector is targeted for use in the High-Energy Focusing Telescope (HEFT), a balloon-borne experiment with focusing optics for 20-70 keV. The detector is a 24 X 44 pixel array of 498-µm pitch. As a focal plane detector, uniformity from pixel to pixel is very desirable. In this paper, we present the characterization of some detector properties for the ...

Tiled Array of Pixelated CZT Imaging Detectors for ProtoEXIST2 and MIRAX-HXI

Science.gov (United States)

Hong, Jaesub; Allen, Branden; Grindlay, Jonathan; Rodrigues, Barbara; Ellis, Jon Robert; Baker, Robert; Barthelmy, Scott; Mao, Peter; Miyasaka, Hiromasa; Apple, Jeff

2013-12-01

We have assembled a tiled array (220 cm2) of fine pixel (0.6 mm) imaging CZT detectors for a balloon borne wide-field hard X-ray telescope, ProtoEXIST2. ProtoEXIST2 is a prototype experiment for a next generation hard X-ray imager MIRAX-HXI on board Lattes, a spacecraft from the Agencia Espacial Brasilieira. MIRAX will survey the 5 to 200 keV sky of Galactic bulge, adjoining southern Galactic plane and the extragalactic sky with 6 ' angular resolution. This survey will open a vast discovery space in timing studies of accretion neutron stars and black holes. The ProtoEXIST2 CZT detector plane consists of 64 of 5 mm thick 2 cm × 2 cm CZT crystals tiled with a minimal gap. MIRAX will consist of 4 such detector planes, each of which will be imaged with its own coded-aperture mask. We present the packaging architecture and assembly procedure of the ProtoEXIST2 detector. On 2012, Oct 10, we conducted a successful high altitude balloon experiment of the ProtoEXIST1 and 2 telescopes, which demonstrates their technology readiness for space application. During the flight both telescopes performed as well as on the ground. We report the results of ground calibration and the initial results for the detector performance in the balloon flight.

A positron emission tomograph based on LSO-APD modules with a sampling ADC read-out system for a students' advanced laboratory course

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schneider, Florian R.; Mann, Alexander B. [Technische Univ. Muenchen, Garching (Germany). Physik-Department E18; Technische Univ. Muenchen, Klinikum rechts der Isar (Germany). Nuklearmedizinische Klinik und Poliklinik; Konorov, Igor; Paul, Stephan [Technische Univ. Muenchen, Garching (Germany). Physik-Department E18; Delso, Gaspar; Ziegler, Sibylle I. [Technische Univ. Muenchen, Klinikum rechts der Isar (Germany). Nuklearmedizinische Klinik und Poliklinik

2012-07-01

A one-day laboratory course on positron emission tomography (PET) for the education of physics students and PhD students in medical physics has been set up. In the course, the physical background and the principles of a PET scanner are introduced. Course attendees set the system in operation, calibrate it using a {sup 22}Na point source and reconstruct different source geometries filled with {sup 18}F. The PET scanner features an individual channel read-out of 96 lutetium oxyorthosilicate (LSO) scintillator crystals coupled to avalanche photodiodes (APD). The analog data of each APD are digitized by fast sampling analog to digital converters (SADC) and processed within field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) to extract amplitudes and time stamps. All SADCs are continuously sampling with a precise rate of 80 MHz, which is synchronous for the whole system. The data is transmitted via USB to a Linux PC, where further processing and the image reconstruction are performed. The course attendees get an insight into detector techniques, modern read-out electronics, data acquisition and PET image reconstruction. In addition, a short introduction to some common software applications used in particle and high energy physics is part of the course. (orig.)

Low-cost bump-bonding processes for high energy physics pixel detectors

CERN Document Server

AUTHOR|(CDS)2069357; Blank, Thomas; Colombo, Fabio; Dierlamm, Alexander Hermann; Husemann, Ulrich; Kudella, Simon; Weber, M

2016-01-01

In the next generation of collider experiments detectors will be challenged by unprecedented particle fluxes. Thus large detector arrays of highly pixelated detectors with minimal dead area will be required at reasonable costs. Bump-bonding of pixel detectors has been shown to be a major cost-driver. KIT is one of five production centers of the CMS barrel pixel detector for the Phase I Upgrade. In this contribution the SnPb bump-bonding process and the production yield is reported. In parallel to the production of the new CMS pixel detector, several alternatives to the expensive photolithography electroplating/electroless metal deposition technologies are developing. Recent progress and challenges faced in the development of bump-bonding technology based on gold-stud bonding by thin (15 μm) gold wire is presented. This technique allows producing metal bumps with diameters down to 30 μm without using photolithography processes, which are typically required to provide suitable under bump metallization. The sh...

Amorphous silicon pixel layers with cesium iodide converters for medical radiography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jing, T.; Cho, G.; Goodman, C.A.

1993-11-01

We describe the properties of evaporated layers of Cesium Iodide (Thallium activated) deposited on substrates that enable easy coupling to amorphous silicon pixel arrays. The CsI(Tl) layers range in thickness from 65 to 220μm. We used the two-boat evaporator system to deposit CsI(Tl) layers. This system ensures the formation of the scintillator film with homogenous thallium concentration which is essential for optimizing the scintillation light emission efficiency. The Tl concentration was kept to 0.1--0.2 mole percent for the highest light output. Temperature annealing can affect the microstructure as well as light output of the CsI(Tl) film. 200--300C temperature annealing can increase the light output by a factor of two. The amorphous silicon pixel arrays are p-i-n diodes approximately lμm thick with transparent electrodes to enable them to detect the scintillation light produced by X-rays incident on the CsI(Tl). Digital radiography requires a good spatial resolution. This is accomplished by making the detector pixel size less then 50μm. The light emission from the CsI(Tl) is collimated by techniques involving the deposition process on pattered substrates. We have measured MTF of greater than 12 line pairs per mm at the 10% level

Poster - 01: LabPET II Pixelated APD-Based PET Scanner for High-Resolution Preclinical Imaging

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lecomte, Roger; Arpin, Louis; Beaudoin, Jean-François; Bergeron, Mélanie; Bouchard, Jonathan; Bouziri, Haithem; Cadorette, Jules; Gaudin, Émilie; Jürgensen, Nadia; Koua, Konin Calliste; Trépanier, Pierre-Yves Lauzier; Leroux, Jean-Daniel; Loignon-Houle, Francis; Njejimana, Larissa; Paillé, Maxime; Paulin, Caroline; Pepin, Catherine; Pratte, Jean-François; Samson, Arnaud; Thibaudeau, Christian [Université de Sherbrooke, Université de Sherbrooke, CIMS/CRCHUS, Université de Sherbrooke, Université de Sherbrooke, Université de Sherbrooke, CIMS/CRCHUS, Université de Sherbrooke, Université de Sherbrooke, 3IT, Université de Sherbrooke, Novalgo Inc., Université de Sherbrooke, Université de Sherbrooke, CIMS/CRCHUS, 3IT, Université de Sherbrooke, Université de Sherbrooke, Université de Sherbrooke, Université de Sherbrooke, 3IT, Université de Sherbrooke (Canada); and others

2016-08-15

Purpose: LabPET II is a new generation APD-based PET scanner designed to achieve sub-mm spatial resolution using truly pixelated detectors and highly integrated parallel front-end processing electronics. Methods: The basic element uses a 4×8 array of 1.12×1.12 mm{sup 2} Lu{sub 1.9}Y{sub 0.1}SiO{sub 5}:Ce (LYSO) scintillator pixels with one-to-one coupling to a 4×8 pixelated monolithic APD array mounted on a ceramic carrier. Four detector arrays are mounted on a daughter board carrying two flip-chip, 64-channel, mixed-signal, application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC) on the backside interfacing to two detector arrays each. Fully parallel signal processing was implemented in silico by encoding time and energy information using a dual-threshold Time-over-Threshold (ToT) scheme. The self-contained 128-channel detector module was designed as a generic component for ultra-high resolution PET imaging of small to medium-size animals. Results: Energy and timing performance were optimized by carefully setting ToT thresholds to minimize the noise/slope ratio. ToT spectra clearly show resolved 511 keV photopeak and Compton edge with ToT resolution well below 10%. After correction for nonlinear ToT response, energy resolution is typically 24±2% FWHM. Coincidence time resolution between opposing 128-channel modules is below 4 ns FWHM. Initial imaging results demonstrate that 0.8 mm hot spots of a Derenzo phantom can be resolved. Conclusion: A new generation PET scanner featuring truly pixelated detectors was developed and shown to achieve a spatial resolution approaching the physical limit of PET. Future plans are to integrate a small-bore dedicated mouse version of the scanner within a PET/CT platform.

Imaging spectroscopy using embedded diffractive optical arrays

Science.gov (United States)

Hinnrichs, Michele; Hinnrichs, Bradford

2017-09-01

four different spectral images of the scene each frame and when coupled with a 512 x 512 focal plane array will give spatial resolution of 256 x 256 pixel each spectral image. Another system that we developed uses a 4 x 4 lenslet array on a 1024 x 1024 pixel element focal plane array which gives 16 spectral images of 256 x 256 pixel resolution each frame. This system spans the SWIR and MWIR bands with a single optical array and focal plane array.

Pixel extraction based integral imaging with controllable viewing direction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ji, Chao-Chao; Deng, Huan; Wang, Qiong-Hua

2012-01-01

We propose pixel extraction based integral imaging with a controllable viewing direction. The proposed integral imaging can provide viewers three-dimensional (3D) images in a very small viewing angle. The viewing angle and the viewing direction of the reconstructed 3D images are controlled by the pixels extracted from an elemental image array. Theoretical analysis and a 3D display experiment of the viewing direction controllable integral imaging are carried out. The experimental results verify the correctness of the theory. A 3D display based on the integral imaging can protect the viewer’s privacy and has huge potential for a television to show multiple 3D programs at the same time. (paper)

Monte Carlo simulation of the imaging properties of scintillator-coated X-ray pixel detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hjelm, M.; Norlin, B.; Nilsson, H.-E.; Froejdh, C.; Badel, X.

2003-01-01

The spatial resolution of scintillator-coated X-ray pixel detectors is usually limited by the isotropic light spread in the scintillator. One way to overcome this limitation is to use a pixellated scintillating layer on top of the semiconductor pixel detector. Using advanced etching and filling techniques, arrays of CsI columns have been successfully fabricated and characterized. Each CsI waveguide matches one pixel of the semiconductor detector, limiting the spatial spread of light. Another concept considered in this study is to detect the light emitted from the scintillator by diodes formed in the silicon pore walls. There is so far no knowledge regarding the theoretical limits for these two approaches, which makes the evaluation of the fabrication process difficult. In this work we present numerical calculations of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for detector designs based on scintillator-filled pores in silicon. The calculations are based on separate Monte Carlo (MC) simulations of X-ray absorption and light transport in scintillator waveguides. The resulting data are used in global MC simulations of flood exposures of the detector array, from which the SNR values are obtained. Results are presented for two scintillator materials, namely CsI(Tl) and GADOX

Demonstration of acoustic source localization in air using single pixel compressive imaging

Science.gov (United States)

Rogers, Jeffrey S.; Rohde, Charles A.; Guild, Matthew D.; Naify, Christina J.; Martin, Theodore P.; Orris, Gregory J.

2017-12-01

Acoustic source localization often relies on large sensor arrays that can be electronically complex and have large data storage requirements to process element level data. Recently, the concept of a single-pixel-imager has garnered interest in the electromagnetics literature due to its ability to form high quality images with a single receiver paired with shaped aperture screens that allow for the collection of spatially orthogonal measurements. Here, we present a method for creating an acoustic analog to the single-pixel-imager found in electromagnetics for the purpose of source localization. Additionally, diffraction is considered to account for screen openings comparable to the acoustic wavelength. A diffraction model is presented and incorporated into the single pixel framework. In this paper, we explore the possibility of applying single pixel localization to acoustic measurements. The method is experimentally validated with laboratory measurements made in an air waveguide.

NEW LENSLET BASED IFS WITH HIGH DETECTOR PIXEL EFFICIENCY

Science.gov (United States)

Gong, Qian

2018-01-01

Three IFS types currently used for optical design are: lenslet array, imager slicer, and lenslet array and fiber combined. Lenslet array based Integral Field Spectroscopy (IFS) is very popular for many astrophysics applications due to its compactness, simplicity, as well as cost and mass savings. The disadvantage of lenslet based IFS is its low detector pixel efficiency. Enough spacing is needed between adjacent spectral traces in cross dispersion direction to avoid wavelength cross-talk, because the same wavelength is not aligned to the same column on detector. Such as on a recent exoplanet coronagraph instrument study to support the coming astrophysics decadal survey (LUVOIR), to cover a 45 λ/D Field of View (FOV) with a spectral resolving power of 200 at shortest wavelength, a 4k x 4k detector array is needed. This large format EMCCD pushes the detector into technology development area with a low TRL. Besides the future mission, it will help WFIRST coronagraph IFS by packing all spectra into a smaller area on detector, which will reduce the chance for electrons to be trapped in pixels, and slow the detector degradation during the mission.The innovation we propose here is to increase the detector packing efficiency by grouping a number of lenslets together to form many mini slits. In other words, a number of spots (Point Spread Function at lenslet focus) are aligned into a line to resemble a mini slit. Therefore, wavelength cross-talk is no longer a concern anymore. This combines the advantage of lenslet array and imager slicer together. The isolation rows between spectral traces in cross dispersion direction can be reduced or removed. So the packing efficiency is greatly increased. Furthermore, the today’s microlithography and etching technique is capable of making such a lenslet array, which will relax the detector demand significantly. It will finally contribute to the habitable exoplanets study to analyzing their spectra from direct images. Detailed theory

Photon counting arrays for AO wavefront sensors

CERN Document Server

Vallerga, J; McPhate, J; Mikulec, Bettina; Clark, Allan G; Siegmund, O; CERN. Geneva

2005-01-01

Future wavefront sensors for AO on large telescopes will require a large number of pixels and must operate at high frame rates. Unfortunately for CCDs, there is a readout noise penalty for operating faster, and this noise can add up rather quickly when considering the number of pixels required for the extended shape of a sodium laser guide star observed with a large telescope. Imaging photon counting detectors have zero readout noise and many pixels, but have suffered in the past with low QE at the longer wavelengths (>500 nm). Recent developments in GaAs photocathode technology, CMOS ASIC readouts and FPGA processing electronics have resulted in noiseless WFS detector designs that are competitive with silicon array detectors, though at ~40% the QE of CCDs. We review noiseless array detectors and compare their centroiding performance with CCDs using the best available characteristics of each. We show that for sub-aperture binning of 6x6 and greater that noiseless detectors have a smaller centroid error at flu...

A pixel unit-cell targeting 16 ns resolution and radiation hardness in a column read-out particle vertex detector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wright, M.; Millaud, J.; Nygren, D.

1992-10-01

A pixel unit cell (PUC) circuit architecture, optimized for a column read out architecture, is reported. Each PUC contains an integrator, active filter, comparator, and optional analog store. The time-over-threshold (TOT) discriminator allows an all-digital interface to the array periphery readout while passing an analog measure of collected charge. Use of (existing) radiation hard processes, to build a detector bump-bonded to a pixel readout array, is targeted. Here, emphasis is on a qualitative explanation of how the unique circuit implementation benefits operation for Super Collider (SSC) detector application

A pixel unit-cell targeting 16ns resolution and radiation hardness in a column read-out particle vertex detector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wright, M.; Millaud, J.; Nygren, D.

1993-01-01

A pixel unit cell (PUC) circuit architecture, optimized for a column read out architecture, is reported. Each PUC contains an integrator, active filter, comparator, and optional analog store. The time-over-threshold (TOT) discriminator allows an all-digital interface to the array periphery readout while passing an analog measure of collected charge. Use of (existing) radiation hard processes, to build a detector bump-bonded to a pixel readout array, is targeted. Here emphasis is on a qualitative explanation of how the unique circuit implementation benefits operation for Super Collider (SSC) detector application. (orig.)

Integrated parabolic nanolenses on MicroLED color pixels

Science.gov (United States)

Demory, Brandon; Chung, Kunook; Katcher, Adam; Sui, Jingyang; Deng, Hui; Ku, Pei-Cheng

2018-04-01

A parabolic nanolens array coupled to the emission of a nanopillar micro-light emitting diode (LED) color pixel is shown to reduce the far field divergence. For a blue wavelength LED, the total emission is 95% collimated within a 0.5 numerical aperture zone, a 3.5x improvement over the same LED without a lens structure. This corresponds to a half-width at half-maximum (HWHM) line width reduction of 2.85 times. Using a resist reflow and etchback procedure, the nanolens array dimensions and parabolic shape are formed. Experimental measurement of the far field emission shows a HWHM linewidth reduction by a factor of 2x, reducing the divergence over the original LED.

Embedded FPGA Design for Optimal Pixel Adjustment Process of Image Steganography

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chiung-Wei Huang

2018-01-01

Full Text Available We propose a prototype of field programmable gate array (FPGA implementation for optimal pixel adjustment process (OPAP algorithm of image steganography. In the proposed scheme, the cover image and the secret message are transmitted from a personal computer (PC to an FPGA board using RS232 interface for hardware processing. We firstly embed k-bit secret message into each pixel of the cover image by the last-significant-bit (LSB substitution method, followed by executing associated OPAP calculations to construct a stego pixel. After all pixels of the cover image have been embedded, a stego image is created and transmitted from FPGA back to the PC and stored in the PC. Moreover, we have extended the basic pixel-wise structure to a parallel structure which can fully use the hardware devices to speed up the embedding process and embed several bits of secret message at the same time. Through parallel mechanism of the hardware based design, the data hiding process can be completed in few clock cycles to produce steganography outcome. Experimental results show the effectiveness and correctness of the proposed scheme.

Performance of compact TES arrays with integrated high-fill-fraction X-ray absorbers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lindeman, Mark A.; Bandler, Simon; Brekosky, Regis P.; Chervenak, James A.; Figueroa-Feliciano, Enectali; Finkbeiner, Fred M.; Kelley, Richard L.; Saab, Tarek; Stahle, Caroline K.; Talley, D.J.

2004-01-01

We have recently produced and tested two-dimensional arrays of Mo/Au transition-edge-sensor (TES) calorimeters with Bi/Cu absorbers. The arrays represent a significant step towards meeting the specifications of NASA's Constellation-X mission. The calorimeters are compactly spaced within 5x5 arrays of 250 μm square pixels necessary for an angular resolution of 5 arcsec. Lithographically produced absorbers hang over the substrate and wiring between the TESs for high filling fraction and high quantum efficiency. We designed the calorimeters with heat capacities and thermal couplings such that X-rays produce pulses with fall times of approximately 300 μs to allow relatively high count rates with low dead time. We read out up to four of the pixels simultaneously. The arrays demonstrated very good energy resolution (5 eV at 1.5 keV and 7 eV at 6 keV) and little crosstalk between neighboring pixels

Design and Optimization of Multi-Pixel Transition-Edge Sensors for X-Ray Astronomy Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Stephen J.; Adams, Joseph S.; Bandler, Simon R.; Chervenak, James A.; Datesman, Aaron Michael; Eckart, Megan E.; Ewin, Audrey J.; Finkbeiner, Fred M.; Kelley, Richard L.; Kilbourne, Caroline A.;

A 2D 4×4 Channel Readout ASIC for Pixelated CdTe Detectors for Medical Imaging Applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Macias-Montero, Jose-Gabriel; Sarraj, Maher; Chmeissani, Mokhtar; Martínez, Ricardo; Puigdengoles, Carles

2015-10-01

We present a 16-channel readout integrated circuit (ROIC) with nanosecond-resolution time to digital converter (TDC) for pixelated Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) gamma-ray detectors. The 4 × 4 pixel array ROIC is the proof of concept of the 10 × 10 pixel array readout ASIC for positron-emission tomography (PET) scanner, positron-emission mammography (PEM) scanner, and Compton gamma camera. The electronics of each individual pixel integrates an analog front-end with switchable gain, an analog to digital converter (ADC), configuration registers, and a 4-state digital controller. For every detected photon, the pixel electronics provides the energy deposited in the detector with 10-bit resolution, and a fast trigger signal for time stamp. The ASIC contains the 16-pixel matrix electronics, a digital controller, five global voltage references, a TDC, a temperature sensor, and a band-gap based current reference. The ASIC has been fabricated with TSMC 0.25 μ m mixed-signal CMOS technology and occupies an area of 5.3 mm × 6.8 mm. The TDC shows a resolution of 95.5 ps, a precision of 600 ps at full width half maximum (FWHM), and a power consumption of 130 μ W. In acquisition mode, the total power consumption of every pixel is 200 μ W. An equivalent noise charge (ENC) of 160 e - RMS at maximum gain and negative polarity conditions has been measured at room temperature.

A positron emission tomograph based on LSO-APD modules with a sampling ADC read-out system for a students' advanced laboratory course.

Science.gov (United States)

Schneider, Florian R; Mann, Alexander B; Konorov, Igor; Delso, Gaspar; Paul, Stephan; Ziegler, Sibylle I

2012-06-01

A one-day laboratory course on positron emission tomography (PET) for the education of physics students and PhD students in medical physics has been set up. In the course, the physical background and the principles of a PET scanner are introduced. Course attendees set the system in operation, calibrate it using a (22)Na point source and reconstruct different source geometries filled with (18)F. The PET scanner features an individual channel read-out of 96 lutetium oxyorthosilicate (LSO) scintillator crystals coupled to avalanche photodiodes (APD). The analog data of each APD are digitized by fast sampling analog to digital converters (SADC) and processed within field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) to extract amplitudes and time stamps. All SADCs are continuously sampling with a precise rate of 80MHz, which is synchronous for the whole system. The data is transmitted via USB to a Linux PC, where further processing and the image reconstruction are performed. The course attendees get an insight into detector techniques, modern read-out electronics, data acquisition and PET image reconstruction. In addition, a short introduction to some common software applications used in particle and high energy physics is part of the course. Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier GmbH.

Application of Inkjet Printing in High-Density Pixelated RGB Quantum Dot-Hybrid LEDs

KAUST Repository

Haverinen, Hanna; Jabbour, Ghassan E.

2012-01-01

to fabricate high-density, pixelated (quarter video graphics array (QVGA) format), monochromatic and RGB quantum dots light-emitting diodes (QDLEDs), where inkjet printing is used to deposit the light-emitting layer of QDs. It shows some of the factors

Pixel detectors for x-ray imaging spectroscopy in space

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Treis, J; Andritschke, R; Hartmann, R; Herrmann, S; Holl, P; Lauf, T; Lechner, P; Lutz, G; Meidinger, N; Porro, M; Richter, R H; Schopper, F; Soltau, H; Strueder, L

2009-01-01

Pixelated semiconductor detectors for X-ray imaging spectroscopy are foreseen as key components of the payload of various future space missions exploring the x-ray sky. Located on the platform of the new Spectrum-Roentgen-Gamma satellite, the eROSITA (extended Roentgen Survey with an Imaging Telescope Array) instrument will perform an imaging all-sky survey up to an X-ray energy of 10 keV with unprecedented spectral and angular resolution. The instrument will consist of seven parallel oriented mirror modules each having its own pnCCD camera in the focus. The satellite born X-ray observatory SIMBOL-X will be the first mission to use formation-flying techniques to implement an X-ray telescope with an unprecedented focal length of around 20 m. The detector instrumentation consists of separate high- and low energy detectors, a monolithic 128 x 128 DEPFET macropixel array and a pixellated CdZTe detector respectively, making energy band between 0.5 to 80 keV accessible. A similar concept is proposed for the next generation X-ray observatory IXO. Finally, the MIXS (Mercury Imaging X-ray Spectrometer) instrument on the European Mercury exploration mission BepiColombo will use DEPFET macropixel arrays together with a small X-ray telescope to perform a spatially resolved planetary XRF analysis of Mercury's crust. Here, the mission concepts and their scientific targets are briefly discussed, and the resulting requirements on the detector devices together with the implementation strategies are shown.

Pixel detectors for x-ray imaging spectroscopy in space

Science.gov (United States)

Treis, J.; Andritschke, R.; Hartmann, R.; Herrmann, S.; Holl, P.; Lauf, T.; Lechner, P.; Lutz, G.; Meidinger, N.; Porro, M.; Richter, R. H.; Schopper, F.; Soltau, H.; Strüder, L.

2009-03-01

Pixelated semiconductor detectors for X-ray imaging spectroscopy are foreseen as key components of the payload of various future space missions exploring the x-ray sky. Located on the platform of the new Spectrum-Roentgen-Gamma satellite, the eROSITA (extended Roentgen Survey with an Imaging Telescope Array) instrument will perform an imaging all-sky survey up to an X-ray energy of 10 keV with unprecedented spectral and angular resolution. The instrument will consist of seven parallel oriented mirror modules each having its own pnCCD camera in the focus. The satellite born X-ray observatory SIMBOL-X will be the first mission to use formation-flying techniques to implement an X-ray telescope with an unprecedented focal length of around 20 m. The detector instrumentation consists of separate high- and low energy detectors, a monolithic 128 × 128 DEPFET macropixel array and a pixellated CdZTe detector respectively, making energy band between 0.5 to 80 keV accessible. A similar concept is proposed for the next generation X-ray observatory IXO. Finally, the MIXS (Mercury Imaging X-ray Spectrometer) instrument on the European Mercury exploration mission BepiColombo will use DEPFET macropixel arrays together with a small X-ray telescope to perform a spatially resolved planetary XRF analysis of Mercury's crust. Here, the mission concepts and their scientific targets are briefly discussed, and the resulting requirements on the detector devices together with the implementation strategies are shown.

Pixel detectors for x-ray imaging spectroscopy in space

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Treis, J; Andritschke, R; Hartmann, R; Herrmann, S; Holl, P; Lauf, T; Lechner, P; Lutz, G; Meidinger, N; Porro, M; Richter, R H; Schopper, F; Soltau, H; Strueder, L [MPI Semiconductor Laboratory, Otto-Hahn-Ring 6, D-81739 Munich (Germany)], E-mail: jft@hll.mpg.de

2009-03-15

Pixelated semiconductor detectors for X-ray imaging spectroscopy are foreseen as key components of the payload of various future space missions exploring the x-ray sky. Located on the platform of the new Spectrum-Roentgen-Gamma satellite, the eROSITA (extended Roentgen Survey with an Imaging Telescope Array) instrument will perform an imaging all-sky survey up to an X-ray energy of 10 keV with unprecedented spectral and angular resolution. The instrument will consist of seven parallel oriented mirror modules each having its own pnCCD camera in the focus. The satellite born X-ray observatory SIMBOL-X will be the first mission to use formation-flying techniques to implement an X-ray telescope with an unprecedented focal length of around 20 m. The detector instrumentation consists of separate high- and low energy detectors, a monolithic 128 x 128 DEPFET macropixel array and a pixellated CdZTe detector respectively, making energy band between 0.5 to 80 keV accessible. A similar concept is proposed for the next generation X-ray observatory IXO. Finally, the MIXS (Mercury Imaging X-ray Spectrometer) instrument on the European Mercury exploration mission BepiColombo will use DEPFET macropixel arrays together with a small X-ray telescope to perform a spatially resolved planetary XRF analysis of Mercury's crust. Here, the mission concepts and their scientific targets are briefly discussed, and the resulting requirements on the detector devices together with the implementation strategies are shown.

An accurate projection algorithm for array processor based SPECT systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

King, M.A.; Schwinger, R.B.; Cool, S.L.

1985-01-01

A data re-projection algorithm has been developed for use in single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) on an array processor based computer system. The algorithm makes use of an accurate representation of pixel activity (uniform square pixel model of intensity distribution), and is rapidly performed due to the efficient handling of an array based algorithm and the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) on parallel processing hardware. The algorithm consists of using a pixel driven nearest neighbour projection operation to an array of subdivided projection bins. This result is then convolved with the projected uniform square pixel distribution before being compressed to original bin size. This distribution varies with projection angle and is explicitly calculated. The FFT combined with a frequency space multiplication is used instead of a spatial convolution for more rapid execution. The new algorithm was tested against other commonly used projection algorithms by comparing the accuracy of projections of a simulated transverse section of the abdomen against analytically determined projections of that transverse section. The new algorithm was found to yield comparable or better standard error and yet result in easier and more efficient implementation on parallel hardware. Applications of the algorithm include iterative reconstruction and attenuation correction schemes and evaluation of regions of interest in dynamic and gated SPECT

A high-resolution and intelligent dead pixel detection scheme for an electrowetting display screen

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, ZhiJie; Luo, JianKun; Zhao, WenWen; Cao, Yang; Lin, WeiJie; Zhou, GuoFu

2018-02-01

Electrowetting display technology is realized by tuning the surface energy of a hydrophobic surface by applying a voltage based on electrowetting mechanism. With the rapid development of the electrowetting industry, how to analyze efficiently the quality of an electrowetting display screen has a very important significance. There are two kinds of dead pixels on the electrowetting display screen. One is that the oil of pixel cannot completely cover the display area. The other is that indium tin oxide semiconductor wire connecting pixel and foil was burned. In this paper, we propose a high-resolution and intelligent dead pixel detection scheme for an electrowetting display screen. First, we built an aperture ratio-capacitance model based on the electrical characteristics of electrowetting display. A field-programmable gate array is used as the integrated logic hub of the system for a highly reliable and efficient control of the circuit. Dead pixels can be detected and displayed on a PC-based 2D graphical interface in real time. The proposed dead pixel detection scheme reported in this work has promise in automating electrowetting display experiments.

Cyclops: single-pixel imaging lidar system based on compressive sensing

Science.gov (United States)

Magalhães, F.; Correia, M. V.; Farahi, F.; Pereira do Carmo, J.; Araújo, F. M.

2017-11-01

Mars and the Moon are envisaged as major destinations of future space exploration missions in the upcoming decades. Imaging LIDARs are seen as a key enabling technology in the support of autonomous guidance, navigation and control operations, as they can provide very accurate, wide range, high-resolution distance measurements as required for the exploration missions. Imaging LIDARs can be used at critical stages of these exploration missions, such as descent and selection of safe landing sites, rendezvous and docking manoeuvres, or robotic surface navigation and exploration. Despite these devices have been commercially available and used for long in diverse metrology and ranging applications, their size, mass and power consumption are still far from being suitable and attractive for space exploratory missions. Here, we describe a compact Single-Pixel Imaging LIDAR System that is based on a compressive sensing technique. The application of the compressive codes to a DMD array enables compression of the spatial information, while the collection of timing histograms correlated to the pulsed laser source ensures image reconstruction at the ranged distances. Single-pixel cameras have been compared with raster scanning and array based counterparts in terms of noise performance, and proved to be superior. Since a single photodetector is used, a better SNR and higher reliability is expected in contrast with systems using large format photodetector arrays. Furthermore, the event of failure of one or more micromirror elements in the DMD does not prevent full reconstruction of the images. This brings additional robustness to the proposed 3D imaging LIDAR. The prototype that was implemented has three modes of operation. Range Finder: outputs the average distance between the system and the area of the target under illumination; Attitude Meter: provides the slope of the target surface based on distance measurements in three areas of the target; 3D Imager: produces 3D ranged

Statistical studies on the light output and energy resolution of small LSO single crystals with different surface treatments combined with various reflector materials

CERN Document Server

Heinrichs, U; Bussmann, N; Engels, R; Kemmerling, G; Weber, S; Ziemons, K

2002-01-01

The optimization of light output and energy resolution of scintillators is of special interest for the development of high resolution and high sensitivity PET. The aim of this work is to obtain statistically reliable results concerning optimal surface treatment of scintillation crystals and the selection of reflector material. For this purpose, raw, mechanically polished and etched LSO crystals (size 2x2x10 mm sup 3) were combined with various reflector materials (Teflon tape, Teflon matrix, BaSO sub 4) and exposed to a sup 2 sup 2 Na source. In order to ensure the statistical reliability of the results, groups of 10 LSO crystals each were measured for all combinations of surface treatment and reflector material. Using no reflector material the light output increased up to 551+-35% by mechanical polishing the surface compared to 100+-5% for raw crystals. Etching the surface increased the light output to 441+-29%. The untreated crystals had an energy resolution of 24.6+-4.0%. By mechanical polishing the surfac...

A beam monitor using silicon pixel sensors for hadron therapy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, Zhen, E-mail: zwang@mails.ccnu.edu.cn; Zou, Shuguang; Fan, Yan; Liu, Jun; Sun, Xiangming, E-mail: sphy2007@126.com; Wang, Dong; Kang, Huili; Sun, Daming; Yang, Ping; Pei, Hua; Huang, Guangming; Xu, Nu; Gao, Chaosong; Xiao, Le

2017-03-21

We report the design and test results of a beam monitor developed for online monitoring in hadron therapy. The beam monitor uses eight silicon pixel sensors, Topmetal-II{sup -}, as the anode array. Topmetal-II{sup -} is a charge sensor designed in a CMOS 0.35 µm technology. Each Topmetal-II{sup -} sensor has 72×72 pixels and the pixel size is 83×83 µm{sup 2}. In our design, the beam passes through the beam monitor without hitting the electrodes, making the beam monitor especially suitable for monitoring heavy ion beams. This design also reduces radiation damage to the beam monitor itself. The beam monitor is tested with a carbon ion beam at the Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou (HIRFL). Results indicate that the beam monitor can measure position, incidence angle and intensity of the beam with a position resolution better than 20 µm, angular resolution about 0.5° and intensity statistical accuracy better than 2%.

Small-pixel long wavelength infrared focal plane arrays based on InAs/GaSb Type-II superlattice

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Xi; Jiang, Dongwei; Wang, Guowei; Hao, Hongyue; Sun, Yaoyao; Jiang, Zhi; Lv, Yuexi; Guo, Chunyan; Xu, Yingqiang; Niu, Zhichuan

2018-03-01

The paper reports a 640 × 512 long wavelength infrared focal plane arrays (FPAs) with 15 × 15 μm2 pixels pitch based on the type II InAs/GaSb superlattice. Material grown on a 3 in. GaSb substrate exhibits a 50% cutoff wavelength of 10.2 μm across the entire wafer. The peak quantum efficiency of the detector reaches 28% at 9.1 μm without anti-reflecting coating. Maximal resistance-area products of 8.95 Ω·cm2 at 77 K and 24.4 Ω·cm2 at 45 K are achieved in a single element device indicating that the generation-recombination and tunneling mechanisms dominate the device dark current, respectively. The peak Johnson Detectivity reaches 9.66 × 1011 cm Hz1/2/W at 9.1 μm with the bias voltage of 80 mV. In the whole zone, the operability and non-uniformity for the responsivity are 97.74% and 6.41% respectively. The average noise equivalent temperature difference of 31.9 mK at 77 K is achieved with an integration time of 0.5 ms, a 300 K background and f/2 optics.

Pixel readout chips in deep submicron CMOS for ALICE and LHCb tolerant to 10 Mrad and beyond

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Snoeys, W.; Burns, M.; Campbell, M.; Cantatore, E.; Cencelli, V.; Dinapoli, R.; Heijne, E.; Jarron, P.; Lamanna, P.; Minervini, D.; Morel, M.; O'Shea, V.; Quiquempoix, V.; Bello, D.S.S.D.San Segundo; Van Koningsveld, B.; Wyllie, K.

2001-01-01

The ALICE1LHCB chip is a mixed-mode integrated circuit designed to read out silicon pixel detectors for two different applications: particle tracking in the ALICE Silicon Pixel Detector and particle identification in the LHCb Ring Imaging Cherenkov detector. To satisfy the different needs for these two experiments, the chip can be operated in two different modes. In tracking mode all the 50 μmx425 μm pixel cells in the 256x32 array are read out individually, whilst in particle identification mode they are combined in groups of 8 to form a 32x32 array of 400 μmx425 μm cells. Radiation tolerance was enhanced through special circuit layout. Sensitivity to coupling of digital signals into the analog front end was minimized. System issues such as testability and uniformity further constrained the design. The circuit is currently being manufactured in a commercial 0.25 μm CMOS technology

Experimental single-chip color HDTV image acquisition system with 8M-pixel CMOS image sensor

Science.gov (United States)

Shimamoto, Hiroshi; Yamashita, Takayuki; Funatsu, Ryohei; Mitani, Kohji; Nojiri, Yuji

2006-02-01

We have developed an experimental single-chip color HDTV image acquisition system using 8M-pixel CMOS image sensor. The sensor has 3840 × 2160 effective pixels and is progressively scanned at 60 frames per second. We describe the color filter array and interpolation method to improve image quality with a high-pixel-count single-chip sensor. We also describe an experimental image acquisition system we used to measured spatial frequency characteristics in the horizontal direction. The results indicate good prospects for achieving a high quality single chip HDTV camera that reduces pseudo signals and maintains high spatial frequency characteristics within the frequency band for HDTV.

Uncooled infrared focal plane array imaging in China

Science.gov (United States)

Lei, Shuyu

2015-06-01

This article reviews the development of uncooled infrared focal plane array (UIFPA) imaging in China in the past decade. Sensors based on optical or electrical read-out mechanism were developed but the latter dominates the market. In resistive bolometers, VOx and amorphous silicon are still the two major thermal-sensing materials. The specifications of the IRFPA made by different manufactures were collected and compared. Currently more than five Chinese companies and institutions design and fabricate uncooled infrared focal plane array. Some devices have sensitivity as high as 30 mK; the largest array for commercial products is 640×512 and the smallest pixel size is 17 μm. Emphasis is given on the pixel MEMS design, ROIC design, fabrication, and packaging of the IRFPA manufactured by GWIC, especially on design for high sensitivities, low noise, better uniformity and linearity, better stabilization for whole working temperature range, full-digital design, etc.

Development of HgCdTe large format MBE arrays and noise-free high speed MOVPE EAPD arrays for ground based NIR astronomy

Science.gov (United States)

Finger, G.; Baker, I.; Downing, M.; Alvarez, D.; Ives, D.; Mehrgan, L.; Meyer, M.; Stegmeier, J.; Weller, H. J.

2017-11-01

Large format near infrared HgCdTe 2Kx2K and 4Kx4K MBE arrays have reached a level of maturity which meets most of the specifications required for near infrared (NIR) astronomy. The only remaining problem is the persistence effect which is device specific and not yet fully under control. For ground based multi-object spectroscopy on 40 meter class telescopes larger pixels would be advantageous. For high speed near infrared fringe tracking and wavefront sensing the only way to overcome the CMOS noise barrier is the amplification of the photoelectron signal inside the infrared pixel by means of the avalanche gain. A readout chip for a 320x256 pixel HgCdTe eAPD array will be presented which has 32 parallel video outputs being arranged in such a way that the full multiplex advantage is also available for small sub-windows. In combination with the high APD gain this allows reducing the readout noise to the subelectron level by applying nondestructive readout schemes with subpixel sampling. Arrays grown by MOVPE achieve subelectron readout noise and operate with superb cosmetic quality at high APD gain. Efforts are made to reduce the dark current of those arrays to make this technology also available for large format focal planes of NIR instruments offering noise free detectors for deep exposures. The dark current of the latest MOVPE eAPD arrays is already at a level adequate for noiseless broad and narrow band imaging in scientific instruments.

Performance of photovoltaic arrays in-vivo and characteristics of prosthetic vision in animals with retinal degeneration

Science.gov (United States)

Lorach, Henri; Goetz, Georges; Mandel, Yossi; Lei, Xin; Kamins, Theodore I.; Mathieson, Keith; Huie, Philip; Dalal, Roopa; Harris, James S.; Palanker, Daniel

2014-01-01

Summary Loss of photoreceptors during retinal degeneration leads to blindness, but information can be reintroduced into the visual system using electrical stimulation of the remaining retinal neurons. Subretinal photovoltaic arrays convert pulsed illumination into pulsed electric current to stimulate the inner retinal neurons. Since required irradiance exceeds the natural luminance levels, an invisible near-infrared (915nm) light is used to avoid photophobic effects. We characterized the thresholds and dynamic range of cortical responses to prosthetic stimulation with arrays of various pixel sizes and with different number of photodiodes. Stimulation thresholds for devices with 140µm pixels were approximately half those of 70µm pixels, and with both pixel sizes, thresholds were lower with 2 diodes than with 3 diodes per pixel. In all cases these thresholds were more than two orders of magnitude below the ocular safety limit. At high stimulation frequencies (>20Hz), the cortical response exhibited flicker fusion. Over one order of magnitude of dynamic range could be achieved by varying either pulse duration or irradiance. However, contrast sensitivity was very limited. Cortical responses could be detected even with only a few illuminated pixels. Finally, we demonstrate that recording of the corneal electric potential in response to patterned illumination of the subretinal arrays allows monitoring the current produced by each pixel, and thereby assessing the changes in the implant performance over time. PMID:25255990

Extending the dynamic range of silicon photomultipliers without increasing pixel count

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Johnson, Kurtis F.

2010-01-01

A silicon photomultiplier, sometimes called 'multipixel photon counter', which we here refer to as a 'SiPM', is a photo-sensitive device built from an avalanche photodiode array of pixels on a common silicon substrate, such that it can detect single photon events. The dimensions of a pixel may vary from 20 to 100 μm and their density can be greater than 1000 per square millimeter. Each pixel in a SiPM operates in Geiger mode and is coupled to the output by a quenching resistor. Although each pixel operates in digital mode, the SiPM is an analog device because all the pixels are read in parallel, making it possible to generate signals within a dynamic range from a single photon to a large number of photons, ultimately limited by the number of pixels on the chip. In this note we describe a simple and general method of increasing the dynamic range of a SiPM beyond that one may naively assume from the shape of the cumulative distribution function of the SiPM response to the average number of photons per pixel. We show that by rendering the incoming flux of photons to be non-uniform in a prescribed manner, a significant increase in dynamic range is achievable. Such re-distribution of the incoming flux may be accomplished with simple, non-focusing lenses, prisms, interference films, mirrors or attenuating films. Almost any optically non-inert interceding device can increase the dynamic range of the SiPM.

Heat Sinking, Cross Talk, and Temperature Stability for Large, Close-Packed Arrays of Microcalorimeters

Science.gov (United States)

Imoto, Naoko; Bandler, SImon; Brekosky, Regis; Chervenak, James; Figueroa-Felicano, Enectali; Finkbeiner, Frederick; Kelley, Richard; Kilbourne, Caroline; Porter, Frederick; Sadleir, Jack;

Contact CMOS imaging of gaseous oxygen sensor array.

Science.gov (United States)

Daivasagaya, Daisy S; Yao, Lei; Yi Yung, Ka; Hajj-Hassan, Mohamad; Cheung, Maurice C; Chodavarapu, Vamsy P; Bright, Frank V

2011-10-01

We describe a compact luminescent gaseous oxygen (O 2 ) sensor microsystem based on the direct integration of sensor elements with a polymeric optical filter and placed on a low power complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) imager integrated circuit (IC). The sensor operates on the measurement of excited-state emission intensity of O 2 -sensitive luminophore molecules tris(4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline) ruthenium(II) ([Ru(dpp) 3 ] 2+ ) encapsulated within sol-gel derived xerogel thin films. The polymeric optical filter is made with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) that is mixed with a dye (Sudan-II). The PDMS membrane surface is molded to incorporate arrays of trapezoidal microstructures that serve to focus the optical sensor signals on to the imager pixels. The molded PDMS membrane is then attached with the PDMS color filter. The xerogel sensor arrays are contact printed on top of the PDMS trapezoidal lens-like microstructures. The CMOS imager uses a 32 × 32 (1024 elements) array of active pixel sensors and each pixel includes a high-gain phototransistor to convert the detected optical signals into electrical currents. Correlated double sampling circuit, pixel address, digital control and signal integration circuits are also implemented on-chip. The CMOS imager data is read out as a serial coded signal. The CMOS imager consumes a static power of 320 µW and an average dynamic power of 625 µW when operating at 100 Hz sampling frequency and 1.8 V DC. This CMOS sensor system provides a useful platform for the development of miniaturized optical chemical gas sensors.

Performance of a Fast Binary Readout CMOS Active Pixel Sensor Chip Designed for Charged Particle Detection

Science.gov (United States)

Deerli, Yavuz; Besanon, Marc; Besson, Auguste; Claus, Gilles; Deptuch, Grzegorz; Dulinski, Wojciech; Fourches, Nicolas; Goffe, Mathieu; Himmi, Abdelkader; Li, Yan; Lutz, Pierre; Orsini, Fabienne; Szelezniak, Michal

2006-12-01

We report on the performance of the MIMOSA8 (HiMAPS1) chip. The chip is a 128times32 pixels array where 24 columns have discriminated binary outputs and eight columns analog test outputs. Offset correction techniques are used extensively in this chip to overcome process related mismatches. The array is divided in four blocks of pixels with different conversion factors and is controlled by a serially programmable sequencer. MIMOSA8 is a representative of the CMOS sensors development option considered as a promising candidate for the Vertex Detector of the future International Linear Collider (ILC). The readout technique, implemented on the chip, combines high spatial resolution capabilities with high processing readout speed. Data acquisition, providing control of the chip and signal buffering and linked to a VME system, was made on the eight analog outputs. Analog data, without and with a 55Fe X-ray source, were acquired and processed using off-line analysis software. From the reconstruction of pixel clusters, built around a central pixel, we deduce that the charge spread is limited to the closest 25 pixels and almost all the available charge is collected. The position of the total charge collection peak (and subsequently the charge-to-voltage conversion factor) stays unaffected when the clock frequency is increased even up to 150 MHz (13.6 mus readout time per frame). The discriminators, placed in the readout chain, have proved to be fully functional. Beam tests have been made with high energy electrons at DESY (Germany) to study detection efficiency. The results prove that MIMOSA8 is the first and fastest successful monolithic active pixel sensor with on-chip signal discrimination for detection of MIPs

Four-layer depth-of-interaction PET detector for high resolution PET using a multi-pixel S8550 avalanche photodiode

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nishikido, Fumihiko, E-mail: funis@nirs.go.j [Molecular Imaging Center, National Institute of Radiological Sciences, 4-9-1 Anagawa, Inage-ku, Chiba 263-8555 (Japan); Inadama, Naoko [Molecular Imaging Center, National Institute of Radiological Sciences, 4-9-1 Anagawa, Inage-ku, Chiba 263-8555 (Japan); Oda, Ichiro [Shimadzu Corporation, Nishinokyo Kuwabaracho 1 Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto 604-8511 (Japan); Shibuya, Kengo; Yoshida, Eiji; Yamaya, Taiga [Molecular Imaging Center, National Institute of Radiological Sciences, 4-9-1 Anagawa, Inage-ku, Chiba 263-8555 (Japan); Kitamura, Keishi [Shimadzu Corporation, Nishinokyo Kuwabaracho 1 Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto 604-8511 (Japan); Murayama, Hideo [Molecular Imaging Center, National Institute of Radiological Sciences, 4-9-1 Anagawa, Inage-ku, Chiba 263-8555 (Japan)

2010-09-21

Avalanche photodiodes (APDs) are being used as photodetectors in positron emission tomography (PET) because they have many advantages over photomultipliers (PMTs) typically used in PET detectors. We have developed a PET detector that consists of a multi-pixel APD and a 6x6x4 array of 1.46x1.46 mm{sup 2}x4.5 m LYSO crystals for a small animal PET scanner. The detector can identify four-layer depth of interaction (DOI) with a position-sensitive APD coupled to the backside of a crystal array by just an optimized reflector arrangement. Since scintillation lights are shared among many pixels by the method, weaker signals in APD pixels far from the interacting crystals are affected by noise. To evaluate the performance of the four-layer DOI detector with the APD and the influence of electrical noise on our method, we constructed a prototype DOI detector and tested its performance. We found, except for crystal elements on the edge of the crystal array, all crystal elements could be identified from the 2D position histogram. An energy resolution of 16.9% was obtained for the whole crystal array of the APD detector. The results of noise dependence of detector performances indicated that the DOI detector using the APD could achieve sufficient performance even when using application-specific integrated circuits.

Four-layer depth-of-interaction PET detector for high resolution PET using a multi-pixel S8550 avalanche photodiode

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nishikido, Fumihiko; Inadama, Naoko; Oda, Ichiro; Shibuya, Kengo; Yoshida, Eiji; Yamaya, Taiga; Kitamura, Keishi; Murayama, Hideo

2010-01-01

Avalanche photodiodes (APDs) are being used as photodetectors in positron emission tomography (PET) because they have many advantages over photomultipliers (PMTs) typically used in PET detectors. We have developed a PET detector that consists of a multi-pixel APD and a 6x6x4 array of 1.46x1.46 mm 2 x4.5 m LYSO crystals for a small animal PET scanner. The detector can identify four-layer depth of interaction (DOI) with a position-sensitive APD coupled to the backside of a crystal array by just an optimized reflector arrangement. Since scintillation lights are shared among many pixels by the method, weaker signals in APD pixels far from the interacting crystals are affected by noise. To evaluate the performance of the four-layer DOI detector with the APD and the influence of electrical noise on our method, we constructed a prototype DOI detector and tested its performance. We found, except for crystal elements on the edge of the crystal array, all crystal elements could be identified from the 2D position histogram. An energy resolution of 16.9% was obtained for the whole crystal array of the APD detector. The results of noise dependence of detector performances indicated that the DOI detector using the APD could achieve sufficient performance even when using application-specific integrated circuits.

Numerical simulation of the modulation transfer function (MTF) in infrared focal plane arrays: simulation methodology and MTF optimization

Science.gov (United States)

Schuster, J.

2018-02-01

Military requirements demand both single and dual-color infrared (IR) imaging systems with both high resolution and sharp contrast. To quantify the performance of these imaging systems, a key measure of performance, the modulation transfer function (MTF), describes how well an optical system reproduces an objects contrast in the image plane at different spatial frequencies. At the center of an IR imaging system is the focal plane array (FPA). IR FPAs are hybrid structures consisting of a semiconductor detector pixel array, typically fabricated from HgCdTe, InGaAs or III-V superlattice materials, hybridized with heat/pressure to a silicon read-out integrated circuit (ROIC) with indium bumps on each pixel providing the mechanical and electrical connection. Due to the growing sophistication of the pixel arrays in these FPAs, sophisticated modeling techniques are required to predict, understand, and benchmark the pixel array MTF that contributes to the total imaging system MTF. To model the pixel array MTF, computationally exhaustive 2D and 3D numerical simulation approaches are required to correctly account for complex architectures and effects such as lateral diffusion from the pixel corners. It is paramount to accurately model the lateral di_usion (pixel crosstalk) as it can become the dominant mechanism limiting the detector MTF if not properly mitigated. Once the detector MTF has been simulated, it is directly decomposed into its constituent contributions to reveal exactly what is limiting the total detector MTF, providing a path for optimization. An overview of the MTF will be given and the simulation approach will be discussed in detail, along with how different simulation parameters effect the MTF calculation. Finally, MTF optimization strategies (crosstalk mitigation) will be discussed.

A general technique for characterizing x-ray position sensitive arrays

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dufresne, E.; Bruning, R.; Sutton, M.; Stephenson, G.B.

1994-03-01

We present a general statistical technique for characterizing x-ray sensitive linear diode arrays and CCD arrays. We apply this technique to characterize the response of a linear diode array, Princeton Instrument model X-PDA, and a virtual phase CCD array, TI 4849, to direct illumination by x-rays. We find that the response of the linear array is linearly proportional to the incident intensity and uniform over its length to within 2 %. Its quantum efficiency is 38 % for Cu K α x-rays. The resolution function is evaluated from the spatial autocorrelation function and falls to 10 % of its peak value after one pixel. On the other hand, the response of the CCD detecting system to direct x-ray exposure is non-linear. To properly quantify the scattered x-rays, one must correct for the non- linearity. The resolution is two pixels along the serial transfer direction. We characterize the noise of the CCD and propose a model that takes into account the non-linearity and the resolution function to estimate the quantum efficiency of the detector. The quantum efficiency is 20 %

A Prototype of a New Generation Readout ASIC in 65 nm CMOS for Pixel Detectors at HL-LHC

CERN Document Server

Pacher, L.; Paternò, A; Panati, S; Demaria, L; Rivetti, A; Da Rocha Rolo, M; Dellacasa, G; Mazza, G; Rotondo, F; Wheadon, R; Loddo, F; Licciulli, F; Ciciriello, F; Marzocca, C; Gaioni, L; Traversi, G; Re, V; De Canio, F; Ratti, L; Marconi, S; Placidi, P; Magazzù, G; Stabile, A; Mattiazzo, S

2018-01-01

The prototype is composed of a matrix of 64×64 pixels with 50 μm × 50 μm cells featuring a compact design, low-noise and low-power performance. The pixel array integrates two diffe- rent analogue front-end architectures working in parallel, one with asynchronous and one with synchronous hit discriminators. Common characteristics are a compact layout able to fit int...

A 128 x 128 CMOS Active Pixel Image Sensor for Highly Integrated Imaging Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Mendis, Sunetra K.; Kemeny, Sabrina E.; Fossum, Eric R.

1993-01-01

A new CMOS-based image sensor that is intrinsically compatible with on-chip CMOS circuitry is reported. The new CMOS active pixel image sensor achieves low noise, high sensitivity, X-Y addressability, and has simple timing requirements. The image sensor was fabricated using a 2 micrometer p-well CMOS process, and consists of a 128 x 128 array of 40 micrometer x 40 micrometer pixels. The CMOS image sensor technology enables highly integrated smart image sensors, and makes the design, incorporation and fabrication of such sensors widely accessible to the integrated circuit community.

14C autoradiography with an energy-sensitive silicon pixel detector.

Science.gov (United States)

Esposito, M; Mettivier, G; Russo, P

2011-04-07

The first performance tests are presented of a carbon-14 ((14)C) beta-particle digital autoradiography system with an energy-sensitive hybrid silicon pixel detector based on the Timepix readout circuit. Timepix was developed by the Medipix2 Collaboration and it is similar to the photon-counting Medipix2 circuit, except for an added time-based synchronization logic which allows derivation of energy information from the time-over-threshold signal. This feature permits direct energy measurements in each pixel of the detector array. Timepix is bump-bonded to a 300 µm thick silicon detector with 256 × 256 pixels of 55 µm pitch. Since an energetic beta-particle could release its kinetic energy in more than one detector pixel as it slows down in the semiconductor detector, an off-line image analysis procedure was adopted in which the single-particle cluster of hit pixels is recognized; its total energy is calculated and the position of interaction on the detector surface is attributed to the centre of the charge cluster. Measurements reported are detector sensitivity, (4.11 ± 0.03) × 10(-3) cps mm(-2) kBq(-1) g, background level, (3.59 ± 0.01) × 10(-5) cps mm(-2), and minimum detectable activity, 0.0077 Bq. The spatial resolution is 76.9 µm full-width at half-maximum. These figures are compared with several digital imaging detectors for (14)C beta-particle digital autoradiography.

Comparative study using Monte Carlo methods of the radiation detection efficiency of LSO, LuAP, GSO and YAP scintillators for use in positron emission imaging (PET)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nikolopoulos, Dimitrios; Kandarakis, Ioannis; Tsantilas, Xenophon; Valais, Ioannis; Cavouras, Dionisios; Louizi, Anna

2006-01-01

The radiation detection efficiency of four scintillators employed, or designed to be employed, in positron emission imaging (PET) was evaluated as a function of the crystal thickness by applying Monte Carlo Methods. The scintillators studied were the LuSiO 5 (LSO), LuAlO 3 (LuAP), Gd 2 SiO 5 (GSO) and the YAlO 3 (YAP). Crystal thicknesses ranged from 0 to 50 mm. The study was performed via a previously generated photon transport Monte Carlo code. All photon track and energy histories were recorded and the energy transferred or absorbed in the scintillator medium was calculated together with the energy redistributed and retransported as secondary characteristic fluorescence radiation. Various parameters were calculated e.g. the fraction of the incident photon energy absorbed, transmitted or redistributed as fluorescence radiation, the scatter to primary ratio, the photon and energy distribution within each scintillator block etc. As being most significant, the fraction of the incident photon energy absorbed was found to increase with increasing crystal thickness tending to form a plateau above the 30 mm thickness. For LSO, LuAP, GSO and YAP scintillators, respectively, this fraction had the value of 44.8, 36.9 and 45.7% at the 10 mm thickness and 96.4, 93.2 and 96.9% at the 50 mm thickness. Within the plateau area approximately (57-59)% (59-63)% (52-63)% and (58-61)% of this fraction was due to scattered and reabsorbed radiation for the LSO, GSO, YAP and LuAP scintillators, respectively. In all cases, a negligible fraction (<0.1%) of the absorbed energy was found to escape the crystal as fluorescence radiation

Active pixel sensor having intra-pixel charge transfer with analog-to-digital converter

Science.gov (United States)

Fossum, Eric R. (Inventor); Mendis, Sunetra K. (Inventor); Pain, Bedabrata (Inventor); Nixon, Robert H. (Inventor); Zhou, Zhimin (Inventor)

2003-01-01

An imaging device formed as a monolithic complementary metal oxide semiconductor integrated circuit in an industry standard complementary metal oxide semiconductor process, the integrated circuit including a focal plane array of pixel cells, each one of the cells including a photogate overlying the substrate for accumulating photo-generated charge in an underlying portion of the substrate, a readout circuit including at least an output field effect transistor formed in the substrate, and a charge coupled device section formed on the substrate adjacent the photogate having a sensing node connected to the output transistor and at least one charge coupled device stage for transferring charge from the underlying portion of the substrate to the sensing node and an analog-to-digital converter formed in the substrate connected to the output of the readout circuit.

Two-dimensional systolic-array architecture for pixel-level vision tasks

Science.gov (United States)

Vijverberg, Julien A.; de With, Peter H. N.

2010-05-01

This paper presents ongoing work on the design of a two-dimensional (2D) systolic array for image processing. This component is designed to operate on a multi-processor system-on-chip. In contrast with other 2D systolic-array architectures and many other hardware accelerators, we investigate the applicability of executing multiple tasks in a time-interleaved fashion on the Systolic Array (SA). This leads to a lower external memory bandwidth and better load balancing of the tasks on the different processing tiles. To enable the interleaving of tasks, we add a shadow-state register for fast task switching. To reduce the number of accesses to the external memory, we propose to share the communication assist between consecutive tasks. A preliminary, non-functional version of the SA has been synthesized for an XV4S25 FPGA device and yields a maximum clock frequency of 150 MHz requiring 1,447 slices and 5 memory blocks. Mapping tasks from video content-analysis applications from literature on the SA yields reductions in the execution time of 1-2 orders of magnitude compared to the software implementation. We conclude that the choice for an SA architecture is useful, but a scaled version of the SA featuring less logic with fewer processing and pipeline stages yielding a lower clock frequency, would be sufficient for a video analysis system-on-chip.

Submission of the First Full Scale Prototype Chip for Upgraded ATLAS Pixel Detector at LHC, FE-I4A

CERN Document Server

Barbero, M; The ATLAS collaboration; Beccherle, R; Darbo, G; Dube, S; Elledge, D; Fleury, J; Fougeron, D; Garcia-Sciveres, M; Gensolen, F; Gnani, D; Gromov, V; Jensen, F; Hemperek, T; Karagounis, M; Kluit, R; Kruth, A; Mekkaoui, A; Menouni, M; Schipper, JD; Wermes, N; Zivkovic, V

2010-01-01

A new ATLAS pixel chip FE-I4 is being developed for use in upgraded LHC luminosity environments, including the near-term Insertable B-Layer (IBL) upgrade. FE-I4 is designed in a 130nm CMOS technology, presenting advantages in terms of radiation tolerance and digital logic density compared to the 250nm CMOS technology used for the current ATLAS pixel IC, FE-I3. The FE-I4 architecture is based on an array of 80x336 pixels, each 50x250um^2, consisting of analog and digital sections. In the summer 2010, a first full scale prototype FE-I4A was submitted for an engineering run. This IC features the full scale pixel array as well as the complex periphery of the future full-size FE-I4. The FE-I4A contains also various extra test features which should prove very useful for the chip characterization, but deviate from the needs for standard operation of the final FE-I4 for IBL. In this paper, focus will be brought to the various features implemented in the FE-I4A submission, while also underlining the main differences b...

Charlie, Development of a Light-Weight, Virtual Reality Trainer for the LSO Community: Time to Make the Leap Toward Immersive VR

Science.gov (United States)

2015-09-01

Monitor aircraft’s approach from the Start to the completion. The Backup LSO will normally be concerned with the aircraft’s lineup , but will provide... lineup deviations. 4. Interactions with Other Team Members A. Keep right hand in the air, acknowledging the status of the deck as foul B. Lower...during the case III pattern, the pilot will give a voice call reporting identification , how much fuel they have, and any emergency the pilot may have

Two-dimensional diced scintillator array for innovative, fine-resolution gamma camera

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fujita, T.; Kataoka, J.; Nishiyama, T.; Ohsuka, S.; Nakamura, S.; Yamamoto, S.

2014-01-01

We are developing a technique to fabricate fine spatial resolution (FWHM<0.5mm) and cost-effective photon counting detectors, by using silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) coupled with a finely pixelated scintillator plate. Unlike traditional X-ray imagers that use a micro-columnar CsI(Tl) plate, we can pixelate various scintillation crystal plates more than 1 mm thick, and easily develop large-area, fine-pitch scintillator arrays with high precision. Coupling a fine pitch scintillator array with a SiPM array results in a compact, fast-response detector that is ideal for X-ray, gamma-ray, and charged particle detection as used in autoradiography, gamma cameras, and photon counting CTs. As the first step, we fabricated a 2-D, cerium-doped Gd 3 Al 2 Ga 3 O 12 (Ce:GAGG) scintillator array of 0.25 mm pitch, by using a dicing saw to cut micro-grooves 50μm wide into a 1.0 mm thick Ce:GAGG plate. The scintillator plate is optically coupled with a 3.0×3.0mm pixel 4×4 SiPM array and read-out via the resistive charge-division network. Even when using this simple system as a gamma camera, we obtained excellent spatial resolution of 0.48 mm (FWHM) for 122 keV gamma-rays. We will present our plans to further improve the signal-to-noise ratio in the image, and also discuss a variety of possible applications in the near future

Low Power Camera-on-a-Chip Using CMOS Active Pixel Sensor Technology

Science.gov (United States)

Fossum, E. R.

1995-01-01

A second generation image sensor technology has been developed at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory as a result of the continuing need to miniaturize space science imaging instruments. Implemented using standard CMOS, the active pixel sensor (APS) technology permits the integration of the detector array with on-chip timing, control and signal chain electronics, including analog-to-digital conversion.

Development of a thinned back-illuminated CMOS active pixel sensor for extreme ultraviolet spectroscopy and imaging in space science

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Waltham, N.R.; Prydderch, M.; Mapson-Menard, H.; Pool, P.; Harris, A.

2007-01-01

We describe our programme to develop a large-format, science-grade, monolithic CMOS active pixel sensor for future space science missions, and in particular an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) spectrograph for solar physics studies on ESA's Solar Orbiter. Our route to EUV sensitivity relies on adapting the back-thinning and rear-illumination techniques first developed for CCD sensors. Our first large-format sensor consists of 4kx3k 5 μm pixels fabricated on a 0.25 μm CMOS imager process. Wafer samples of these sensors have been thinned by e2v technologies with the aim of obtaining good sensitivity at EUV wavelengths. We present results from both front- and back-illuminated versions of this sensor. We also present our plans to develop a new sensor of 2kx2k 10 μm pixels, which will be fabricated on a 0.35 μm CMOS process. In progress towards this goal, we have designed a test-structure consisting of six arrays of 512x512 10 μm pixels. Each of the arrays has been given a different pixel design to allow verification of our models, and our progress towards optimizing a design for minimal system readout noise and maximum dynamic range. These sensors will also be back-thinned for characterization at EUV wavelengths

Efficient conceptual design for LED-based pixel light vehicle headlamps

Science.gov (United States)

Held, Marcel Philipp; Lachmayer, Roland

2017-12-01

High-resolution vehicle headlamps represent a future-oriented technology that can be used to increase traffic safety and driving comfort. As a further development to the current Matrix Beam headlamps, LED-based pixel light systems enable ideal lighting functions (e.g. projection of navigation information onto the road) to be activated in any given driving scenario. Moreover, compared to other light-modulating elements such as DMDs and LCDs, instantaneous LED on-off toggling provides a decisive advantage in efficiency. To generate highly individualized light distributions for automotive applications, a number of approaches using an LED array may be pursued. One approach is to vary the LED density in the array so as to output the desired light distribution. Another notable approach makes use of an equidistant arrangement of the individual LEDs together with distortion optics to formulate the desired light distribution. The optical system adjusts the light distribution in a manner that improves resolution and increases luminous intensity of the desired area. An efficient setup for pixel generation calls for one lens per LED. Taking into consideration the limited space requirements of the system, this implies that the luminous flux, efficiency and resolution image parameters are primarily controlled by the lens dimensions. In this paper a concept for an equidistant LED array arrangement utilizing distortion optics is presented. The paper is divided into two parts. The first part discusses the influence of lens geometry on the system efficiency whereas the second part investigates the correlation between resolution and luminous flux based on the lens dimensions.

Benefits of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Programmes in Music for KS2 (Primary) Teachers through the Example of the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) on Track Programme

Science.gov (United States)

Varvarigou, Maria; Creech, Andrea; Hallam, Susan

2012-01-01

Between September 2008 and August 2010 24 KS2 classroom teachers were involved in a two-year programme of continuing professional development (CPD), delivered by the LSO in partnership with Local Authority Music Services. The teachers indicated that they embarked on the CPD programme looking forward to opportunities to share good practice, gain…

Edge effects in a small pixel CdTe for X-ray imaging

Science.gov (United States)

Duarte, D. D.; Bell, S. J.; Lipp, J.; Schneider, A.; Seller, P.; Veale, M. C.; Wilson, M. D.; Baker, M. A.; Sellin, P. J.; Kachkanov, V.; Sawhney, K. J. S.

2013-10-01

Large area detectors capable of operating with high detection efficiency at energies above 30 keV are required in many contemporary X-ray imaging applications. The properties of high Z compound semiconductors, such as CdTe, make them ideally suitable to these applications. The STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory has developed a small pixel CdTe detector with 80 × 80 pixels on a 250 μm pitch. Historically, these detectors have included a 200 μm wide guard band around the pixelated anode to reduce the effect of defects in the crystal edge. The latest version of the detector ASIC is capable of four-side butting that allows the tiling of N × N flat panel arrays. To limit the dead space between modules to the width of one pixel, edgeless detector geometries have been developed where the active volume of the detector extends to the physical edge of the crystal. The spectroscopic performance of an edgeless CdTe detector bump bonded to the HEXITEC ASIC was tested with sealed radiation sources and compared with a monochromatic X-ray micro-beam mapping measurements made at the Diamond Light Source, U.K. The average energy resolution at 59.54 keV of bulk and edge pixels was 1.23 keV and 1.58 keV, respectively. 87% of the edge pixels present fully spectroscopic performance demonstrating that edgeless CdTe detectors are a promising technology for the production of large panel radiation detectors for X-ray imaging.

Towards Development of Microcalorimeter Arrays of Mo/Au Transition-Edge Sensors with Bismuth Absorbers

Science.gov (United States)

Tralshawala, Nilesh; Brekosky, Regis; Figueroa-Feliciano, Enectali; Li, Mary; Stahle, Carl; Stahle, Caroline

2000-01-01

We report on our progress towards the development of arrays of X-ray microcalorimeters as candidates for the high resolution x-ray spectrometer on the Constellation-X mission. The microcalorimeter arrays (30 x 30) with appropriate pixel sizes (0.25 mm. x 0.25 mm) and high packing fractions (greater than 96%) are being developed. Each individual pixel has a 10 micron thick Bi X-ray absorber that is shaped like a mushroom to increase the packing fraction, and a Mo/Au proximity effect superconducting transition edge sensor (TES). These are deposited on a 0.25 or 0.5 micron thick silicon nitride membrane with slits to provide a controllable weak thermal link to the sink temperature. Studies are underway to model, test and optimize the TES pixel uniformity, critical current, heat capacity and the membrane thermal conductance in the array structure. Fabrication issues and procedures, and results of our efforts based on these optimizations will be provided.

Note: Application of a pixel-array area detector to simultaneous single crystal x-ray diffraction and x-ray absorption spectroscopy measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sun, Cheng-Jun; Brewe, Dale L.; Heald, Steve M.; Zhang, Bangmin; Chen, Jing-Sheng; Chow, G. M.; Venkatesan, T.

2014-01-01

X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) are two main x-ray techniques in synchrotron radiation facilities. In this Note, we present an experimental setup capable of performing simultaneous XRD and XAS measurements by the application of a pixel-array area detector. For XRD, the momentum transfer in specular diffraction was measured by scanning the X-ray energy with fixed incoming and outgoing x-ray angles. By selecting a small fixed region of the detector to collect the XRD signal, the rest of the area was available for collecting the x-ray fluorescence for XAS measurements. The simultaneous measurement of XRD and X-ray absorption near edge structure for Pr 0.67 Sr 0.33 MnO 3 film was demonstrated as a proof of principle for future time-resolved pump-probe measurements. A static sample makes it easy to maintain an accurate overlap of the X-ray spot and laser pump beam

A 1,000 Frames/s Programmable Vision Chip with Variable Resolution and Row-Pixel-Mixed Parallel Image Processors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nanjian Wu

2009-07-01

Full Text Available A programmable vision chip with variable resolution and row-pixel-mixed parallel image processors is presented. The chip consists of a CMOS sensor array, with row-parallel 6-bit Algorithmic ADCs, row-parallel gray-scale image processors, pixel-parallel SIMD Processing Element (PE array, and instruction controller. The resolution of the image in the chip is variable: high resolution for a focused area and low resolution for general view. It implements gray-scale and binary mathematical morphology algorithms in series to carry out low-level and mid-level image processing and sends out features of the image for various applications. It can perform image processing at over 1,000 frames/s (fps. A prototype chip with 64 × 64 pixels resolution and 6-bit gray-scale image is fabricated in 0.18 mm Standard CMOS process. The area size of chip is 1.5 mm × 3.5 mm. Each pixel size is 9.5 μm × 9.5 μm and each processing element size is 23 μm × 29 μm. The experiment results demonstrate that the chip can perform low-level and mid-level image processing and it can be applied in the real-time vision applications, such as high speed target tracking.

Common Bias Readout for TES Array on Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope

Science.gov (United States)

Yamamoto, R.; Sakai, K.; Maehisa, K.; Nagayoshi, K.; Hayashi, T.; Muramatsu, H.; Nakashima, Y.; Mitsuda, K.; Yamasaki, N. Y.; Takei, Y.; Hidaka, M.; Nagasawa, S.; Maehata, K.; Hara, T.

2016-07-01

A transition edge sensor (TES) microcalorimeter array as an X-ray sensor for a scanning transmission electron microscope system is being developed. The technical challenge of this system is a high count rate of ˜ 5000 counts/second/array. We adopted a 64 pixel array with a parallel readout. Common SQUID bias, and common TES bias are planned to reduce the number of wires and the resources of a room temperature circuit. The reduction rate of wires is 44 % when a 64 pixel array is read out by a common bias of 8 channels. The possible degradation of the energy resolution has been investigated by simulations and experiments. The bias fluctuation effects of a series connection are less than those of a parallel connection. Simple calculations expect that the fluctuations of the common SQUID bias and common TES bias in a series connection are 10^{-7} and 10^{-3}, respectively. We constructed 8 SQUIDs which are connected to 8 TES outputs and a room temperature circuit for common bias readout and evaluated experimentally. Our simulation of crosstalk indicates that at an X-ray event rate of 500 cps/pixel, crosstalk will broaden a monochromatic line by about 0.01 %, or about 1.5 eV at 15 keV. Thus, our design goal of 10 eV energy resolution across the 0.5-15 keV band should be achievable.

Survey of on-road image projection with pixel light systems

Science.gov (United States)

Rizvi, Sadiq; Knöchelmann, Marvin; Ley, Peer-Phillip; Lachmayer, Roland

2017-12-01

HID, LED and laser-based high resolution automotive headlamps, as of late known as `pixel light systems', are at the forefront of the developing technologies paving the way for autonomous driving. In addition to light distribution capabilities that outperform Adaptive Front Lighting and Matrix Beam systems, pixel light systems provide the possibility of image projection directly onto the street. The underlying objective is to improve the driving experience, in any given scenario, in terms of safety, comfort and interaction for all road users. The focus of this work is to conduct a short survey on this state-of-the-art image projection functionality. A holistic research regarding the image projection functionality can be divided into three major categories: scenario selection, technological development and evaluation design. Consequently, the work presented in this paper is divided into three short studies. Section 1 provides a brief introduction to pixel light systems and a justification for the approach adopted for this study. Section 2 deals with the selection of scenarios (and driving maneuvers) where image projection can play a critical role. Section 3 discusses high power LED and LED array based prototypes that are currently under development. Section 4 demonstrates results from an experiment conducted to evaluate the illuminance of an image space projected using a pixel light system prototype developed at the Institute of Product Development (IPeG). Findings from this work can help to identify and advance future research work relating to: further development of pixel light systems, scenario planning, examination of optimal light sources, behavioral response studies etc.

Diamond Pixel Detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adam, W.; Berdermann, E.; Bergonzo, P.; Bertuccio, G.; Bogani, F.; Borchi, E.; Brambilla, A.; Bruzzi, M.; Colledani, C.; Conway, J.; D'Angelo, P.; Dabrowski, W.; Delpierre, P.; Deneuville, A.; Doroshenko, J.; Dulinski, W.; Eijk, B. van; Fallou, A.; Fizzotti, F.; Foster, J.; Foulon, F.; Friedl, M.; Gan, K.K.; Gheeraert, E.; Gobbi, B.; Grim, G.P.; Hallewell, G.; Han, S.; Hartjes, F.; Hrubec, J.; Husson, D.; Kagan, H.; Kania, D.; Kaplon, J.; Kass, R.; Koeth, T.; Krammer, M.; Lander, R.; Logiudice, A.; Lu, R.; Lynne, L.M.; Manfredotti, C.; Meier, D.; Mishina, M.; Moroni, L.; Oh, A.; Pan, L.S.; Pernicka, M.; Perera, L.; Pirollo, S.; Plano, R.; Procario, M.; Riester, J.L.; Roe, S.; Rott, C.; Rousseau, L.; Rudge, A.; Russ, J.; Sala, S.; Sampietro, M.; Schnetzer, S.; Sciortino, S.; Stelzer, H.; Stone, R.; Suter, B.; Tapper, R.J.; Tesarek, R.; Trischuk, W.; Tromson, D.; Vittone, E.; Wedenig, R.; Weilhammer, P.; White, C.; Zeuner, W.; Zoeller, M.

2001-01-01

Diamond based pixel detectors are a promising radiation-hard technology for use at the LHC. We present first results on a CMS diamond pixel sensor. With a threshold setting of 2000 electrons, an average pixel efficiency of 78% was obtained for normally incident minimum ionizing particles

Diamond Pixel Detectors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Adam, W.; Berdermann, E.; Bergonzo, P.; Bertuccio, G.; Bogani, F.; Borchi, E.; Brambilla, A.; Bruzzi, M.; Colledani, C.; Conway, J.; D' Angelo, P.; Dabrowski, W.; Delpierre, P.; Deneuville, A.; Doroshenko, J.; Dulinski, W.; Eijk, B. van; Fallou, A.; Fizzotti, F.; Foster, J.; Foulon, F.; Friedl, M.; Gan, K.K.; Gheeraert, E.; Gobbi, B.; Grim, G.P.; Hallewell, G.; Han, S.; Hartjes, F.; Hrubec, J.; Husson, D.; Kagan, H.; Kania, D.; Kaplon, J.; Kass, R.; Koeth, T.; Krammer, M.; Lander, R.; Logiudice, A.; Lu, R.; Lynne, L.M.; Manfredotti, C.; Meier, D.; Mishina, M.; Moroni, L.; Oh, A.; Pan, L.S.; Pernicka, M.; Perera, L. E-mail: perera@physics.rutgers.edu; Pirollo, S.; Plano, R.; Procario, M.; Riester, J.L.; Roe, S.; Rott, C.; Rousseau, L.; Rudge, A.; Russ, J.; Sala, S.; Sampietro, M.; Schnetzer, S.; Sciortino, S.; Stelzer, H.; Stone, R.; Suter, B.; Tapper, R.J.; Tesarek, R.; Trischuk, W.; Tromson, D.; Vittone, E.; Wedenig, R.; Weilhammer, P.; White, C.; Zeuner, W.; Zoeller, M

2001-06-01

Diamond based pixel detectors are a promising radiation-hard technology for use at the LHC. We present first results on a CMS diamond pixel sensor. With a threshold setting of 2000 electrons, an average pixel efficiency of 78% was obtained for normally incident minimum ionizing particles.

High-density arrays of x-ray microcalorimeters for Constellation-X

Science.gov (United States)

Kilbourne, Caroline A.; Bandler, Simon R.; Brown, Ari D.; Chervenak, James A.; Figueroa-Feliciano, Enectali; Finkbeiner, Fred M.; Iyomoto, Naoko; Kelley, Richard L.; Porter, F. Scott; Saab, Tarek; Sadleir, John; White, Jennifer

2006-06-01

We have been developing x-ray microcalorimeters for the Constellation-X mission. Devices based on superconducting transition-edge sensors (TES) have demonstrated the potential to meet the Constellation-X requirements for spectral resolution, speed, and array scale (> 1000 pixels) in a close-packed geometry. In our part of the GSFC/NIST collaboration on this technology development, we have been concentrating on the fabrication of arrays of pixels suitable for the Constellation-X reference configuration. We have fabricated 8x8 arrays with 0.25-mm pixels arranged with 92% fill factor. The pixels are based on Mo/Au TES and Bi/Cu or Au/Bi absorbers. We have achieved a resolution of 4.0 eV FWHM at 6 keV in such devices, which meets the Constellation-X resolution requirement at 6 keV. Studies of the thermal transport in our Bi/Cu absorbers have shown that, while there is room for improvement, for 0.25-mm pixels the standard absorber design is adequate to avoid unacceptable line-broadening from position dependence caused by thermal diffusion. In order to improve reproducibility and to push closer to the 2-eV goal at 6 keV, however, we are refining the design of the TES and the interface to the absorber. Recent efforts to introduce a barrier layer between the Bi and the Mo/Au to avoid variable interface chemistry and thus improve the reproducibility of device characteristics have thus far yielded unsatisfactory results. However, we have developed a new set of absorber designs with contacts to the TES engineered to allow contact only in regions that do not serve as the active thermometer. We have further constrained the design so that a low-resistance absorber will not electrically short the TES. It is with such a design that we have achieved 4.0 eV resolution at 6 keV.

First operation of a hybrid photon detector prototype with electrostatic cross-focussing and integrated silicon pixel readout

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alemi, M.; Campbell, M.; Gys, T.; Mikulec, B.; Piedigrossi, D.; Puertolas, D.; Rosso, E.; Schomaker, R.; Snoeys, W.; Wyllie, K.

2000-01-01

We report on the first operation of a hybrid photon detector prototype with integrated silicon pixel readout for the ring imaging Cherenkov detectors of the LHCb experiment. The photon detector is based on a cross-focussed image intensifier tube geometry where the image is de-magnified by a factor of 4. The anode consists of a silicon pixel array, bump-bonded to a binary readout chip with matching pixel electronics. The prototype has been characterized using a low-intensity light-emitting diode operated in pulsed mode. Its performance in terms of single-photoelectron detection efficiency and imaging properties is presented. A model of photoelectron detection is proposed, and is shown to be in good agreement with the experimental data. It includes an estimate of the charge signal generated in the silicon detector, and the combined effects of the comparator threshold spread of the pixel readout chip, charge sharing at the pixel boundaries and back-scattering of the photoelectrons at the silicon detector surface

First operation of a hybrid photon detector prototype with electrostatic cross-focussing and integrated silicon pixel readout

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Alemi, M.; Campbell, M.; Gys, T. E-mail: thierry.gys@cern.ch; Mikulec, B.; Piedigrossi, D.; Puertolas, D.; Rosso, E.; Schomaker, R.; Snoeys, W.; Wyllie, K

2000-07-11

We report on the first operation of a hybrid photon detector prototype with integrated silicon pixel readout for the ring imaging Cherenkov detectors of the LHCb experiment. The photon detector is based on a cross-focussed image intensifier tube geometry where the image is de-magnified by a factor of 4. The anode consists of a silicon pixel array, bump-bonded to a binary readout chip with matching pixel electronics. The prototype has been characterized using a low-intensity light-emitting diode operated in pulsed mode. Its performance in terms of single-photoelectron detection efficiency and imaging properties is presented. A model of photoelectron detection is proposed, and is shown to be in good agreement with the experimental data. It includes an estimate of the charge signal generated in the silicon detector, and the combined effects of the comparator threshold spread of the pixel readout chip, charge sharing at the pixel boundaries and back-scattering of the photoelectrons at the silicon detector surface.

Effects of reflector and crystal surface on the performance of a depth-encoding PET detector with dual-ended readout

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ren, Silin; Yang, Yongfeng; Cherry, Simon R.

2014-01-01

Purpose: Depth encoding detectors are required to improve the spatial resolution and spatial resolution uniformity of small animal positron emission tomography (PET) scanners, as well as dedicated breast and brain scanners. Depth of interaction (DOI) can be measured by using dual-ended readout of lutetium oxyorthosilicate (LSO) scintillator arrays with position-sensitive avalanche photodiodes. Inter-crystal reflectors and crystal surface treatments play important roles in determining the performance of dual-ended detectors. In this paper, the authors evaluated five LSO arrays made with three different intercrystal reflectors and with either polished or unpolished crystal surfaces. Methods: The crystal size in all arrays was 1.5 mm, which is typical of the detector size used in small animal and dedicated breast scanners. The LSO arrays were measured with dual-ended readout and were compared in terms of flood histogram, energy resolution, and DOI resolution performance. Results: The four arrays using enhanced specular reflector (ESR) and Toray reflector provided similar quality flood histograms and the array using Crystal Wrap reflector gave the worst flood histogram. The two arrays using ESR reflector provided the best energy resolution and the array using Crystal Wrap reflector yielded the worst energy resolution. All arrays except the polished ESR array provided good DOI resolution ranging from 1.9 mm to 2.9 mm. DOI resolution improved as the gradient in light collection efficiency with depth (GLCED) increased. The geometric mean energies were also calculated for these dual-ended readout detectors as an alternative to the conventional summed total energy. It was shown that the geometric mean energy is advantageous in that it provides more uniform photopeak amplitude at different depths for arrays with high GLCED, and is beneficial in event selection by allowing a fixed energy window independent of depth. A new method of DOI calculation that improved the linearity

Pixel Experiments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Petersen, Kjell Yngve; Søndergaard, Karin; Augustesen, Christina

2015-01-01

Pixel Experiments The term pixel is traditionally defined as any of the minute elements that together constitute a larger context or image. A pixel has its own form and is the smallest unit seen within a larger structure. In working with the potentials of LED technology in architectural lighting...... for using LED lighting in lighting design practice. The speculative experiments that have been set-up have aimed to clarify the variables that can be used as parameters in the design of lighting applications; including, for example, the structuring and software control of light. The experiments also...... elucidate and exemplify already well-known problems in relation to the experience of vertical and horizontal lighting. Pixel Experiments exist as a synergy between speculative test setups and lighting design in practice. This book is one of four books that is published in connection with the research...

X-ray microcalorimeter arrays fabricated by surface micromachining

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hilton, G.C.; Beall, J.A.; Deiker, S.; Vale, L.R.; Doriese, W.B.; Beyer, Joern; Ullom, J.N.; Reintsema, C.D.; Xu, Y.; Irwin, K.D.

2004-01-01

We are developing arrays of Mo/Cu transition edge sensor-based detectors for use as X-ray microcalorimeters and sub-millimeter bolometers. We have fabricated 8x8 pixel X-ray microcalorimeter arrays using surface micromachining. Surface-micromachining techniques hold the promise of scalability to much larger arrays and may allow for the integration of in-plane multiplexer elements. In this paper we describe the surface micromachining process and recent improvements in the device geometry that provide for increased mechanical strength. We also present X-ray and heat pulse spectra collected using these detectors

Terahertz computed tomography in three-dimensional using a pyroelectric array detector

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Bin; Wang, Dayong; Zhou, Xun; Rong, Lu; Huang, Haochong; Wan, Min; Wang, Yunxin

2017-05-01

Terahertz frequency range spans from 0.1 to 10 THz. Terahertz radiation can penetrate nonpolar materials and nonmetallic materials, such as plastics, wood, and clothes. Then the feature makes the terahertz imaging have important research value. Terahertz computed tomography makes use of the penetrability of terahertz radiation and obtains three-dimensional object projection data. In the paper, continuous-wave terahertz computed tomography with a pyroelectric array detectoris presented. Compared with scanning terahertz computed tomography, a pyroelectric array detector can obtain a large number of projection data in a short time, as the acquisition mode of the array pyroelectric detector omit the projection process on the vertical and horizontal direction. With the two-dimensional cross-sectional images of the object are obtained by the filtered back projection algorithm. The two side distance of the straw wall account for 80 pixels, so it multiplied by the pixel size is equal to the diameter of the straw about 6.4 mm. Compared with the actual diameter of the straw, the relative error is 6%. In order to reconstruct the three-dimensional internal structure image of the straw, the y direction range from 70 to 150 are selected on the array pyroelectric detector and are reconstructed by the filtered back projection algorithm. As the pixel size is 80 μm, the height of three-dimensional internal structure image of the straw is 6.48 mm. The presented system can rapidly reconstruct the three-dimensional object by using a pyroelectric array detector and explores the feasibility of on non-destructive evaluation and security testing.

LIFTING THE VEIL OF DUST FROM NGC 0959: THE IMPORTANCE OF A PIXEL-BASED TWO-DIMENSIONAL EXTINCTION CORRECTION

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tamura, K.; Jansen, R. A.; Windhorst, R. A.; Eskridge, P. B.; Cohen, S. H.

2010-01-01

We present the results of a study of the late-type spiral galaxy NGC 0959, before and after application of the pixel-based dust extinction correction described in Tamura et al. (Paper I). Galaxy Evolution Explorer far-UV, and near-UV, ground-based Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope, UBVR, and Spitzer/Infrared Array Camera 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, and 8.0 μm images are studied through pixel color-magnitude diagrams and pixel color-color diagrams (pCCDs). We define groups of pixels based on their distribution in a pCCD of (B - 3.6 μm) versus (FUV - U) colors after extinction correction. In the same pCCD, we trace their locations before the extinction correction was applied. This shows that selecting pixel groups is not meaningful when using colors uncorrected for dust. We also trace the distribution of the pixel groups on a pixel coordinate map of the galaxy. We find that the pixel-based (two-dimensional) extinction correction is crucial for revealing the spatial variations in the dominant stellar population, averaged over each resolution element. Different types and mixtures of stellar populations, and galaxy structures such as a previously unrecognized bar, become readily discernible in the extinction-corrected pCCD and as coherent spatial structures in the pixel coordinate map.

A digital pixel cell for address event representation image convolution processing

Science.gov (United States)

Camunas-Mesa, Luis; Acosta-Jimenez, Antonio; Serrano-Gotarredona, Teresa; Linares-Barranco, Bernabe

2005-06-01

Address Event Representation (AER) is an emergent neuromorphic interchip communication protocol that allows for real-time virtual massive connectivity between huge number of neurons located on different chips. By exploiting high speed digital communication circuits (with nano-seconds timings), synaptic neural connections can be time multiplexed, while neural activity signals (with mili-seconds timings) are sampled at low frequencies. Also, neurons generate events according to their information levels. Neurons with more information (activity, derivative of activities, contrast, motion, edges,...) generate more events per unit time, and access the interchip communication channel more frequently, while neurons with low activity consume less communication bandwidth. AER technology has been used and reported for the implementation of various type of image sensors or retinae: luminance with local agc, contrast retinae, motion retinae,... Also, there has been a proposal for realizing programmable kernel image convolution chips. Such convolution chips would contain an array of pixels that perform weighted addition of events. Once a pixel has added sufficient event contributions to reach a fixed threshold, the pixel fires an event, which is then routed out of the chip for further processing. Such convolution chips have been proposed to be implemented using pulsed current mode mixed analog and digital circuit techniques. In this paper we present a fully digital pixel implementation to perform the weighted additions and fire the events. This way, for a given technology, there is a fully digital implementation reference against which compare the mixed signal implementations. We have designed, implemented and tested a fully digital AER convolution pixel. This pixel will be used to implement a full AER convolution chip for programmable kernel image convolution processing.

Photon small-field measurements with a CMOS active pixel sensor.

Science.gov (United States)

Spang, F Jiménez; Rosenberg, I; Hedin, E; Royle, G

2015-06-07

In this work the dosimetric performance of CMOS active pixel sensors for the measurement of small photon beams is presented. The detector used consisted of an array of 520  × 520 pixels on a 25 µm pitch. Dosimetric parameters measured with this sensor were compared with data collected with an ionization chamber, a film detector and GEANT4 Monte Carlo simulations. The sensor performance for beam profiles measurements was evaluated for field sizes of 0.5  × 0.5 cm(2). The high spatial resolution achieved with this sensor allowed the accurate measurement of profiles, beam penumbrae and field size under lateral electronic disequilibrium. Field size and penumbrae agreed within 5.4% and 2.2% respectively with film measurements. Agreements with ionization chambers better than 1.0% were obtained when measuring tissue-phantom ratios. Output factor measurements were in good agreement with ionization chamber and Monte Carlo simulation. The data obtained from this imaging sensor can be easily analyzed to extract dosimetric information. The results presented in this work are promising for the development and implementation of CMOS active pixel sensors for dosimetry applications.

Characterization and Beam Tests Results of Non-Uniformly Irradiated 3D Pixel Sensors for HEP Experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lopez, I.; Grinstein, S.; Micelli, A.; Tsiskaridze, S.

2013-06-01

3D Pixel detectors, with cylindrical electrodes that penetrate the silicon substrate, offer advantages over standard planar sensors in terms of radiation hardness, since the charge collection distance can be reduced independently of the bulk thickness. In the framework of the ATLAS Forward Physics (AFP) program, work has been carried out to study the suitability of 3D pixel devices for forward proton tracking. The AFP tracker unit will consist of an array of five pixel sensors placed at 2-3 mm from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) proton beam. The proximity to the beam is essential for the AFP physics program as it directly increases the sensitivity of the experiment. Thus, there are two critical requirements for the AFP pixel detector. First, the dead region of the sensor has to be minimized. Second, the device has to be able to cope with a very inhomogeneous radiation distribution. Recent results of the characterization and beam test studies of in-homogeneously irradiated 3D pixel sensors produced at CNM-Barcelona will be presented. (authors)

PIXEL 2010 - A Resume

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wermes, N.

2011-01-01

The Pixel 2010 conference focused on semiconductor pixel detectors for particle tracking/vertexing as well as for imaging, in particular for synchrotron light sources and XFELs. The big LHC hybrid pixel detectors have impressively started showing their capabilities. X-ray imaging detectors, also using the hybrid pixel technology, have greatly advanced the experimental possibilities for diffraction experiments. Monolithic or semi-monolithic devices like CMOS active pixels and DEPFET pixels have now reached a state such that complete vertex detectors for RHIC and superKEKB are being built with these technologies. Finally, new advances towards fully monolithic active pixel detectors, featuring full CMOS electronics merged with efficient signal charge collection, exploiting standard CMOS technologies, SOI and/or 3D integration, show the path for the future. This resume attempts to extract the main statements of the results and developments presented at this conference.

Magnetically-coupled microcalorimeter arrays for x-ray astrophysics

Science.gov (United States)

Bandler, Simon

The "X-ray Surveyor" has been listed by NASA as one of the four major large mission concepts to be studied in the next Astrophysics Decadal Review in its preliminary list of large concepts. One of the key instruments on such a mission would be a very large format X-ray microcalorimeter array, with an array size of greater than 100 thousand pixels. Magnetically-coupled microcalorimeters (MCC) are one of the technologies with the greatest potential to meet the requirements of this mission, and this proposal is one to carry out research specifically to reach the goals of this vision. The "X-ray Surveyor" is a concept for a future mission that will make X-ray observations that are instrumental to understanding the quickly emerging population of galaxies and supermassive black holes at z ~10. The observations will trace the formation of galaxies and their assembly into large-scale structures starting from the earliest possible epochs. This mission would be observing baryons and large-scale physical processes outside of the very densest regions in the local Universe. This can be achieved with an X-ray observatory with similar angular resolution as Chandra but with significantly improved optic area and detector sensitivity. Chandra-scale angular resolution (1" or better) is essential in building more powerful, higher throughput observatories to avoid source confusion and remain photon-limited rather than background-limited. A prime consideration for the microcalorimeter camera on this type of mission is maintaining ~ 1 arcsec spatial resolution over the largest possible field of view, even if this means a slight trade-off against the spectral resolution. A uniform array of 1" pixels covering at least 5'x5' field of view is desired. To reduce the number of sensors read out, in geometries where extremely fine pitch (~50 microns) is desired, the most promising technologies are those in which a thermal sensor such an MCC can read out a sub-array of 20-25 individual 1'�

A retrospective on the LBNL PEM project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huber, J.S.; Moses, W.W.; Wang, G.C.; Derenzo, S.E.; Huesman, R.H.; Qi, J.; Virador, P.; Choong, W.S.; Mandelli, E.; Beuville, E.; Pedrali-Noy, M.; Krieger, B.; Meddeler, G.

2004-01-01

We present a retrospective on the LBNL Positron Emission Mammography (PEM) project, looking back on our design and experiences. The LBNL PEM camera utilizes detector modules that are capable of measuring depth of interaction (DOI) and places them into 4 detector banks in a rectangular geometry. In order to build this camera, we had to develop the DOI detector module, LSO etching, Lumirror-epoxy reflector for the LSO array (to achieve optimal DOI), photodiode array, custom IC, rigid-flex readout board, packaging, DOI calibration and reconstruction algorithms for the rectangular camera geometry. We will discuss the highlights (good and bad) of these developments

Signal-Conditioning Block of a 1 × 200 CMOS Detector Array for a Terahertz Real-Time Imaging System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jong-Ryul Yang

2016-03-01

Full Text Available A signal conditioning block of a 1 × 200 Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS detector array is proposed to be employed with a real-time 0.2 THz imaging system for inspecting large areas. The plasmonic CMOS detector array whose pixel size including an integrated antenna is comparable to the wavelength of the THz wave for the imaging system, inevitably carries wide pixel-to-pixel variation. To make the variant outputs from the array uniform, the proposed signal conditioning block calibrates the responsivity of each pixel by controlling the gate bias of each detector and the voltage gain of the lock-in amplifiers in the block. The gate bias of each detector is modulated to 1 MHz to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of the imaging system via the electrical modulation by the conditioning block. In addition, direct current (DC offsets of the detectors in the array are cancelled by initializing the output voltage level from the block. Real-time imaging using the proposed signal conditioning block is demonstrated by obtaining images at the rate of 19.2 frame-per-sec of an object moving on the conveyor belt with a scan width of 20 cm and a scan speed of 25 cm/s.

Scalable gamma-ray camera for wide-area search based on silicon photomultipliers array

Science.gov (United States)

Jeong, Manhee; Van, Benjamin; Wells, Byron T.; D'Aries, Lawrence J.; Hammig, Mark D.

2018-03-01

Portable coded-aperture imaging systems based on scintillators and semiconductors have found use in a variety of radiological applications. For stand-off detection of weakly emitting materials, large volume detectors can facilitate the rapid localization of emitting materials. We describe a scalable coded-aperture imaging system based on 5.02 × 5.02 cm2 CsI(Tl) scintillator modules, each partitioned into 4 × 4 × 20 mm3 pixels that are optically coupled to 12 × 12 pixel silicon photo-multiplier (SiPM) arrays. The 144 pixels per module are read-out with a resistor-based charge-division circuit that reduces the readout outputs from 144 to four signals per module, from which the interaction position and total deposited energy can be extracted. All 144 CsI(Tl) pixels are readily distinguishable with an average energy resolution, at 662 keV, of 13.7% FWHM, a peak-to-valley ratio of 8.2, and a peak-to-Compton ratio of 2.9. The detector module is composed of a SiPM array coupled with a 2 cm thick scintillator and modified uniformly redundant array mask. For the image reconstruction, cross correlation and maximum likelihood expectation maximization methods are used. The system shows a field of view of 45° and an angular resolution of 4.7° FWHM.

Si and gaas pixel detectors for medical imaging applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bisogni, M. G.

2001-01-01

As the use of digital radiographic equipment in the morphological imaging field is becoming the more and more diffuse, the research of new and more performing devices from public institutions and industrial companies is in constant progress. Most of these devices are based on solid-state detectors as X-ray sensors. Semiconductor pixel detectors, originally developed in the high energy physics environment, have been then proposed as digital detector for medical imaging applications. In this paper a digital single photon counting device, based on silicon and GaAs pixel detector, is presented. The detector is a thin slab of semiconductor crystal where an array of 64 by 64 square pixels, 170- m side, has been built on one side. The data read-out is performed by a VLSI integrated circuit named Photon Counting Chip (PCC), developed within the MEDIPIX collaboration. Each chip cell geometrically matches the sensor pixel. It contains a charge preamplifier, a threshold comparator and a 15 bits pseudo-random counter and it is coupled to the detector by means of bump bonding. Most important advantages of such system, with respect to a traditional X-rays film/screen device, are the wider linear dynamic range (3x104) and the higher performance in terms of MTF and DQE. Besides the single photon counting architecture allows to detect image contrasts lower than 3%. Electronics read-out performance as well as imaging capabilities of the digital device will be presented. Images of mammographic phantoms acquired with a standard Mammographic tube will be compared with radiographs obtained with traditional film/screen systems

Electrical crosstalk in front-illuminated photodiode array with different guard ring designs for medical CT applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ji Fan; Juntunen, Mikko; Hietanen, Iiro

2009-01-01

This paper presents electrical crosstalk studies on front-illuminated photodiode arrays for medical computed tomography (CT) applications. Crosstalk is an important factor to the system noise and image quality. The electrical crosstalk depends on silicon substrate properties and photodiode structures. The photodiode samples employed in this paper are planar processed on high-resistivity n-type silicon substrate, resulting in a p+/n-/n+ diode structure. Two types of guard ring structures are designed and applied to the same geometry of two-dimensional photodiode arrays. One structure is an n guard ring in the gap area between pixels, and the other structure is an additional p+ guard ring around each pixel together with the n guard ring. A 10 μm light spot with wavelength of 525 nm is used to scan across the surface of the photodiode array in the electrical crosstalk measurements. The electrical currents of two neighbor pixels are measured and the results are compared between two guard ring designs. The design with the p+ guard ring structure gives better electrical crosstalk suppression. Moreover, the measurement results show much smaller influence on surrounding pixels with the p+ guard ring structure in the case of disconnected pixel. Besides the electrical crosstalk, the light sensitivity within the gap area is also discussed between two guard ring designs.

The First Multichroic Polarimeter Array on the Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Characterization and Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Ho, S. P.; Pappas, C. G.; Austermann, J.; Beall, J. A.; Becker, D.; Choi, S. K.; Datta, R.; Duff, S. M.; Gallardo, P. A.; Grace, E.;

The First Multichroic Polarimeter Array on the Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Characterization and Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Ho, S. P.; Pappas, C. G.; Austermann, J.; Beall, J. A.; Becker, D.; Choi, S. K.; Datta, R.; Duff, S. M.; Gallardo, P. A.; Grace, E.; Hasselfield, M.; Henderson, S. W.; Hilton, G. C.; Hubmayr, J.; Koopman, B. J.; Lanen, J. V.; Li, D.; McMahon, J.; Nati, F.; Niemack, M. D.; Niraula, P.; Salatino, M.; Schillaci, A.; Schmitt, B. L.; Simon, S. M.; Staggs, S. T.; Stevens, J. R.; Ward, J. T.; Wollack, E. J.; Vavagiakis, E. M.

2016-08-01

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope Polarimeter (ACTPol) is a polarization sensitive receiver for the 6-m Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) and measures the small angular scale polarization anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). The full focal plane is composed of three detector arrays, containing over 3000 transition edge sensors (TES detectors) in total. The first two detector arrays, observing at 146 GHz, were deployed in 2013 and 2014, respectively. The third and final array is composed of multichroic pixels sensitive to both 90 and 146 GHz and saw first light in February 2015. Fabricated at NIST, this dichroic array consists of 255 pixels, with a total of 1020 polarization sensitive bolometers and is coupled to the telescope with a monolithic array of broad-band silicon feedhorns. The detectors are read out using time-division SQUID multiplexing and cooled by a dilution refrigerator at 110 mK. We present an overview of the assembly and characterization of this multichroic array in the lab, and the initial detector performance in Chile. The detector array has a TES detector electrical yield of 85 %, a total array sensitivity of less than 10 \\upmu K√{ {s}}, and detector time constants and saturation powers suitable for ACT CMB observations.

Characterization of a 512x512-pixel 8-output full-frame CCD for high-speed imaging

Science.gov (United States)

Graeve, Thorsten; Dereniak, Eustace L.

1993-01-01

The characterization of a 512 by 512 pixel, eight-output full frame CCD manufactured by English Electric Valve under part number CCD13 is discussed. This device is a high- resolution Silicon-based array designed for visible imaging applications at readout periods as low as two milliseconds. The characterization of the device includes mean-variance analysis to determine read noise and dynamic range, as well as charge transfer efficiency, MTF, and quantum efficiency measurements. Dark current and non-uniformity issues on a pixel-to-pixel basis and between individual outputs are also examined. The characterization of the device is restricted by hardware limitations to a one MHz pixel rate, corresponding to a 40 ms readout time. However, subsections of the device have been operated at up to an equivalent 100 frames per second. To maximize the frame rate, the CCD is illuminated by a synchronized strobe flash in between frame readouts. The effects of the strobe illumination on the imagery obtained from the device is discussed.

Hot pixel generation in active pixel sensors: dosimetric and micro-dosimetric response

Science.gov (United States)

Scheick, Leif; Novak, Frank

2003-01-01

The dosimetric response of an active pixel sensor is analyzed. heavy ions are seen to damage the pixel in much the same way as gamma radiation. The probability of a hot pixel is seen to exhibit behavior that is not typical with other microdose effects.

Mechanical Design and Development of TES Bolometer Detector Arrays for the Advanced ACTPol Experiment

Science.gov (United States)

Ward, Jonathan T.; Austermann, Jason; Beall, James A.; Choi, Steve K.; Crowley, Kevin T.; Devlin, Mark J.; Duff, Shannon M.; Gallardo, Patricio M.; Henderson, Shawn W.; Ho, Shuay-Pwu Patty;

X-ray Imaging Using a Hybrid Photon Counting GaAs Pixel Detector

CERN Document Server

Schwarz, C; Göppert, R; Heijne, Erik H M; Ludwig, J; Meddeler, G; Mikulec, B; Pernigotti, E; Rogalla, M; Runge, K; Smith, K M; Snoeys, W; Söldner-Rembold, S; Watt, J

1999-01-01

The performance of hybrid GaAs pixel detectors as X-ray imaging sensors were investigated at room temperature. These hybrids consist of 300 mu-m thick GaAs pixel detectors, flip-chip bonded to a CMOS Single Photon Counting Chip (PCC). This chip consists of a matrix of 64 x 64 identical square pixels (170 mu-m x 170 mu-m) and covers a total area of 1.2 cm**2. The electronics in each cell comprises a preamplifier, a discriminator with a 3-bit threshold adjust and a 15-bit counter. The detector is realized by an array of Schottky diodes processed on semi-insulating LEC-GaAs bulk material. An IV-charcteristic and a detector bias voltage scan showed that the detector can be operated with voltages around 200 V. Images of various objects were taken by using a standard X-ray tube for dental diagnostics. The signal to noise ratio (SNR) was also determined. The applications of these imaging systems range from medical applications like digital mammography or dental X-ray diagnostics to non destructive material testing (...

Antenna-coupled bolometer arrays using transition-edge sensors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Myers, Michael J. [Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720 (United States)]. E-mail: mmyers@cosmology.berkeley.edu; Ade, Peter [School of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales (United Kingdom); Arnold, Kam [Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720 (United States); Engargiola, Greg [Department of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720 (United States); Holzapfel, Bill [Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720 (United States); Lee, Adrian T. [Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720 (United States); O' Brient, Roger [Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720 (United States); Richards, Paul L. [Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720 (United States); Smith, Andy [Northrop Grumman, Redondo Beach, California 90278 (United States); Spieler, Helmuth [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720 (United States); Tran, Huan T. [Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720 (United States)

2006-04-15

We are developing antenna-coupled Transition-Edge Sensor (TES) bolometer arrays for use in measurements of the CMB polarization. TES bolometers have many well-known advantages over conventional bolometers, such as increased speed, linearity, and the existence of readout multiplexers. Antenna-coupled bolometers use an on-chip planar antenna to couple light into the bolometer. The antenna directivity and polarization sensitivity, along with the potential for on-chip band defining filters and channelizing circuits, allow a significant increase in focal plane integration. This eliminates the bulky horns, quasioptical filters, dichroics, and polarizers which might otherwise be needed in a conventional bolometric system. This simplification will ease the construction of receivers with larger numbers of pixels. We report on the fabrication and optical testing of single antenna-coupled bolometer pixels with integrated band defining filters. We will also discuss current progress on fabrication of a bolometer array based on this design.

A smart-pixel holographic competitive learning network

Science.gov (United States)

Slagle, Timothy Michael

Neural networks are adaptive classifiers which modify their decision boundaries based on feedback from externally- or internally-generated error signals. Optics is an attractive technology for neural network implementation because it offers the possibility of parallel, nearly instantaneous computation of the weighted neuron inputs by the propagation of light through the optical system. Using current optical device technology, system performance levels of 3 × 1011 connection updates per second can be achieved. This thesis presents an architecture for an optical competitive learning network which offers advantages over previous optical implementations, including smart-pixel-based optical neurons, phase- conjugate self-alignment of a single neuron plane, and high-density, parallel-access weight storage, interconnection, and learning in a volume hologram. The competitive learning algorithm with modifications for optical implementation is described, and algorithm simulations are performed for an example problem. The optical competitive learning architecture is then introduced. The optical system is simulated using the ``beamprop'' algorithm at the level of light propagating through the system components, and results showing competitive learning operation in agreement with the algorithm simulations are presented. The optical competitive learning requires a non-linear, non-local ``winner-take-all'' (WTA) neuron function. Custom-designed smart-pixel WTA neuron arrays were fabricated using CMOS VLSI/liquid crystal technology. Results of laboratory tests of the WTA arrays' switching characteristics, time response, and uniformity are then presented. The system uses a phase-conjugate mirror to write the self-aligning interconnection weight holograms, and energy gain is required from the reflection to minimize erasure of the existing weights. An experimental system for characterizing the PCM response is described. Useful gains of 20 were obtained with a polarization

From hybrid to CMOS pixels ... a possibility for LHC's pixel future?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wermes, N.

2015-01-01

Hybrid pixel detectors have been invented for the LHC to make tracking and vertexing possible at all in LHC's radiation intense environment. The LHC pixel detectors have meanwhile very successfully fulfilled their promises and R and D for the planned HL-LHC upgrade is in full swing, targeting even higher ionising doses and non-ionising fluences. In terms of rate and radiation tolerance hybrid pixels are unrivaled. But they have disadvantages as well, most notably material thickness, production complexity, and cost. Meanwhile also active pixel sensors (DEPFET, MAPS) have become real pixel detectors but they would by far not stand the rates and radiation faced from HL-LHC. New MAPS developments, so-called DMAPS (depleted MAPS) which are full CMOS-pixel structures with charge collection in a depleted region have come in the R and D focus for pixels at high rate/radiation levels. This goal can perhaps be realised exploiting HV technologies, high ohmic substrates and/or SOI based technologies. The paper covers the main ideas and some encouraging results from prototyping R and D, not hiding the difficulties

An Algorithm of an X-ray Hit Allocation to a Single Pixel in a Cluster and Its Test-Circuit Implementation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Deptuch, G. W. [AGH-UST, Cracow; Fahim, F. [Fermilab; Grybos, P. [AGH-UST, Cracow; Hoff, J. [Fermilab; Maj, P. [AGH-UST, Cracow; Siddons, D. P. [Brookhaven; Kmon, P. [AGH-UST, Cracow; Trimpl, M. [Fermilab; Zimmerman, T. [Fermilab

2017-05-06

An on-chip implementable algorithm for allocation of an X-ray photon imprint, called a hit, to a single pixel in the presence of charge sharing in a highly segmented pixel detector is described. Its proof-of-principle implementation is also given supported by the results of tests using a highly collimated X-ray photon beam from a synchrotron source. The algorithm handles asynchronous arrivals of X-ray photons. Activation of groups of pixels, comparisons of peak amplitudes of pulses within an active neighborhood and finally latching of the results of these comparisons constitute the three procedural steps of the algorithm. A grouping of pixels to one virtual pixel that recovers composite signals and event driven strobes to control comparisons of fractional signals between neighboring pixels are the actuators of the algorithm. The circuitry necessary to implement the algorithm requires an extensive inter-pixel connection grid of analog and digital signals that are exchanged between pixels. A test-circuit implementation of the algorithm was achieved with a small array of 32×32 pixels and the device was exposed to an 8 keV highly collimated to a diameter of 3 μm X-ray beam. The results of these tests are given in the paper assessing physical implementation of the algorithm.

Mass test of AdvanSiD model ASD-NUV3S-P SiliconPMs for the Pixel Timing Counter of the MEG II experiment

Science.gov (United States)

Rossella, M.; Bariani, S.; Barnaba, O.; Cattaneo, P. W.; Cervi, T.; Menegolli, A.; Nardò, R.; Prata, M. C.; Romano, E.; Scagliotti, C.; Simonetta, M.; Vercellati, F.

2017-02-01

The MEG II Timing Counter will measure the positron time of arrival with a resolution of 30 ps relying on two arrays of scintillator pixels read out by 6144 Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs) from AdvanSiD. They must be characterized, measuring their breakdown voltage, to assure that the gains of the SiPMs of each pixel are as uniform as possible, to maximize the pixel resolution. To do this an automatic test system that can measure sequentially the parameters of 32 devices has been developed.

Fabrication of X-ray Microcalorimeter Focal Planes Composed of Two Distinct Pixel Types

Science.gov (United States)

Wassell, Edward J.; Adams, Joseph S.; Bandler, Simon R.; Betancour-Martinez, Gabriele L; Chiao, Meng P.; Chang, Meng Ping; Chervenak, James A.; Datesman, Aaron M.; Eckart, Megan E.; Ewin, Audrey J.;

Demosaicking algorithm for the Kodak-RGBW color filter array

Science.gov (United States)

Rafinazari, M.; Dubois, E.

2015-01-01

Digital cameras capture images through different Color Filter Arrays and then reconstruct the full color image. Each CFA pixel only captures one primary color component; the other primary components will be estimated using information from neighboring pixels. During the demosaicking algorithm, the two unknown color components will be estimated at each pixel location. Most of the demosaicking algorithms use the RGB Bayer CFA pattern with Red, Green and Blue filters. The least-Squares Luma-Chroma demultiplexing method is a state of the art demosaicking method for the Bayer CFA. In this paper we develop a new demosaicking algorithm using the Kodak-RGBW CFA. This particular CFA reduces noise and improves the quality of the reconstructed images by adding white pixels. We have applied non-adaptive and adaptive demosaicking method using the Kodak-RGBW CFA on the standard Kodak image dataset and the results have been compared with previous work.

Giga-pixel lensfree holographic microscopy and tomography using color image sensors.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Serhan O Isikman

Full Text Available We report Giga-pixel lensfree holographic microscopy and tomography using color sensor-arrays such as CMOS imagers that exhibit Bayer color filter patterns. Without physically removing these color filters coated on the sensor chip, we synthesize pixel super-resolved lensfree holograms, which are then reconstructed to achieve ~350 nm lateral resolution, corresponding to a numerical aperture of ~0.8, across a field-of-view of ~20.5 mm(2. This constitutes a digital image with ~0.7 Billion effective pixels in both amplitude and phase channels (i.e., ~1.4 Giga-pixels total. Furthermore, by changing the illumination angle (e.g., ± 50° and scanning a partially-coherent light source across two orthogonal axes, super-resolved images of the same specimen from different viewing angles are created, which are then digitally combined to synthesize tomographic images of the object. Using this dual-axis lensfree tomographic imager running on a color sensor-chip, we achieve a 3D spatial resolution of ~0.35 µm × 0.35 µm × ~2 µm, in x, y and z, respectively, creating an effective voxel size of ~0.03 µm(3 across a sample volume of ~5 mm(3, which is equivalent to >150 Billion voxels. We demonstrate the proof-of-concept of this lensfree optical tomographic microscopy platform on a color CMOS image sensor by creating tomograms of micro-particles as well as a wild-type C. elegans nematode.

Direct reading of charge multipliers with a self-triggering CMOS analog chip with 105k pixels at 50 micron pitch

CERN Document Server

Bellazzini, R; Minuti, M; Baldini, L; Brez, A; Cavalca, F; Latronico, L; Omodei, N; Massai, M M; Sgro, C; Costa, E; Krummenacher, P S F; De Oliveira, R

2006-01-01

We report on a large active area (15x15mm2), high channel density (470 pixels/mm2), self-triggering CMOS analog chip that we have developed as pixelized charge collecting electrode of a Micropattern Gas Detector. This device, which represents a big step forward both in terms of size and performance, is the last version of three generations of custom ASICs of increasing complexity. The CMOS pixel array has the top metal layer patterned in a matrix of 105600 hexagonal pixels at 50 micron pitch. Each pixel is directly connected to the underneath full electronics chain which has been realized in the remaining five metal and two poly-silicon layers of a 0.18 micron VLSI technology. The chip has customizable self-triggering capability and includes a signal pre-processing function for the automatic localization of the event coordinates. In this way it is possible to reduce significantly the readout time and the data volume by limiting the signal output only to those pixels belonging to the region of interest. The ve...

Low-energy CZT detector array for the ASIM mission

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cenkeramaddi, Linga Reddy; Genov, Georgi; Kohfeldt, Anja

2012-01-01

In this article we introduce the low-energy CZT (CdZnTe) 16 384-pixel detector array on-board the Atmosphere Space Interaction Monitor (ASIM), funded by the European Space Agency. This detector is a part of the larger Modular X-and Gamma-ray sensor (MXGS). The CZT detector array is sensitive...... to photons with energies between 15 keV and 400 keV. The principal objective of the MXGS instrument is to detect Terrestrial Gamma ray Flashes (TGFs), which are related to thunderstorm activity. The concept of the detector array is presented, together with brief descriptions of its mechanical structure...

Feedhorn-Coupled Transition-Edge Superconducting Bolometer Arrays for Cosmic Microwave Background Polarimetry

Science.gov (United States)

Hubmayr, J.; Austermann, J.; Beall, J.; Becker, D.; Cho, H.-M.; Datta, R.; Duff, S. M.; Grace, E.; Halverson, N.; Henderson, S. W.;

Applications of pixellated GaAs X-ray detectors in a synchrotron radiation beam

CERN Document Server

Watt, J; Campbell, M; Mathieson, K; Mikulec, B; O'Shea, V; Passmore, M S; Schwarz, C; Smith, K M; Whitehill, C

2001-01-01

Hybrid semiconductor pixel detectors are being investigated as imaging devices for radiography and synchrotron radiation beam applications. Based on previous work in the CERN RD19 and the UK IMPACT collaborations, a photon counting GaAs pixel detector (PCD) has been used in an X-ray powder diffraction experiment. The device consists of a 200 mu m thick SI-LEC GaAs detector patterned in a 64*64 array of 170 mu m pitch square pixels, bump-bonded to readout electronics operating in single photon counting mode. Intensity peaks in the powder diffraction pattern of KNbO/sub 3/ have been resolved and compared with results using the standard scintillator, and a PCD predecessor (the Omega 3). The PCD shows improved speed, dynamic range, 2-D information and comparable spatial resolution to the standard scintillator based systems. It also overcomes the severe dead time limitations of the Omega 3 by using a shutter based acquisition mode. A brief demonstration of the possibilities of the system for dental radiography and...

First large DEPFET pixel modules for the Belle II Pixel Detector

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mueller, Felix; Avella, Paola; Kiesling, Christian; Koffmane, Christian; Moser, Hans-Guenther; Valentan, Manfred [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Physik, Muenchen (Germany); Andricek, Ladislav; Richter, Rainer [Halbleiterlabor der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Muenchen (Germany); Collaboration: Belle II-Collaboration

2016-07-01

DEPFET pixel detectors offer excellent signal to noise ratio, resolution and low power consumption with a low material budget. They will be used at Belle II and are a candidate for an ILC vertex detector. The pixels are integrated in a monolithic piece of silicon which also acts as PCB providing the signal and control routings for the ASICs on top. The first prototype DEPFET sensor modules for Belle II have been produced. The modules have 192000 pixels and are equipped with SMD components and three different kinds of ASICs to control and readout the pixels. The entire readout chain has to be studied; the metal layer interconnectivity and routings need to be verified. The modules are fully characterized, and the operation voltages and control sequences of the ASICs are investigated. An overview of the DEPFET concept and first characterization results is presented.

Amorphous silicon pixel radiation detectors and associated thin film transistor electronics readout

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Perez-Mendez, V.; Cho, G.; Drewery, J.; Jing, T.; Kaplan, S.N.; Mireshghi, A.; Wildermuth, D.; Goodman, C.; Fujieda, I.

1992-07-01

We describe the characteristics of thin (1 μm) and thick (> 30 μm) hydrogenated amorphous silicon p-i-n diodes which are optimized for detecting and recording the spatial distribution of charged particles, x-ray, γ rays and thermal neutrons. For x-ray, γ ray, and charged particle detection we can use thin p-i-n photosensitive diode arrays coupled to evaporated layers of suitable scintillators. For thermal neutron detection we use thin (2∼5 μm) gadolinium converters on 30 μm thick a-Si:H diodes. For direct detection of minimum ionizing particles and others with high resistance to radiation damage, we use the thick p-i-n diode arrays. Diode and amorphous silicon readouts as well as polysilicon pixel amplifiers are described

Superconducting Microwave Resonator Arrays for Submillimeter/Far-Infrared Imaging

Science.gov (United States)

Noroozian, Omid

Superconducting microwave resonators have the potential to revolutionize submillimeter and far-infrared astronomy, and with it our understanding of the universe. The field of low-temperature detector technology has reached a point where extremely sensitive devices like transition-edge sensors are now capable of detecting radiation limited by the background noise of the universe. However, the size of these detector arrays are limited to only a few thousand pixels. This is because of the cost and complexity of fabricating large-scale arrays of these detectors that can reach up to 10 lithographic levels on chip, and the complicated SQUID-based multiplexing circuitry and wiring for readout of each detector. In order to make substantial progress, next-generation ground-based telescopes such as CCAT or future space telescopes require focal planes with large-scale detector arrays of 104--10 6 pixels. Arrays using microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKID) are a potential solution. These arrays can be easily made with a single layer of superconducting metal film deposited on a silicon substrate and pattered using conventional optical lithography. Furthermore, MKIDs are inherently multiplexable in the frequency domain, allowing ˜ 10 3 detectors to be read out using a single coaxial transmission line and cryogenic amplifier, drastically reducing cost and complexity. An MKID uses the change in the microwave surface impedance of a superconducting thin-film microresonator to detect photons. Absorption of photons in the superconductor breaks Cooper pairs into quasiparticles, changing the complex surface impedance, which results in a perturbation of resonator frequency and quality factor. For excitation and readout, the resonator is weakly coupled to a transmission line. The complex amplitude of a microwave probe signal tuned on-resonance and transmitted on the feedline past the resonator is perturbed as photons are absorbed in the superconductor. The perturbation can be

Pixel Experiments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Petersen, Kjell Yngve; Søndergaard, Karin; Augustesen, Christina

2015-01-01

Pixel Experiments The term pixel is traditionally defined as any of the minute elements that together constitute a larger context or image. A pixel has its own form and is the smallest unit seen within a larger structure. In working with the potentials of LED technology in architectural lighting...... lighting design in practice, one quickly experiences and realises that there are untapped potentials in the attributes of LED technology. In this research, speculative studies have been made working with the attributes of LEDs in architectural contexts, with the ambition to ascertain new strategies...... for using LED lighting in lighting design practice. The speculative experiments that have been set-up have aimed to clarify the variables that can be used as parameters in the design of lighting applications; including, for example, the structuring and software control of light. The experiments also...

Performance of a novel wafer scale CMOS active pixel sensor for bio-medical imaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Esposito, M; Evans, P M; Wells, K; Anaxagoras, T; Konstantinidis, A C; Zheng, Y; Speller, R D; Allinson, N M

2014-01-01

Recently CMOS active pixels sensors (APSs) have become a valuable alternative to amorphous silicon and selenium flat panel imagers (FPIs) in bio-medical imaging applications. CMOS APSs can now be scaled up to the standard 20 cm diameter wafer size by means of a reticle stitching block process. However, despite wafer scale CMOS APS being monolithic, sources of non-uniformity of response and regional variations can persist representing a significant challenge for wafer scale sensor response. Non-uniformity of stitched sensors can arise from a number of factors related to the manufacturing process, including variation of amplification, variation between readout components, wafer defects and process variations across the wafer due to manufacturing processes. This paper reports on an investigation into the spatial non-uniformity and regional variations of a wafer scale stitched CMOS APS. For the first time a per-pixel analysis of the electro-optical performance of a wafer CMOS APS is presented, to address inhomogeneity issues arising from the stitching techniques used to manufacture wafer scale sensors. A complete model of the signal generation in the pixel array has been provided and proved capable of accounting for noise and gain variations across the pixel array. This novel analysis leads to readout noise and conversion gain being evaluated at pixel level, stitching block level and in regions of interest, resulting in a coefficient of variation ⩽1.9%. The uniformity of the image quality performance has been further investigated in a typical x-ray application, i.e. mammography, showing a uniformity in terms of CNR among the highest when compared with mammography detectors commonly used in clinical practice. Finally, in order to compare the detection capability of this novel APS with the technology currently used (i.e. FPIs), theoretical evaluation of the detection quantum efficiency (DQE) at zero-frequency has been performed, resulting in a higher DQE for this

Performance of a novel wafer scale CMOS active pixel sensor for bio-medical imaging.

Science.gov (United States)

Esposito, M; Anaxagoras, T; Konstantinidis, A C; Zheng, Y; Speller, R D; Evans, P M; Allinson, N M; Wells, K

2014-07-07

Recently CMOS active pixels sensors (APSs) have become a valuable alternative to amorphous silicon and selenium flat panel imagers (FPIs) in bio-medical imaging applications. CMOS APSs can now be scaled up to the standard 20 cm diameter wafer size by means of a reticle stitching block process. However, despite wafer scale CMOS APS being monolithic, sources of non-uniformity of response and regional variations can persist representing a significant challenge for wafer scale sensor response. Non-uniformity of stitched sensors can arise from a number of factors related to the manufacturing process, including variation of amplification, variation between readout components, wafer defects and process variations across the wafer due to manufacturing processes. This paper reports on an investigation into the spatial non-uniformity and regional variations of a wafer scale stitched CMOS APS. For the first time a per-pixel analysis of the electro-optical performance of a wafer CMOS APS is presented, to address inhomogeneity issues arising from the stitching techniques used to manufacture wafer scale sensors. A complete model of the signal generation in the pixel array has been provided and proved capable of accounting for noise and gain variations across the pixel array. This novel analysis leads to readout noise and conversion gain being evaluated at pixel level, stitching block level and in regions of interest, resulting in a coefficient of variation ⩽1.9%. The uniformity of the image quality performance has been further investigated in a typical x-ray application, i.e. mammography, showing a uniformity in terms of CNR among the highest when compared with mammography detectors commonly used in clinical practice. Finally, in order to compare the detection capability of this novel APS with the technology currently used (i.e. FPIs), theoretical evaluation of the detection quantum efficiency (DQE) at zero-frequency has been performed, resulting in a higher DQE for this

A Versatile Multichannel Digital Signal Processing Module for Microcalorimeter Arrays

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, H.; Collins, J. W.; Walby, M.; Hennig, W.; Warburton, W. K.; Grudberg, P.

2012-06-01

Different techniques have been developed for reading out microcalorimeter sensor arrays: individual outputs for small arrays, and time-division or frequency-division or code-division multiplexing for large arrays. Typically, raw waveform data are first read out from the arrays using one of these techniques and then stored on computer hard drives for offline optimum filtering, leading not only to requirements for large storage space but also limitations on achievable count rate. Thus, a read-out module that is capable of processing microcalorimeter signals in real time will be highly desirable. We have developed multichannel digital signal processing electronics that are capable of on-board, real time processing of microcalorimeter sensor signals from multiplexed or individual pixel arrays. It is a 3U PXI module consisting of a standardized core processor board and a set of daughter boards. Each daughter board is designed to interface a specific type of microcalorimeter array to the core processor. The combination of the standardized core plus this set of easily designed and modified daughter boards results in a versatile data acquisition module that not only can easily expand to future detector systems, but is also low cost. In this paper, we first present the core processor/daughter board architecture, and then report the performance of an 8-channel daughter board, which digitizes individual pixel outputs at 1 MSPS with 16-bit precision. We will also introduce a time-division multiplexing type daughter board, which takes in time-division multiplexing signals through fiber-optic cables and then processes the digital signals to generate energy spectra in real time.

NFAD Arrays for Single Photon Optical Communications at 1.5 um, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — For this program, we propose to develop large pixel-count single photon counting detector arrays suitable for deployment in spacecraft terminal receivers supporting...

Array of organic thin film transistors integrated with organic light emitting diodes on a plastic substrate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ryu, Gi-Seong; Choe, Ki-Beom; Song, Chung-Kun

2006-01-01

In order to demonstrate the possible application of an organic thin film transistor (OTFT) to a flexible active matrix organic light emitting diode (OLED) an array of 64 x 64 pixels was fabricated on a 4-in. size poly-ethylene-terephehalate substrate. Each pixel was composed of one OTFT integrated with one OLED. OTFTs successfully drove OLEDs by varying current in a wide range and some images were displayed on the array by emitting green light. The OTFTs used poly(4-vinylphenol) for the gate and pentacene for the semiconductor taking account compatibility with the PET substrate. The average mobility in the array was 0.2 cm 2 /V.s, which was reduced from 1.0 cm 2 /V.s in a single OTFT, and its variation over the entire substrate was 10%

Modulation Transfer Function of Infrared Focal Plane Arrays

Science.gov (United States)

Gunapala, S. D.; Rafol, S. B.; Ting, D. Z.; Soibel, A.; Hill, C. J.; Khoshakhlagh, A.; Liu, J. K.; Mumolo, J. M.; Hoglund, L.; Luong, E. M.

2015-01-01

Modulation transfer function (MTF) is the ability of an imaging system to faithfully image a given object. The MTF of an imaging system quantifies the ability of the system to resolve or transfer spatial frequencies. In this presentation we will discuss the detail MTF measurements of 1024x1024 pixels mid -wavelength and long- wavelength quantum well infrared photodetector, and 320x256 pixels long- wavelength InAs/GaSb superlattice infrared focal plane arrays (FPAs). Long wavelength Complementary Barrier Infrared Detector (CBIRD) based on InAs/GaSb superlattice material is hybridized to recently designed and fabricated 320x256 pixel format ROIC. The n-type CBIRD was characterized in terms of performance and thermal stability. The experimentally measured NE delta T of the 8.8 micron cutoff n-CBIRD FPA was 18.6 mK with 300 K background and f/2 cold stop at 78K FPA operating temperature. The horizontal and vertical MTFs of this pixel fully delineated CBIRD FPA at Nyquist frequency are 49% and 52%, respectively.

Silicon Micromachined Microlens Array for THz Antennas

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Choonsup; Chattopadhyay, Goutam; Mehdi, IImran; Gill, John J.; Jung-Kubiak, Cecile D.; Llombart, Nuria

2013-01-01

5 5 silicon microlens array was developed using a silicon micromachining technique for a silicon-based THz antenna array. The feature of the silicon micromachining technique enables one to microfabricate an unlimited number of microlens arrays at one time with good uniformity on a silicon wafer. This technique will resolve one of the key issues in building a THz camera, which is to integrate antennas in a detector array. The conventional approach of building single-pixel receivers and stacking them to form a multi-pixel receiver is not suited at THz because a single-pixel receiver already has difficulty fitting into mass, volume, and power budgets, especially in space applications. In this proposed technique, one has controllability on both diameter and curvature of a silicon microlens. First of all, the diameter of microlens depends on how thick photoresist one could coat and pattern. So far, the diameter of a 6- mm photoresist microlens with 400 m in height has been successfully microfabricated. Based on current researchers experiences, a diameter larger than 1-cm photoresist microlens array would be feasible. In order to control the curvature of the microlens, the following process variables could be used: 1. Amount of photoresist: It determines the curvature of the photoresist microlens. Since the photoresist lens is transferred onto the silicon substrate, it will directly control the curvature of the silicon microlens. 2. Etching selectivity between photoresist and silicon: The photoresist microlens is formed by thermal reflow. In order to transfer the exact photoresist curvature onto silicon, there needs to be etching selectivity of 1:1 between silicon and photoresist. However, by varying the etching selectivity, one could control the curvature of the silicon microlens. The figure shows the microfabricated silicon microlens 5 x5 array. The diameter of the microlens located in the center is about 2.5 mm. The measured 3-D profile of the microlens surface has a

A new technique of characterization of the intra-pixel response of astronomical detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ketchazo, C.; Boulade, O.; Moreau, V.; Dubreuil, D.; Ronayette, S.; Berthe, M.

2014-01-01

This paper is devoted to the presentation of a new technique of characterization of the Intra-Pixel Sensitivity Variations (IPSVs) of astronomical detectors. The IPSV is the spatial variation of the sensitivity within a pixel and it was demonstrated that this variation can contribute to the instrument global error. Then IPSV has not to be neglected especially in the case of under-sampled instruments for high quality imaging and accurate photometry. The common approaches to measure the IPSV consist in determining the pixel response function (PRF) by scanning an optical probe through the detector. These approaches require high-aperture optics, high precision mechanical devices and are time consuming. The original approach we will present in this paper consists in projecting high-resolution periodic patterns onto the whole sensor without classic optics but using the self-imaging property (the Talbot effect) of a Continuously Self Imaging Grating (CSIG) illuminated by a plane wave. This paper describes the test bench and its design rules. The methodology of the measurement is also presented. Two measurement procedures are available: global and local. In the global procedure, the mean PRF corresponding to the whole Focal Plane Array (FPA) or a sub-area of the FPA is evaluated. The results obtained applying this procedure on e2v CCD 204 are presented and discussed in detail. In the local procedure, a CSIG is moved in front of each pixel and a pixel PRF is reconstructed by resolving the inverse problem. The local procedure is presented and validated by simulations. (authors)

Preliminary test of an imaging probe for nuclear medicine using hybrid pixel detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bertolucci, E.; Maiorino, M.; Mettivier, G.; Montesi, M.C.; Russo, P.

2002-01-01

We are investigating the feasibility of an intraoperative imaging probe for lymphoscintigraphy with Tc-99m tracer, for sentinel node radioguided surgery, using the Medipix series of hybrid detectors coupled to a collimator. These detectors are pixelated semiconductor detectors bump-bonded to the Medipix1 photon counting read-out chip (64x64 pixel, 170 μm pitch) or to the Medipix2 chip (256x256 pixel, 55 μm pitch), developed by the European Medipix collaboration. The pixel detector we plan to use in the final version of the probe is a semi-insulating GaAs detector or a 1-2 mm thick CdZnTe detector. For the preliminary tests presented here, we used 300-μm thick silicon detectors, hybridized via bump-bonding to the Medipix1 chip. We used a tungsten parallel-hole collimator (7 mm thick, matrix array of 64x64 100 μm circular holes with 170 μm pitch), and a 22, 60 and 122 keV point-like (1 mm diameter) radioactive sources, placed at various distances from the detector. These tests were conducted in order to investigate the general feasibility of this imaging probe and its resolving power. Measurements show the high resolution but low efficiency performance of the detector-collimator set, which is able to image the 122 keV source with <1 mm FWHM resolution

First MCM-D modules for the b-physics layer of the ATLAS Pixel Detector

CERN Document Server

Basken, O; Ehrmann, O; Gerlach, P; Grah, C; Gregor, I M; Linder, C; Meuser, S; Richardson, J; Topper, M; Wolf, J

2000-01-01

The innermost layer (b-physics layer) of the ATLAS Pixel Detector will consist of modules based on MCM-D technology. Such a module consists of a sensor tile with an active area of 16.4 mm*60.4 mm, 16 read out ICs, each serving 24* 160 pixel unit cells, a module controller chip (MCC), an optical transceiver and the local signal interconnection and power distribution busses. We show a prototype of such a module with additional test pads on both sides. The outer dimensions of the final module will be 21.4 mm*67.8 mm. The extremely high wiring density, which is necessary to interconnect the read-out chips, was achieved using a thin film copper/photo-BCB process on the pixel array. The bumping of the read out chips was done using electroplating PbSn. All dice are then attached by flip-chip assembly to the sensor diodes and the local busses. The focus of this paper is the description of the first results of such MCM-D-type modules. (11 refs).

A hybrid 3D LIDAR imager based on pixel-by-pixel scanning and DS-OCDMA

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Gunzung; Eom, Jeongsook; Park, Yongwan

2016-03-01

We propose a new hybrid 3D light detection and ranging (LIDAR) system, which measures a scene with 1280 x 600 pixels at a refresh rate of 60fps. The emitted pulses of each pixel are modulated by direct sequence optical code division multiple access (DS-OCDMA) techniques. The modulated pulses include a unique device identification number, the pixel position in the line, and a checksum. The LIDAR emits the modulated pulses periodically without waiting to receive returning light at the detector. When all the pixels are completely through the process, the travel time, amplitude, width, and speed are used by the pixel-by-pixel scanning LIDAR imager to generate point cloud data as the measured results. We programmed the entire hybrid 3D LIDAR operation in a simulator to observe the functionality accomplished by our proposed model.

Low complexity pixel-based halftone detection

Science.gov (United States)

Ok, Jiheon; Han, Seong Wook; Jarno, Mielikainen; Lee, Chulhee

2011-10-01

With the rapid advances of the internet and other multimedia technologies, the digital document market has been growing steadily. Since most digital images use halftone technologies, quality degradation occurs when one tries to scan and reprint them. Therefore, it is necessary to extract the halftone areas to produce high quality printing. In this paper, we propose a low complexity pixel-based halftone detection algorithm. For each pixel, we considered a surrounding block. If the block contained any flat background regions, text, thin lines, or continuous or non-homogeneous regions, the pixel was classified as a non-halftone pixel. After excluding those non-halftone pixels, the remaining pixels were considered to be halftone pixels. Finally, documents were classified as pictures or photo documents by calculating the halftone pixel ratio. The proposed algorithm proved to be memory-efficient and required low computation costs. The proposed algorithm was easily implemented using GPU.

Graphene metamaterial spatial light modulator for infrared single pixel imaging.

Science.gov (United States)

Fan, Kebin; Suen, Jonathan Y; Padilla, Willie J

2017-10-16

High-resolution and hyperspectral imaging has long been a goal for multi-dimensional data fusion sensing applications - of interest for autonomous vehicles and environmental monitoring. In the long wave infrared regime this quest has been impeded by size, weight, power, and cost issues, especially as focal-plane array detector sizes increase. Here we propose and experimentally demonstrated a new approach based on a metamaterial graphene spatial light modulator (GSLM) for infrared single pixel imaging. A frequency-division multiplexing (FDM) imaging technique is designed and implemented, and relies entirely on the electronic reconfigurability of the GSLM. We compare our approach to the more common raster-scan method and directly show FDM image frame rates can be 64 times faster with no degradation of image quality. Our device and related imaging architecture are not restricted to the infrared regime, and may be scaled to other bands of the electromagnetic spectrum. The study presented here opens a new approach for fast and efficient single pixel imaging utilizing graphene metamaterials with novel acquisition strategies.

THE KEPLER PIXEL RESPONSE FUNCTION

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bryson, Stephen T.; Haas, Michael R.; Dotson, Jessie L.; Koch, David G.; Borucki, William J.; Tenenbaum, Peter; Jenkins, Jon M.; Chandrasekaran, Hema; Caldwell, Douglas A.; Klaus, Todd; Gilliland, Ronald L.

2010-01-01

Kepler seeks to detect sequences of transits of Earth-size exoplanets orbiting solar-like stars. Such transit signals are on the order of 100 ppm. The high photometric precision demanded by Kepler requires detailed knowledge of how the Kepler pixels respond to starlight during a nominal observation. This information is provided by the Kepler pixel response function (PRF), defined as the composite of Kepler's optical point-spread function, integrated spacecraft pointing jitter during a nominal cadence and other systematic effects. To provide sub-pixel resolution, the PRF is represented as a piecewise-continuous polynomial on a sub-pixel mesh. This continuous representation allows the prediction of a star's flux value on any pixel given the star's pixel position. The advantages and difficulties of this polynomial representation are discussed, including characterization of spatial variation in the PRF and the smoothing of discontinuities between sub-pixel polynomial patches. On-orbit super-resolution measurements of the PRF across the Kepler field of view are described. Two uses of the PRF are presented: the selection of pixels for each star that maximizes the photometric signal-to-noise ratio for that star, and PRF-fitted centroids which provide robust and accurate stellar positions on the CCD, primarily used for attitude and plate scale tracking. Good knowledge of the PRF has been a critical component for the successful collection of high-precision photometry by Kepler.

Low dark current InGaAs detector arrays for night vision and astronomy

Science.gov (United States)

MacDougal, Michael; Geske, Jon; Wang, Chad; Liao, Shirong; Getty, Jonathan; Holmes, Alan

2009-05-01

Aerius Photonics has developed large InGaAs arrays (1K x 1K and greater) with low dark currents for use in night vision applications in the SWIR regime. Aerius will present results of experiments to reduce the dark current density of their InGaAs detector arrays. By varying device designs and passivations, Aerius has achieved a dark current density below 1.0 nA/cm2 at 280K on small-pixel, detector arrays. Data is shown for both test structures and focal plane arrays. In addition, data from cryogenically cooled InGaAs arrays will be shown for astronomy applications.

Ultra-thin silicon (UTSi) on insulator CMOS transceiver and time-division multiplexed switch chips for smart pixel integration

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Liping; Sawchuk, Alexander A.

2001-12-01

We describe the design, fabrication and functionality of two different 0.5 micron CMOS optoelectronic integrated circuit (OEIC) chips based on the Peregrine Semiconductor Ultra-Thin Silicon on insulator technology. The Peregrine UTSi silicon- on-sapphire (SOS) technology is a member of the silicon-on- insulator (SOI) family. The low-loss synthetic sapphire substrate is optically transparent and has good thermal conductivity and coefficient of thermal expansion properties, which meet the requirements for flip-chip bonding of VCSELs and other optoelectronic input-output components. One chip contains transceiver and network components, including four channel high-speed CMOS transceiver modules, pseudo-random bit stream (PRBS) generators, a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) and other test circuits. The transceiver chips can operate in both self-testing mode and networking mode. An on- chip clock and true-single-phase-clock (TSPC) D-flip-flop have been designed to generate a PRBS at over 2.5 Gb/s for the high-speed transceiver arrays to operate in self-testing mode. In the networking mode, an even number of transceiver chips forms a ring network through free-space or fiber ribbon interconnections. The second chip contains four channel optical time-division multiplex (TDM) switches, optical transceiver arrays, an active pixel detector and additional test devices. The eventual applications of these chips will require monolithic OEICs with integrated optical input and output. After fabrication and testing, the CMOS transceiver array dies will be packaged with 850 nm vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs), and metal-semiconductor- metal (MSM) or GaAs p-i-n detector die arrays to achieve high- speed optical interconnections. The hybrid technique could be either wire bonding or flip-chip bonding of the CMOS SOS smart-pixel arrays with arrays of VCSELs and photodetectors onto an optoelectronic chip carrier as a multi-chip module (MCM).

The column architecture -- A novel architecture for event driven 2D pixel imagers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Millaud, J.; Nygren, D.

1996-01-01

The authors describe an electronic architecture for two-dimensional pixel arrays that permits very large increases in rate capability for event- or data-driven applications relative to conventional x-y architectures. The column architecture also permits more efficient use of silicon area in applications requiring local buffering, frameless data acquisition, and it avoids entirely the problem of ambiguities that may arise in conventional approaches. Two examples of active implementation are described: high energy physics and protein crystallography

Design and Calibration of a Novel Bio-Inspired Pixelated Polarized Light Compass

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Guoliang Han

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Animals, such as Savannah sparrows and North American monarch butterflies, are able to obtain compass information from skylight polarization patterns to help them navigate effectively and robustly. Inspired by excellent navigation ability of animals, this paper proposes a novel image-based polarized light compass, which has the advantages of having a small size and being light weight. Firstly, the polarized light compass, which is composed of a Charge Coupled Device (CCD camera, a pixelated polarizer array and a wide-angle lens, is introduced. Secondly, the measurement method of a skylight polarization pattern and the orientation method based on a single scattering Rayleigh model are presented. Thirdly, the error model of the sensor, mainly including the response error of CCD pixels and the installation error of the pixelated polarizer, is established. A calibration method based on iterative least squares estimation is proposed. In the outdoor environment, the skylight polarization pattern can be measured in real time by our sensor. The orientation accuracy of the sensor increases with the decrease of the solar elevation angle, and the standard deviation of orientation error is 0 . 15 ∘ at sunset. Results of outdoor experiments show that the proposed polarization navigation sensor can be used for outdoor autonomous navigation.

IR sensitivity enhancement of CMOS Image Sensor with diffractive light trapping pixels.

Science.gov (United States)

Yokogawa, Sozo; Oshiyama, Itaru; Ikeda, Harumi; Ebiko, Yoshiki; Hirano, Tomoyuki; Saito, Suguru; Oinoue, Takashi; Hagimoto, Yoshiya; Iwamoto, Hayato

2017-06-19

We report on the IR sensitivity enhancement of back-illuminated CMOS Image Sensor (BI-CIS) with 2-dimensional diffractive inverted pyramid array structure (IPA) on crystalline silicon (c-Si) and deep trench isolation (DTI). FDTD simulations of semi-infinite thick c-Si having 2D IPAs on its surface whose pitches over 400 nm shows more than 30% improvement of light absorption at λ = 850 nm and the maximum enhancement of 43% with the 540 nm pitch at the wavelength is confirmed. A prototype BI-CIS sample with pixel size of 1.2 μm square containing 400 nm pitch IPAs shows 80% sensitivity enhancement at λ = 850 nm compared to the reference sample with flat surface. This is due to diffraction with the IPA and total reflection at the pixel boundary. The NIR images taken by the demo camera equip with a C-mount lens show 75% sensitivity enhancement in the λ = 700-1200 nm wavelength range with negligible spatial resolution degradation. Light trapping CIS pixel technology promises to improve NIR sensitivity and appears to be applicable to many different image sensor applications including security camera, personal authentication, and range finding Time-of-Flight camera with IR illuminations.

A new method to improve multiplication factor in micro-pixel avalanche photodiodes with high pixel density

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sadygov, Z. [National Nuclear Research Center, Baku (Azerbaijan); Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna (Russian Federation); Ahmadov, F. [National Nuclear Research Center, Baku (Azerbaijan); Khorev, S. [Zecotek Photonics Inc., Vancouver (Canada); Sadigov, A., E-mail: saazik@yandex.ru [National Nuclear Research Center, Baku (Azerbaijan); Suleymanov, S. [National Nuclear Research Center, Baku (Azerbaijan); Madatov, R.; Mehdiyeva, R. [Institute of Radiation Problems, Baku (Azerbaijan); Zerrouk, F. [Zecotek Photonics Inc., Vancouver (Canada)

2016-07-11

Presented is a new model describing development of the avalanche process in time, taking into account the dynamics of electric field within the depleted region of the diode and the effect of parasitic capacitance shunting individual quenching micro-resistors on device parameters. Simulations show that the effective capacitance of a single pixel, which defines the multiplication factor, is the sum of the pixel capacitance and a parasitic capacitance shunting its quenching micro-resistor. Conclusions obtained as a result of modeling open possibilities of improving the pixel gain in micropixel avalanche photodiodes with high pixel density (or low pixel capacitance).

Matrix light and pixel light: optical system architecture and requirements to the light source

Science.gov (United States)

Spinger, Benno; Timinger, Andreas L.

2015-09-01

Modern Automotive headlamps enable improved functionality for more driving comfort and safety. Matrix or Pixel light headlamps are not restricted to either pure low beam functionality or pure high beam. Light in direction of oncoming traffic is selectively switched of, potential hazard can be marked via an isolated beam and the illumination on the road can even follow a bend. The optical architectures that enable these advanced functionalities are diverse. Electromechanical shutters and lens units moved by electric motors were the first ways to realize these systems. Switching multiple LED light sources is a more elegant and mechanically robust solution. While many basic functionalities can already be realized with a limited number of LEDs, an increasing number of pixels will lead to more driving comfort and better visibility. The required optical system needs not only to generate a desired beam distribution with a high angular dynamic, but also needs to guarantee minimal stray light and cross talk between the different pixels. The direct projection of the LED array via a lens is a simple but not very efficient optical system. We discuss different optical elements for pre-collimating the light with minimal cross talk and improved contrast between neighboring pixels. Depending on the selected optical system, we derive the basic light source requirements: luminance, surface area, contrast, flux and color homogeneity.

Simulation of single-event energy-deposition spreading in a hybrid pixellated detector for gamma imaging

CERN Document Server

Manach, E

2002-01-01

In the framework of the Medipix2 Collaboration, a new photon-counting chip is being developed made of a 256x256 array of 55 mu m-side square pixels. Although the chip was primarily developed for semiconductor X-ray imagers, we think that this type of device could be used in applications such as decommissioning of nuclear facilities where typical sources have gamma-ray energies in the range of a few hundred keV. In order to enhance the detection efficiency in this energy range, we envisage connecting the Medipix2 chip to a CdTe or CdZnTe substrate (at least 1 mm thick). The small pixel size, the thickness of the Cd(Zn)Te substrate and the high photon energy motivate us to estimate first the spatial energy spreading following a photon interaction inside the detector. Estimations were made using the MCNP Monte Carlo package by simulating the individual energy distribution for each primary photon interaction. As an illustration of our results, simulating a 660 keV gamma source, we found that there are two pixels ...

Per-Pixel, Dual-Counter Scheme for Optical Communications

Science.gov (United States)

Farr, William H.; Bimbaum, Kevin M.; Quirk, Kevin J.; Sburlan, Suzana; Sahasrabudhe, Adit

2013-01-01

Free space optical communications links from deep space are projected to fulfill future NASA communication requirements for 2020 and beyond. Accurate laser-beam pointing is required to achieve high data rates at low power levels.This innovation is a per-pixel processing scheme using a pair of three-state digital counters to implement acquisition and tracking of a dim laser beacon transmitted from Earth for pointing control of an interplanetary optical communications system using a focal plane array of single sensitive detectors. It shows how to implement dim beacon acquisition and tracking for an interplanetary optical transceiver with a method that is suitable for both achieving theoretical performance, as well as supporting additional functions of high data rate forward links and precision spacecraft ranging.

Spectroscopy study of imaging devices based on silicon Pixel Array Detector coupled to VATAGP7 read-out chips

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Linhart, V; Lacasta, C; Llosa, G; Stankova, V; Burdette, D; Chessi, E; Cochran, E; Honscheid, K; Kagan, H; Weilhammer, P; Cindro, V; Grosicar, B; Mikuz, M; Studen, A; Zontar, D; Clinthorne, N H

2011-01-01

Spectroscopic and timing response studies have been conducted on a detector module consisting of a silicon Pixel Array Detector bonded on two VATAGP7 read-out chips manufactured by Gamma-Medica Ideas using laboratory gamma sources and the internal calibration facilities (the calibration system of the read-out chips). The performed tests have proven that the chips have (i) non-linear calibration curves which can be approximated by power functions, (ii) capability to measure the energy of photons with energy resolution better than 2 keV (exact range and resolution depend on experimental setup), (iii) the internal calibration facility which provides 6 out of 16 available internal calibration charges within our region of interest (spanning the Compton edge of 511 keV photons). The peaks induced by the internal calibration facility are suitable for a fit of the calibration curves. However, they are not suitable for measurements of equivalent noise charge because their full width at half maximum varies with their amplitude. These facts indicate that the VATAGP7 chips are useful and precise tools for a wide variety of spectroscopic devices. We have also explored time walk of the module and peaking time of the spectroscopy signals provided by the chips. We have observed that (iv) the time walk is caused partly by the peaking time of the signals provided by the fast shaper of the chips and partly by the timing uncertainty related to the varying position of the photon interaction, (v) the peaking time of the spectroscopy signals provided by the chips increases with increasing pulse height.

Development of a PET detector module incorporating a silicon photodiode array

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rosenfeld, A.B.; Takacs, G.J.; Lerch, M.L.F.; Simmonds, P.E.

2000-01-01

Full text: We are developing a new Positron Emission Tomography (PET) detection sub-module with depth of interaction capability. The new sub-module is simple and robust to minimise module assembly complications and is completely independent of photomultiplier tubes. The new sub-module has also been designed to maximise its flexibility for easy sub-module coupling so as to form a complete, customised, detection module to be used in PET scanners dedicated to human brain and breast, and small animal studies. Blue enhanced, silicon 8x8 detector arrays are used to read out the scintillation crystals, and form the basis of the new module. The new detectors were designed by the Centre for Medical Radiation Physics (CMRP) at the University of Wollongong in collaboration with the High Energy Physics Department, University of Melbourne and produced by SPO D etector , Ukraine. Complementing the work on the silicon photodetectors, we have also carried out simulations of the propagation of the scintillation light in the crystals, and the effect of crystal dimensions and surface treatment on the distribution of light detected by the photodiode array. The distribution of light over the photodiodes has then been used to test various algorithms for calculating the point of interaction of the gamma ray in the crystal. Simulations of the light propagation show that for a crystal of dimensions 25mm x 25mm x 3mm, it is possible to determine the point of interaction in 2 dimensions with an average accuracy of just over 0.5mm. The resulting photon distribution detected by the array. The surface treatment, while having a large effect on the light output, does not have a great effect on the accuracy. If these dimensions change to 25mm x 25mm x 6mm then the surface conditions have a greater effect on the accuracy. It is possible however, with careful surface treatment, to achieve an accuracy of around 0.6mm, only marginally worse than the case for the 3mm thick crystal. Gamma ray

Design and performance of single photon APD focal plane arrays for 3-D LADAR imaging

Science.gov (United States)

Itzler, Mark A.; Entwistle, Mark; Owens, Mark; Patel, Ketan; Jiang, Xudong; Slomkowski, Krystyna; Rangwala, Sabbir; Zalud, Peter F.; Senko, Tom; Tower, John; Ferraro, Joseph

2010-08-01

×We describe the design, fabrication, and performance of focal plane arrays (FPAs) for use in 3-D LADAR imaging applications requiring single photon sensitivity. These 32 × 32 FPAs provide high-efficiency single photon sensitivity for three-dimensional LADAR imaging applications at 1064 nm. Our GmAPD arrays are designed using a planarpassivated avalanche photodiode device platform with buried p-n junctions that has demonstrated excellent performance uniformity, operational stability, and long-term reliability. The core of the FPA is a chip stack formed by hybridizing the GmAPD photodiode array to a custom CMOS read-out integrated circuit (ROIC) and attaching a precision-aligned GaP microlens array (MLA) to the back-illuminated detector array. Each ROIC pixel includes an active quenching circuit governing Geiger-mode operation of the corresponding avalanche photodiode pixel as well as a pseudo-random counter to capture per-pixel time-of-flight timestamps in each frame. The FPA has been designed to operate at frame rates as high as 186 kHz for 2 μs range gates. Effective single photon detection efficiencies as high as 40% (including all optical transmission and MLA losses) are achieved for dark count rates below 20 kHz. For these planar-geometry diffused-junction GmAPDs, isolation trenches are used to reduce crosstalk due to hot carrier luminescence effects during avalanche events, and we present details of the crosstalk performance for different operating conditions. Direct measurement of temporal probability distribution functions due to cumulative timing uncertainties of the GmAPDs and ROIC circuitry has demonstrated a FWHM timing jitter as low as 265 ps (standard deviation is ~100 ps).

Fabrication of a high-density MCM-D for a pixel detector system using a BCB/Cu technology

CERN Document Server

Topper, M; Engelmann, G; Fehlberg, S; Gerlach, P; Wolf, J; Ehrmann, O; Becks, K H; Reichl, H

1999-01-01

The MCM-D which is described here is a prototype for a pixel detector system for the planned Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, Geneva. The project is within the ATLAS experiment. The module consists of a sensor tile with an active area of 16.4 mm*60.4 mm, 16 readout chips, each serving 24*160 pixel unit cells, a module controller chip, an optical transceiver and the local signal interconnection and power distribution buses. The extremely high wiring density which is necessary to interconnect the readout chips was achieved using a thin film copper/photo-BCB process above the pixel array. The bumping of the readout chips was done by PbSn electroplating. All dice are then attached by flip-chip assembly to the sensor diodes and the local buses. The focus of this paper is a detailed description of the technologies for the fabrication of this advanced MCM-D. (10 refs).

Paper-Based Active Tactile Sensor Array.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhong, Qize; Zhong, Junwen; Cheng, Xiaofeng; Yao, Xu; Wang, Bo; Li, Wenbo; Wu, Nan; Liu, Kang; Hu, Bin; Zhou, Jun

2015-11-25

A paper-based active tactile sensor -array (PATSA) with a dynamic sensitivity of 0.35 V N(-1) is demonstrated. The pixel position of the PATSA can be routed by analyzing the real-time recording voltages in the pressing process. The PATSA performance, which remains functional when removing partial areas, reveals that the device has a potential application to customized electronic skins. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

cMiCE a high resolution animal PET using continuous LSO with a statistics based positioning scheme

CERN Document Server

Joung Jin Hun; Lewellen, T K

2002-01-01

Objective: Detector designs for small animal scanners are currently dominated by discrete crystal implementations. However, given the small crystal cross-sections required to obtain very high resolution, discrete designs are typically expensive, have low packing fraction, reduced light collection, and are labor intensive to build. To overcome these limitations we have investigated the feasibility of using a continuous miniature crystal element (cMiCE) detector module for high resolution small animal PET applications. Methods: The detector module consists of a single continuous slab of LSO, 25x25 mm sup 2 in exposed cross-section and 4 mm thick, coupled directly to a PS-PMT (Hamamatsu R5900-00-C12). The large area surfaces of the crystal were polished and painted with TiO sub 2 and the short surfaces were left unpolished and painted black. Further, a new statistics based positioning (SBP) algorithm has been implemented to address linearity and edge effect artifacts that are inherent with conventional Anger sty...

An inverter-based capacitive trans-impedance amplifier readout with offset cancellation and temporal noise reduction for IR focal plane array

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Hsin-Han; Hsieh, Chih-Cheng

2013-09-01

This paper presents a readout integrated circuit (ROIC) with inverter-based capacitive trans-impedance amplifier (CTIA) and pseudo-multiple sampling technique for infrared focal plane array (IRFPA). The proposed inverter-based CTIA with a coupling capacitor [1], executing auto-zeroing technique to cancel out the varied offset voltage from process variation, is used to substitute differential amplifier in conventional CTIA. The tunable detector bias is applied from a global external bias before exposure. This scheme not only retains stable detector bias voltage and signal injection efficiency, but also reduces the pixel area as well. Pseudo-multiple sampling technique [2] is adopted to reduce the temporal noise of readout circuit. The noise reduction performance is comparable to the conventional multiple sampling operation without need of longer readout time proportional to the number of samples. A CMOS image sensor chip with 55×65 pixel array has been fabricated in 0.18um CMOS technology. It achieves a 12um×12um pixel size, a frame rate of 72 fps, a power-per-pixel of 0.66uW/pixel, and a readout temporal noise of 1.06mVrms (16 times of pseudo-multiple sampling), respectively.

Three Generations of FPGA DAQ Development for the ATLAS Pixel Detector

CERN Document Server

AUTHOR|(CDS)2091916; Hsu, Shih-Chieh; Hauck, Scott Alan

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN) tracks a schedule of long physics runs, followed by periods of inactivity known as Long Shutdowns (LS). During these LS phases both the LHC, and the experiments around its ring, undergo maintenance and upgrades. For the LHC these upgrades improve their ability to create data for physicists; the more data the LHC can create the more opportunities there are for rare events to appear that physicists will be interested in. The experiments upgrade so they can record the data and ensure the event won’t be missed. Currently the LHC is in Run 2 having completed the first LS of three. This thesis focuses on the development of Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA)-based readout systems that span across three major tasks of the ATLAS Pixel data acquisition (DAQ) system. The evolution of Pixel DAQ’s Readout Driver (ROD) card is presented. Starting from improvements made to the new Insertable B-Layer (IBL) ROD design, which was part of t...

Spatial clustering of pixels of a multispectral image

Science.gov (United States)

Conger, James Lynn

2014-08-19

A method and system for clustering the pixels of a multispectral image is provided. A clustering system computes a maximum spectral similarity score for each pixel that indicates the similarity between that pixel and the most similar neighboring. To determine the maximum similarity score for a pixel, the clustering system generates a similarity score between that pixel and each of its neighboring pixels and then selects the similarity score that represents the highest similarity as the maximum similarity score. The clustering system may apply a filtering criterion based on the maximum similarity score so that pixels with similarity scores below a minimum threshold are not clustered. The clustering system changes the current pixel values of the pixels in a cluster based on an averaging of the original pixel values of the pixels in the cluster.

Gas pixel detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bellazzini, R.; Baldini, L.; Brez, A.; Cavalca, F.; Latronico, L.; Massai, M.M.; Minuti, M.; Omodei, N.; Pesce-Rollins, M.; Sgro, C.; Spandre, G.; Costa, E.; Soffitta, P.

2007-01-01

With the Gas Pixel Detector (GPD), the class of micro-pattern gas detectors has reached a complete integration between the gas amplification structure and the read-out electronics. To obtain this goal, three generations of application-specific integrated circuit of increased complexity and improved functionality has been designed and fabricated in deep sub-micron CMOS technology. This implementation has allowed manufacturing a monolithic device, which realizes, at the same time, the pixelized charge-collecting electrode and the amplifying, shaping and charge measuring front-end electronics of a GPD. A big step forward in terms of size and performances has been obtained in the last version of the 0.18 μm CMOS analog chip, where over a large active area of 15x15 mm 2 a very high channel density (470 pixels/mm 2 ) has been reached. On the top metal layer of the chip, 105,600 hexagonal pixels at 50 μm pitch have been patterned. The chip has customable self-trigger capability and includes a signal pre-processing function for the automatic localization of the event coordinates. In this way, by limiting the output signal to only those pixels belonging to the region of interest, it is possible to reduce significantly the read-out time and data volume. In-depth tests performed on a GPD built up by coupling this device to a fine pitch (50 μm) gas electron multiplier are reported. Matching of the gas amplification and read-out pitch has let to obtain optimal results. A possible application of this detector for X-ray polarimetry of astronomical sources is discussed

Studies of the performance of different front-end systems for flat-panel multi-anode PMTs with CsI(Tl) scintillator arrays

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sekiya, H.; Hattori, K.; Kubo, H.; Miuchi, K.; Nagayoshi, T.; Nishimura, H.; Okada, Y.; Orito, R.; Takada, A.; Takeda, A.; Tanimori, T.; Ueno, K.

2006-01-01

We have studied the performance of two different types of front-end systems for our gamma camera based on Hamamatsu H8500 (flat-panel 64 channels multi-anode PSPMT) with a CsI(Tl) scintillator array. The array consists of 64 pixels of 6x6x20mm 3 which corresponds to the anode pixels of H8500. One of the system is based on commercial ASIC chips in order to read out every anode. The others are based on resistive charge divider network between anodes to reduce readout channels. In both systems, each pixel (6mm) was clearly resolved by flood field irradiation of 137 Cs. We also investigated the energy resolution of these systems and showed the performance of the cascade connection of resistive network between some PMTs for large area detectors

Tests of the gated mode for Belle II pixel detector

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Prinker, Eduard [Max-Planck-Institute for Physics, Munich (Germany); Collaboration: Belle II-Collaboration

2015-07-01

DEPFET pixel detectors offer intrinsic amplification and very high signal to noise ratio. They form an integral building block for the vertex detector system of the Belle II experiment, which will start data taking in the year 2017 at the SuperKEKB Collider in Japan. A special Test board (Hybrid4) is used, which contains a small version of the DEPFET sensor with a read-out (DCD) and a steering chip (Switcher) attached, both controlled by a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) as the central interface to the computer. In order to keep the luminosity of the collider constant over time, the particle bunch currents have to be topped off by injecting additional bunches at a rate of 50 Hz. The particles in the daughter bunches produce a high rate of background (noisy bunches) for a short period of time, saturating the occupancy of the sensor. Operating the DEPFET sensor in a Gated Mode allows preserving the signals from collisions of normal bunches while protecting the pixels from background signals of the passing noisy bunches. An overview of the Gated Mode and first results is presented.

ATLAS Pixel Detector Operational Experience

CERN Document Server

Di Girolamo, B; The ATLAS collaboration

2011-01-01

The ATLAS Pixel Detector is the innermost detector of the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, providing high-resolution measurements of charged particle tracks in the high radiation environment close to the collision region. This capability is vital for the identification and measurement of proper decay times of long-lived particles such as b-hadrons, and thus vital for the ATLAS physics program. The detector provides hermetic coverage with three cylindrical layers and three layers of forward and backward pixel detectors. It consists of approximately 80 million pixels that are individually read out via chips bump-bonded to 1744 n-in-n silicon substrates. In this talk, results from the successful operation of the Pixel Detector at the LHC will be presented, including monitoring, calibration procedures, timing optimization and detector performance. The detector performance is excellent: 96.9% of the pixels are operational, noise occupancy and hit efficiency exceed the design specification, an...

Monte Carlo simulation of simultaneous radiation detection in the hybrid tomography system ClearPET-XPAD3/CT

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dávila, H. Olaya, E-mail: hernan.olaya@uptc.edu.co; Martínez, S. A. [Physics Department, Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia, Tunja-Colombia (Colombia); Sevilla, A. C., E-mail: acsevillam@unal.edu.co; Castro, H. F. [Physics Department, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá D.C - Colombia (Colombia)

2016-07-07

Using the Geant4 based simulation framework SciFW1, a detailed simulation was performed for a detector array in the hybrid tomography prototype for small animals called ClearPET / XPAD, which was built in the Centre de Physique des Particules de Marseille. The detector system consists of an array of phoswich scintillation detectors: LSO (Lutetium Oxy-ortosilicate doped with cerium Lu{sub 2}SiO{sub 5}:Ce) and LuYAP (Lutetium Ortoaluminate of Yttrium doped with cerium Lu{sub 0.7}Y{sub 0.3}AlO{sub 3}:Ce) for Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and hybrid pixel detector XPAD for Computed Tomography (CT). Simultaneous acquisition of deposited energy and the corresponding time - position for each recorded event were analyzed, independently, for both detectors. interference between detection modules for PET and CT. Information about amount of radiation reaching each phoswich crystal and XPAD detector using a phantom in order to study the effectiveness by radiation attenuation and influence the positioning of the radioactive source {sup 22}Na was obtained. The simulation proposed will improve distribution of detectors rings and interference values will be taken into account in the new versions of detectors.

Monte Carlo simulation of simultaneous radiation detection in the hybrid tomography system ClearPET-XPAD3/CT

Science.gov (United States)

Dávila, H. Olaya; Sevilla, A. C.; Castro, H. F.; Martínez, S. A.

2016-07-01

Using the Geant4 based simulation framework SciFW1, a detailed simulation was performed for a detector array in the hybrid tomography prototype for small animals called ClearPET / XPAD, which was built in the Centre de Physique des Particules de Marseille. The detector system consists of an array of phoswich scintillation detectors: LSO (Lutetium Oxy-ortosilicate doped with cerium Lu2SiO5:Ce) and LuYAP (Lutetium Ortoaluminate of Yttrium doped with cerium Lu0.7Y0.3AlO3:Ce) for Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and hybrid pixel detector XPAD for Computed Tomography (CT). Simultaneous acquisition of deposited energy and the corresponding time - position for each recorded event were analyzed, independently, for both detectors. interference between detection modules for PET and CT. Information about amount of radiation reaching each phoswich crystal and XPAD detector using a phantom in order to study the effectiveness by radiation attenuation and influence the positioning of the radioactive source 22Na was obtained. The simulation proposed will improve distribution of detectors rings and interference values will be taken into account in the new versions of detectors.

Design and development of the IBL-BOC firmware for the ATLAS Pixel IBL optical datalink system

CERN Document Server

AUTHOR|(INSPIRE)INSPIRE-00356268

The Insertable $b$-Layer (IBL) is the first upgrade of the ATLAS Pixel detector at the LHC. It will be installed in the Pixel detector in 2013. The IBL will use a new sensor and readout technology, therefore the readout components of the current Pixel detector are redesigned for the readout of the IBL. In this diploma thesis the design and development of the firmware for the new IBL Back-of-Crate card (IBL-BOC) are described. The IBL-BOC is located on the off-detector side of the readout and performs the optical-electrical conversion and vice versa for the optical connection to and from the detector. To process the data transmitted to and received from the detector, the IBL-BOC uses multiple Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA). The transmitted signal is a 40~Mb/s BiPhase Mark (BPM) encoded data stream, providing the timing, trigger and control to the detector. The received signal is a 160~Mb/s 8b10b encoded data stream, containing data from the detector. The IBL-BOC encodes and decodes these data streams. T...

Cryogenic readout for multiple VUV4 Multi-Pixel Photon Counters in liquid xenon

Science.gov (United States)

Di Giovanni, A.

2018-03-01

This work concerned the preliminary tests and characterization of a cryogenic preamplifier board for an array made of 16 S13370-3050CN (VUV4 family) Multi-Pixel Photon Counters manufactured by Hamamatsu and operated at liquid xenon temperature. The proposed prototype is based on the use of the Analog Devices AD8011 current feedback operational amplifier. The detector allows for single photon detection, making this device a promising choice for the future generation of neutrino and dark matter detectors based on liquid xenon targets.

Micromirror Arrays for Adaptive Optics; TOPICAL

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carr, E.J.

2000-01-01

The long-range goal of this project is to develop the optical and mechanical design of a micromirror array for adaptive optics that will meet the following criteria: flat mirror surface ((lambda)/20), high fill factor ( and gt; 95%), large stroke (5-10(micro)m), and pixel size(approx)-200(micro)m. This will be accomplished by optimizing the mirror surface and actuators independently and then combining them using bonding technologies that are currently being developed

Radiation-Induced Transient Effects in Near Infrared Focal Plane Arrays

Science.gov (United States)

Reed, Robert A.; Pickel, J.; Marshall, P.; Waczynski, A.; McMurray, R.; Gee, G.; Polidan, E.; Johnson, S.; McKeivey, M.; Ennico, K.;

Research and Development of Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors for the Detection of the Elementary Particles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Y.

2007-09-01

In order to develop high spatial resolution and readout speed vertex detectors for the future International Linear Collider (ILC), fast CMOS Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors (MAPS) are studied on this work. Two prototypes of MAPS, MIMOSA 8 and MIMOSA 16, based on the same micro-electronic architecture were developed in CMOS processes with different thickness of epitaxial layer. The size of pixel matrix is 32 x 128: 8 columns of the pixel array are readout directly with analog outputs and the other 24 columns are connected to the column level auto-zero discriminators. The Correlated Double Sampling (CDS) structures are successfully implemented inside pixel and discriminator. The photo diode type pixels with different diode sizes are used in these prototypes. With a 55 Fe X-ray radioactive source, the important parameters, such as Temporal Noise, Fixed Pattern Noise (FPN), Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR), Charge-to-Voltage conversion Factor (CVF) and Charge Collection Efficiency (CCE), are studied as function of readout speed and diode size. For MIMOSA 8, the effect of fast neutrons irradiation is also. Two beam tests campaigns were made: at DESY with a 5 GeV electrons beam and at CERN with a 180 GeV pions beam. Detection Efficiency and Spatial Resolution are studied in function of the discriminator threshold. For these two parameters, the influences of diode size and SNR of the central pixel of a cluster are also discussed. In order to improve the spatial resolution of the digital outputs, a very compact (25 μm x 1 mm) and low consumption (300 μW) column level ADC is designed in AMS 0.35 μm OPTO process. Based on successive approximation architecture, the auto-offset cancellation structure is integrated. A new column level auto-zero discriminator using static latch is also designed. (author)

The VERITAS Prototype and the Upcoming VERITAS Array

Science.gov (United States)

VERITAS Collaboration; Badran, H. M.; Blaylock, G.; Bond, I. H.; Boyle, P. J.; Bradbury, S. M.; Buckley, J. H.; Byrum, K.; Carter-Lewis, D. A.; Celik, O.; Cogan, P.; Cui, W.; Daniel, M.; de La Calle Perez, I.; Dowkontt, P.; Duke, C.; Fegan, D. J.; Fegan, S. J.; Finley, J. P.; Fortson, L. F.; Gammell, S.; Gibbs, K.; Gillanders, G. H.; Grube, J.; Guiterrez, K. J.; Hall, J.; Hanna, D.; Holder, J.; Horan, D.; Hughes, S.; Humensky, T. B.; Jung, I.; Kenny, G. E.; Kertzman, M.; Kieda, D.; Kildea, J.; Knapp, J.; Kosack, K.; Krawczynski, H.; Krennrich, F.; Lang, M. J.; Le Bohec, S.; Linton, E.; Lloyd-Evans, J.; Mendoza, D.; Merriman, A.; Milovanovic, A.; Moriarty, P.; Nagai, T.; Olevitch, M.; Ong, R. A.; Pallassini, R.; Perkins, J.; Petry, D.; Pizlo, F.; Pohl, M.; Power-Mooney, B.; Quinn, J.; Quinn, M.; Ragan, K.; Rebillot, P.; Reynolds, P. T.; Rose, H. J.; Schroedter, M.; Sembroski, G. H.; Swordy, S. P.; Syson, A.; Valcarcel, L.; Vassiliev, V. V.; Wagner, R.; Wakely, S. P.; Walker, G.; Weekes, T. C.; White, R. J.; Zweerink, J.

2005-02-01

The prototype for the VERITAS imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope array was successfully operated in southern Arizona between September 2003 and April 2004. The prototype consisted of 86 mirror facets mounted centrally on a 12-meter dish, which was built to accommodate up to 350 facets when converted to a complete VERITAS telescope. The camera consisted of half of the full 499 pixel camera. The signal and trigger electronics were nearly identical to those that will be used for the individual VERITAS array telescopes. By observing the Crab and Mrk421, as well as performing a variety of tests, the characteristics of the instrument were evaluated. The prototype met all performance expectations and served as a valuable test bed for the current design, as well as for the construction and operation of VERITAS. This prototype instrument is now being upgraded to a complete VERITAS telescope that will be operated during the construction of the full VERITAS array. The array is expected to be operational by November 2006.

A 128 x 128 InGaAs detector array for 1.0-1.7 microns

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Olsen, G.; Joshi, A.; Lange, M.; Woodruff, W.; Mykietyn, E.; Gay, D.; Erickson, G.; Ackley, D.; Ban, V.; Staller, C.

1990-01-01

This paper reports on a two-dimensional 128 x 128 detector array for the 1.0 - 1.7 um spectral region that has been demonstrated with indium gallium arsenide (In .53 Ga .47 As). The 30 um square pixels had 60 um spacing in both directions and were designed to be compatible with a two-dimensional Reticon multiplexer. Dark currents below 100 pA, capacitance near 0.1 pF (-5V, room temperature) and quantum efficiencies about 80% (at 1.3 um) were measured. Probe maps of dark current and quantum efficiency are presented along with pixel dropout data and wafer yield which was as high as 99.89% (7 dropouts) in an area of 6528 pixels and 99.37% (103 dropouts) over an entire 128 x 128 pixel region

Pixels, Blocks of Pixels, and Polygons: Choosing a Spatial Unit for Thematic Accuracy Assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Pixels, polygons, and blocks of pixels are all potentially viable spatial assessment units for conducting an accuracy assessment. We develop a statistical population-based framework to examine how the spatial unit chosen affects the outcome of an accuracy assessment. The populati...

Development of the LBNL positron emission mammography camera

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huber, Jennifer S.; Choong, Woon-Seng; Wang, Jimmy; Maltz, Jonathon S.; Qi, Jinyi; Mandelli, Emanuele; Moses, William W.

2002-01-01

We present the construction status of the LBNL Positron Emission Mammography (PEM) camera, which utilizes a PET detector module with depth of interaction measurement consisting of 64 LSO crystals (3x3x30 mm3) coupled on one end to a single photomultiplier tube (PMT) and on the opposite end to a 64 pixel array of silicon photodiodes (PDs). The PMT provides an accurate timing pulse, the PDs identify the crystal of interaction, the sum provides a total energy signal, and the PD/(PD+PMT) ratio determines the depth of interaction. We have completed construction of all 42 PEM detector modules. All data acquisition electronics have been completed, fully tested and loaded onto the gantry. We have demonstrated that all functions of the custom IC work using the production rigid-flex boards and data acquisition system. Preliminary detector module characterization and coincidence data have been taken using the production system, including initial images

CMS Pixel Detector Upgrade

CERN Document Server

INSPIRE-00038772

2011-01-01

The present Compact Muon Solenoid silicon pixel tracking system has been designed for a peak luminosity of 1034cm-2s-1 and total dose corresponding to two years of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) operation. With the steady increase of the luminosity expected at the LHC, a new pixel detector with four barrel layers and three endcap disks is being designed. We will present the key points of the design: the new geometry, which minimizes the material budget and increases the tracking points, and the development of a fast digital readout architecture, which ensures readout efficiency even at high rate. The expected performances for tracking and vertexing of the new pixel detector are also addressed.

Advanced pixel architectures for scientific image sensors

CERN Document Server

Coath, R; Godbeer, A; Wilson, M; Turchetta, R

2009-01-01

We present recent developments from two projects targeting advanced pixel architectures for scientific applications. Results are reported from FORTIS, a sensor demonstrating variants on a 4T pixel architecture. The variants include differences in pixel and diode size, the in-pixel source follower transistor size and the capacitance of the readout node to optimise for low noise and sensitivity to small amounts of charge. Results are also reported from TPAC, a complex pixel architecture with ~160 transistors per pixel. Both sensors were manufactured in the 0.18μm INMAPS process, which includes a special deep p-well layer and fabrication on a high resistivity epitaxial layer for improved charge collection efficiency.

Gossip: Gaseous pixels

Science.gov (United States)

Koffeman, E. N.

2007-12-01

Several years ago a revolutionary miniature TPC was developed using a pixel chip with a Micromegas foil spanned over it. To overcome the mechanical stability problems and improve the positioning accuracy while spanning a foil on top of a small readout chip a process has been developed in which a Micromegas-like grid is applied on a CMOS wafer in a post-processing step. This aluminum grid is supported on insulating pillars that are created by etching after the grid has been made. The energy resolution (measured on the absorption of the X-rays from a 55Fe source) was remarkably good. Several geometries have since been tested and we now believe that a Gas On Slimmed Silicon Pixel chip' (Gossip) may be realized. The drift region of such a gaseous pixel detector would be reduced to a millimeter. Such a detector is potentially very radiation hard (SLHC vertexing) but aging and sparking must be eliminated.

Gossip: Gaseous pixels

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Koffeman, E.N. [Nikhef, Kruislaan 409, 1098 SJ Amsterdam (Netherlands)], E-mail: d77@nikhef.nl

2007-12-01

Several years ago a revolutionary miniature TPC was developed using a pixel chip with a Micromegas foil spanned over it. To overcome the mechanical stability problems and improve the positioning accuracy while spanning a foil on top of a small readout chip a process has been developed in which a Micromegas-like grid is applied on a CMOS wafer in a post-processing step. This aluminum grid is supported on insulating pillars that are created by etching after the grid has been made. The energy resolution (measured on the absorption of the X-rays from a {sup 55}Fe source) was remarkably good. Several geometries have since been tested and we now believe that a Gas On Slimmed Silicon Pixel chip' (Gossip) may be realized. The drift region of such a gaseous pixel detector would be reduced to a millimeter. Such a detector is potentially very radiation hard (SLHC vertexing) but aging and sparking must be eliminated.

Gossip: Gaseous pixels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koffeman, E.N.

2007-01-01

Several years ago a revolutionary miniature TPC was developed using a pixel chip with a Micromegas foil spanned over it. To overcome the mechanical stability problems and improve the positioning accuracy while spanning a foil on top of a small readout chip a process has been developed in which a Micromegas-like grid is applied on a CMOS wafer in a post-processing step. This aluminum grid is supported on insulating pillars that are created by etching after the grid has been made. The energy resolution (measured on the absorption of the X-rays from a 55 Fe source) was remarkably good. Several geometries have since been tested and we now believe that a Gas On Slimmed Silicon Pixel chip' (Gossip) may be realized. The drift region of such a gaseous pixel detector would be reduced to a millimeter. Such a detector is potentially very radiation hard (SLHC vertexing) but aging and sparking must be eliminated

Photon Counting Energy Dispersive Detector Arrays for X-ray Imaging.

Science.gov (United States)

Iwanczyk, Jan S; Nygård, Einar; Meirav, Oded; Arenson, Jerry; Barber, William C; Hartsough, Neal E; Malakhov, Nail; Wessel, Jan C

2009-01-01

The development of an innovative detector technology for photon-counting in X-ray imaging is reported. This new generation of detectors, based on pixellated cadmium telluride (CdTe) and cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) detector arrays electrically connected to application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) for readout, will produce fast and highly efficient photon-counting and energy-dispersive X-ray imaging. There are a number of applications that can greatly benefit from these novel imagers including mammography, planar radiography, and computed tomography (CT). Systems based on this new detector technology can provide compositional analysis of tissue through spectroscopic X-ray imaging, significantly improve overall image quality, and may significantly reduce X-ray dose to the patient. A very high X-ray flux is utilized in many of these applications. For example, CT scanners can produce ~100 Mphotons/mm(2)/s in the unattenuated beam. High flux is required in order to collect sufficient photon statistics in the measurement of the transmitted flux (attenuated beam) during the very short time frame of a CT scan. This high count rate combined with a need for high detection efficiency requires the development of detector structures that can provide a response signal much faster than the transit time of carriers over the whole detector thickness. We have developed CdTe and CZT detector array structures which are 3 mm thick with 16×16 pixels and a 1 mm pixel pitch. These structures, in the two different implementations presented here, utilize either a small pixel effect or a drift phenomenon. An energy resolution of 4.75% at 122 keV has been obtained with a 30 ns peaking time using discrete electronics and a (57)Co source. An output rate of 6×10(6) counts per second per individual pixel has been obtained with our ASIC readout electronics and a clinical CT X-ray tube. Additionally, the first clinical CT images, taken with several of our prototype photon-counting and

Graphical user interface for a dual-module EMCCD x-ray detector array

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Weiyuan; Ionita, Ciprian; Kuhls-Gilcrist, Andrew; Huang, Ying; Qu, Bin; Gupta, Sandesh K.; Bednarek, Daniel R.; Rudin, Stephen

2011-03-01

A new Graphical User Interface (GUI) was developed using Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Engineering Workbench (LabVIEW) for a high-resolution, high-sensitivity Solid State X-ray Image Intensifier (SSXII), which is a new x-ray detector for radiographic and fluoroscopic imaging, consisting of an array of Electron-Multiplying CCDs (EMCCDs) each having a variable on-chip electron-multiplication gain of up to 2000x to reduce the effect of readout noise. To enlarge the field-of-view (FOV), each EMCCD sensor is coupled to an x-ray phosphor through a fiberoptic taper. Two EMCCD camera modules are used in our prototype to form a computer-controlled array; however, larger arrays are under development. The new GUI provides patient registration, EMCCD module control, image acquisition, and patient image review. Images from the array are stitched into a 2kx1k pixel image that can be acquired and saved at a rate of 17 Hz (faster with pixel binning). When reviewing the patient's data, the operator can select images from the patient's directory tree listed by the GUI and cycle through the images using a slider bar. Commonly used camera parameters including exposure time, trigger mode, and individual EMCCD gain can be easily adjusted using the GUI. The GUI is designed to accommodate expansion of the EMCCD array to even larger FOVs with more modules. The high-resolution, high-sensitivity EMCCD modular-array SSXII imager with the new user-friendly GUI should enable angiographers and interventionalists to visualize smaller vessels and endovascular devices, helping them to make more accurate diagnoses and to perform more precise image-guided interventions.

Graphical User Interface for a Dual-Module EMCCD X-ray Detector Array.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Weiyuan; Ionita, Ciprian; Kuhls-Gilcrist, Andrew; Huang, Ying; Qu, Bin; Gupta, Sandesh K; Bednarek, Daniel R; Rudin, Stephen

2011-03-16

A new Graphical User Interface (GUI) was developed using Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Engineering Workbench (LabVIEW) for a high-resolution, high-sensitivity Solid State X-ray Image Intensifier (SSXII), which is a new x-ray detector for radiographic and fluoroscopic imaging, consisting of an array of Electron-Multiplying CCDs (EMCCDs) each having a variable on-chip electron-multiplication gain of up to 2000× to reduce the effect of readout noise. To enlarge the field-of-view (FOV), each EMCCD sensor is coupled to an x-ray phosphor through a fiberoptic taper. Two EMCCD camera modules are used in our prototype to form a computer-controlled array; however, larger arrays are under development. The new GUI provides patient registration, EMCCD module control, image acquisition, and patient image review. Images from the array are stitched into a 2k×1k pixel image that can be acquired and saved at a rate of 17 Hz (faster with pixel binning). When reviewing the patient's data, the operator can select images from the patient's directory tree listed by the GUI and cycle through the images using a slider bar. Commonly used camera parameters including exposure time, trigger mode, and individual EMCCD gain can be easily adjusted using the GUI. The GUI is designed to accommodate expansion of the EMCCD array to even larger FOVs with more modules. The high-resolution, high-sensitivity EMCCD modular-array SSXII imager with the new user-friendly GUI should enable angiographers and interventionalists to visualize smaller vessels and endovascular devices, helping them to make more accurate diagnoses and to perform more precise image-guided interventions.

Comparison of SensL and Hamamatsu 4×4 channel SiPM arrays in gamma spectrometry with scintillators

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Grodzicka-Kobylka, M., E-mail: m.grodzicka@ncbj.gov.pl; Szczesniak, T.; Moszyński, M.

2017-06-01

The market of Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs) consists of many manufacturers that produce their detectors in different technology. Hamamatsu (Japan) and SensL (Ireland) seems to be the most popular companies that produce large SiPM arrays. The aim of this work is characterization and comparison of 4×4 channel SiPM arrays produced by these two producers. Both of the tested SiPMs are made in through-silicon via (TSV) technology, consist of 16, 3×3 mm avalanche photodiode (APD) cells and have fill factor slightly above 60%. The largest difference is a single APD cell size and hence total number of APD cells (55,424 for Hamamatsu, 76,640 for SensL). In the case of SensL SiPM, its spectral response characteristics is shifted slightly toward shorter wavelengths with maximum at 420 nm (450 nm for Hamamatsu). The presented measurements cover selection of the SiPM optimum operating voltage (in respect to energy resolution), verification of the excess noise factor and check of the linearity characteristics. Moreover, the gamma spectrometry with LSO, BGO and CsI:Tl scintillators together with pulse characteristics for these crystals (rise time and fall time) is reported, as well as temperature dependence. The presented measurements show better performance of the SensL array comparing to the Hamamatsu detector.

Pixel 2010: A résumé

CERN Document Server

Wermes, Norbert

2011-01-01

The Pixel 2010 conference focused on semiconductor pixel detectors for particle tracking/vertexing as well as for imaging, in particular for synchrotron light sources and XFELs. The big LHC hybrid pixel detectors have impressively started showing their capabilities. X-ray imaging detectors, also using the hybrid pixel technology, have greatly advanced the experimental possibilities for diffraction experiments. Monolithic or semi-monolithic devices like CMOS active pixels and DEPFET pixels have now reached a state such that complete vertex detectors for RHIC and superKEKB are being built with these technologies. Finally, new advances towards fully monolithic active pixel detectors, featuring full CMOS electronics merged with efficient signal charge collection, exploiting standard CMOS technologies, SOI and/or 3D integration, show the path for the future. This résumé attempts to extract the main statements of the results and developments presented at this conference.

Development and characterization of diamond and 3D-silicon pixel detectors with ATLAS-pixel readout electronics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mathes, Markus

2008-12-01

Hybrid pixel detectors are used for particle tracking in the innermost layers of current high energy experiments like ATLAS. After the proposed luminosity upgrade of the LHC, they will have to survive very high radiation fluences of up to 10 16 particles per cm 2 per life time. New sensor concepts and materials are required, which promise to be more radiation tolerant than the currently used planar silicon sensors. Most prominent candidates are so-called 3D-silicon and single crystal or poly-crystalline diamond sensors. Using the ATLAS pixel electronics different detector prototypes with a pixel geometry of 400 x 50 μm 2 have been built. In particular three devices have been studied in detail: a 3D-silicon and a single crystal diamond detector with an active area of about 1 cm 2 and a poly-crystalline diamond detector of the same size as a current ATLAS pixel detector module (2 x 6 cm 2 ). To characterize the devices regarding their particle detection efficiency and spatial resolution, the charge collection inside a pixel cell as well as the charge sharing between adjacent pixels was studied using a high energy particle beam. (orig.)

Advances in Multi-Pixel Photon Counter technology: First characterization results

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bonanno, G., E-mail: gbonanno@oact.inaf.it [INAF, Osservatorio Astrofisico di Catania, Via S. Sofia 78, I-95123 Catania (Italy); Marano, D.; Romeo, G.; Garozzo, S.; Grillo, A.; Timpanaro, M.C. [INAF, Osservatorio Astrofisico di Catania, Via S. Sofia 78, I-95123 Catania (Italy); Catalano, O.; Giarrusso, S.; Impiombato, D.; La Rosa, G.; Sottile, G. [INAF, Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica cosmica di Palermo, Via U. La Malfa 153, I-90146 Palermo Italy (Italy)

2016-01-11

Due to the recent advances in silicon photomultiplier technology, new types of Silicon Photomultiplier (SiPM), also named Multi-Pixel Photon Counter (MPPC) detectors have become recently available, demonstrating superior performance in terms of their most important electrical and optical parameters. This paper presents the latest characterization results of the novel Low Cross-Talk (LCT) MPPC families from Hamamatsu, where a noticeable fill-factor enhancement and cross-talk reduction is achieved. In addition, the newly adopted resin coating has been proven to yield improved photon detection capabilities in the 280–320 nm spectral range, making the new LCT MPPCs particularly suitable for emerging applications like Cherenkov Telescope Array, and Astroparticle Physics.

Overview of the CMS Pixel Detector

CERN Document Server

Cerati, Giuseppe B

2008-01-01

The Compact Muon Solenoid Experiment (CMS) will start taking data at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in 2009. It will investigate the proton-proton collisions at $14~TeV$. A robust tracking combined with a precise vertex reconstruction is crucial to address the physics challenge of proton collisions at this energy. To this extent an all-silicon tracking system with very fine granularity has been built and now is in the final commissioning phase. It represents the largest silicon tracking detector ever built. The system is composed by an outer part, made of micro-strip detectors, and an inner one, made of pixel detectors. The pixel detector consists of three pixel barrel layers and two forward disks at each side of the interaction region. Each pixel sensor, both for the barrel and forward detectors, has $100 \\times 150$ $\\mu m^2$ cells for a total of 66 million pixels covering a total area of about $1~m^2$. The pixel detector will play a crucial role in the pattern recognition and the track reconstruction both...

The Advanced Gamma-ray Imaging System (AGIS): Real Time Stereoscopic Array Trigger

Science.gov (United States)

Byrum, K.; Anderson, J.; Buckley, J.; Cundiff, T.; Dawson, J.; Drake, G.; Duke, C.; Haberichter, B.; Krawzcynski, H.; Krennrich, F.; Madhavan, A.; Schroedter, M.; Smith, A.

2009-05-01

Future large arrays of Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs) such as AGIS and CTA are conceived to comprise of 50 - 100 individual telescopes each having a camera with 10**3 to 10**4 pixels. To maximize the capabilities of such IACT arrays with a low energy threshold, a wide field of view and a low background rate, a sophisticated array trigger is required. We describe the design of a stereoscopic array trigger that calculates image parameters and then correlates them across a subset of telescopes. Fast Field Programmable Gate Array technology allows to use lookup tables at the array trigger level to form a real-time pattern recognition trigger tht capitalizes on the multiple view points of the shower at different shower core distances. A proof of principle system is currently under construction. It is based on 400 MHz FPGAs and the goal is for camera trigger rates of up to 10 MHz and a tunable cosmic-ray background suppression at the array level.

Investigation of CMOS pixel sensor with 0.18 μm CMOS technology for high-precision tracking detector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, L.; Wang, M.; Fu, M.; Zhang, Y.; Yan, W.

2017-01-01

The Circular Electron Positron Collider (CEPC) proposed by the Chinese high energy physics community is aiming to measure Higgs particles and their interactions precisely. The tracking detector including Silicon Inner Tracker (SIT) and Forward Tracking Disks (FTD) has driven stringent requirements on sensor technologies in term of spatial resolution, power consumption and readout speed. CMOS Pixel Sensor (CPS) is a promising candidate to approach these requirements. This paper presents the preliminary studies on the sensor optimization for tracking detector to achieve high collection efficiency while keeping necessary spatial resolution. Detailed studies have been performed on the charge collection using a 0.18 μm CMOS image sensor process. This process allows high resistivity epitaxial layer, leading to a significant improvement on the charge collection and therefore improving the radiation tolerance. Together with the simulation results, the first exploratory prototype has bee designed and fabricated. The prototype includes 9 different pixel arrays, which vary in terms of pixel pitch, diode size and geometry. The total area of the prototype amounts to 2 × 7.88 mm 2 .

Test of Compton camera components for prompt gamma imaging at the ELBE bremsstrahlung beam

Science.gov (United States)

Hueso-González, F.; Golnik, C.; Berthel, M.; Dreyer, A.; Enghardt, W.; Fiedler, F.; Heidel, K.; Kormoll, T.; Rohling, H.; Schöne, S.; Schwengner, R.; Wagner, A.; Pausch, G.

2014-05-01

In the context of ion beam therapy, particle range verification is a major challenge for the quality assurance of the treatment. One approach is the measurement of the prompt gamma rays resulting from the tissue irradiation. A Compton camera based on several position sensitive gamma ray detectors, together with an imaging algorithm, is expected to reconstruct the prompt gamma ray emission density map, which is correlated with the dose distribution. At OncoRay and Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), a Compton camera setup is being developed consisting of two scatter planes: two CdZnTe (CZT) cross strip detectors, and an absorber consisting of one Lu2SiO5 (LSO) block detector. The data acquisition is based on VME electronics and handled by software developed on the ROOT framework. The setup has been tested at the linear electron accelerator ELBE at HZDR, which is used in this experiment to produce bunched bremsstrahlung photons with up to 12.5 MeV energy and a repetition rate of 13 MHz. Their spectrum has similarities with the shape expected from prompt gamma rays in the clinical environment, and the flux is also bunched with the accelerator frequency. The charge sharing effect of the CZT detector is studied qualitatively for different energy ranges. The LSO detector pixel discrimination resolution is analyzed and it shows a trend to improve for high energy depositions. The time correlation between the pulsed prompt photons and the measured detector signals, to be used for background suppression, exhibits a time resolution of 3 ns FWHM for the CZT detector and of 2 ns for the LSO detector. A time walk correction and pixel-wise calibration is applied for the LSO detector, whose resolution improves up to 630 ps. In conclusion, the detector setup is suitable for time-resolved background suppression in pulsed clinical particle accelerators. Ongoing tasks are the quantitative comparison with simulations and the test of imaging algorithms. Experiments at proton

Test of Compton camera components for prompt gamma imaging at the ELBE bremsstrahlung beam

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hueso-González, F; Golnik, C; Berthel, M; Dreyer, A; Enghardt, W; Kormoll, T; Rohling, H; Pausch, G; Fiedler, F; Heidel, K; Schöne, S; Schwengner, R; Wagner, A

2014-01-01

In the context of ion beam therapy, particle range verification is a major challenge for the quality assurance of the treatment. One approach is the measurement of the prompt gamma rays resulting from the tissue irradiation. A Compton camera based on several position sensitive gamma ray detectors, together with an imaging algorithm, is expected to reconstruct the prompt gamma ray emission density map, which is correlated with the dose distribution. At OncoRay and Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), a Compton camera setup is being developed consisting of two scatter planes: two CdZnTe (CZT) cross strip detectors, and an absorber consisting of one Lu 2 SiO 5 (LSO) block detector. The data acquisition is based on VME electronics and handled by software developed on the ROOT framework. The setup has been tested at the linear electron accelerator ELBE at HZDR, which is used in this experiment to produce bunched bremsstrahlung photons with up to 12.5 MeV energy and a repetition rate of 13 MHz. Their spectrum has similarities with the shape expected from prompt gamma rays in the clinical environment, and the flux is also bunched with the accelerator frequency. The charge sharing effect of the CZT detector is studied qualitatively for different energy ranges. The LSO detector pixel discrimination resolution is analyzed and it shows a trend to improve for high energy depositions. The time correlation between the pulsed prompt photons and the measured detector signals, to be used for background suppression, exhibits a time resolution of 3 ns FWHM for the CZT detector and of 2 ns for the LSO detector. A time walk correction and pixel-wise calibration is applied for the LSO detector, whose resolution improves up to 630 ps. In conclusion, the detector setup is suitable for time-resolved background suppression in pulsed clinical particle accelerators. Ongoing tasks are the quantitative comparison with simulations and the test of imaging algorithms. Experiments at proton

The TDCpix readout ASIC: A 75ps resolution timing front-end for the NA62 Gigatracker hybrid pixel detector

CERN Document Server

Kluge, A; Bonacini, S; Jarron, P; Kaplon, J; Morel, M; Noy, M; Perktold, L; Poltorak, K

2013-01-01

The TDCpix is a novel pixel readout ASIC for the NA62 Gigatracker detector. NA62 is a new experiment being installed at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron. Its Gigatracker detector shall provide on-beam tracking and time stamping of individual particles with a time resolution of 150 ps rms. It will consist of three tracking stations, each with one hybrid pixel sensor. The peak fl ow of particles crossing the detector modules reaches 1.27 MHz/mm 2 for a total rate of about 0.75 GHz. Ten TDCpix chips will be bump-bonded to every silicon pixel sensor. Each chip shall perform time stamping of 100 M particle hits per second with a detection ef fi ciency above 99% and a timing accuracy better than 200 ps rms for an overall three-station-setup time resolution of better than 150 ps. The TDCpix chip has been designed in a 130 nm CMOS technology. It will feature 45 40 square pixels of 300 300 μ m 2 and a complex End of Column peripheral region including an array of TDCs based on DLLs, four high speed serializers, a low...

Electrical, spectral and optical performance of yellow-green and amber micro-pixelated InGaN light-emitting diodes

Science.gov (United States)

Gong, Z.; Liu, N. Y.; Tao, Y. B.; Massoubre, D.; Xie, E. Y.; Hu, X. D.; Chen, Z. Z.; Zhang, G. Y.; Pan, Y. B.; Hao, M. S.; Watson, I. M.; Gu, E.; Dawson, M. D.

2012-01-01

Micro-pixelated InGaN LED arrays operating at 560 and 600 nm, respectively, are demonstrated for what the authors believe to be the first time. Such devices offer applications in areas including bioinstrumentation, visible light communications and optoelectronic tweezers. The devices reported are based on new epitaxial structures, retaining conventional (0 0 0 1) orientation, but incorporating electron reservoir layers which enhance the efficiency of radiative combination in the active regions. A measured output optical power density up to 8 W cm-2 (4.4 W cm-2) has been achieved from a representative pixel of the yellow-green (amber) LED array, substantially higher than that from conventional broad-area reference LEDs fabricated from the same wafer material. Furthermore, these micro-LEDs can sustain a high current density, up to 4.5 kA cm-2, before thermal rollover. A significant blueshift of the emission wavelength with increasing injection current is observed, however. This blueshift saturates at 45 nm (50 nm) for the yellow-green (amber) LED array, and numerical simulations have been used to gain insight into the responsible mechanisms in this microstructured format of device. In the relatively low-current-density regime (screening of the piezoelectric field by the injected carriers and the band-filling effect, whereas in the high-current regime, it is mainly due to band-filling. Further development of the epitaxial wafer material is expected to improve the current-dependent spectral stability.

WE-DE-BRA-04: A Cost-Effective Pixelated EPID Scintillator for Enhanced Contrast and DQE

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rottmann, J; Myronakis, M; Hu, Y; Berbeco, R [Brigham and Woman’s Hospital, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA (United States); Shedlock, D; Wang, A; Humber, D; Star-Lack, J [Varian Medical Systems, Palo Alto, CA (United States); Morf, D; Fueglistaller, R [Varian Medical Systems, Daettwil (Switzerland)

2016-06-15

Purpose: Beams-eye-view imaging applications such as real-time soft-tissue motion estimation and MV-CBCT are hindered by the inherently low image contrast of electronic portal imaging devices (EPID) currently in clinical use. We investigate a cost effective scintillating glass that provides substantially increased detective quantum efficiency (DQE) and contrast to noise ratio (CNR). Methods: A pixelated scintillator prototype was built from LKH-5 glass. The array is 12mm thick; 42.4×42.4cm2 wide and features 1.51mm pixel pitch with 20µm separation (glue+septa). The LKH-5 array was mounted on the active matrix flat panel imager (AMPFI) of an AS-1200 (Varian) with the GdO2S2:Tb removed. A second AS-1200 was utilized as reference detector. The prototype EPID was characterized in terms of CNR, modulation transfer function (MTF) and DQE. Additionally, the visibility of various fiducial markers typically used in the clinic as well as a realistic 3D-printed lung tumor model was assessed. All items were placed in a 12cm thick solid water phantom. CNR is estimated using a Las Vegas contrast phantom, presampled MTF is estimated using a slanted slit technique and the DQE is calculated from measured normalized noise power spectra (NPS) and the MTF. Results: DQE(0) for the LKH-5 prototype increased by a factor of 8× to about 10%, compared to the AS-1200 equipped with its standard GdO2S2:Tb scintillator. CNR increased by a factor of 5.3×. Due to the pixel size the MTF50 decreased by about 55% to 0.23lp/mm. The visibility of all fiducial markers as well as the tumor model were however markedly improved in comparison to an acquisition with the same parameters using the GdO2S2:Tb scintillator. Conclusion: LKH-5 scintillating glasses allow the cost effective construction of thick pixelated scintillators for portal imaging which can yield a substantial increase in DQE and CNR. Soft tissue and fiducial marker visibility was found to be markedly improved. The project was supported

CMS Barrel Pixel Detector Overview

CERN Document Server

Kästli, H C; Erdmann, W; Gabathuler, K; Hörmann, C; Horisberger, Roland Paul; König, S; Kotlinski, D; Meier, B; Robmann, P; Rohe, T; Streuli, S

2007-01-01

The pixel detector is the innermost tracking device of the CMS experiment at the LHC. It is built from two independent sub devices, the pixel barrel and the end disks. The barrel consists of three concentric layers around the beam pipe with mean radii of 4.4, 7.3 and 10.2 cm. There are two end disks on each side of the interaction point at 34.5 cm and 46.5 cm. This article gives an overview of the pixel barrel detector, its mechanical support structure, electronics components, services and its expected performance.

Image scanning microscopy using a SPAD detector array (Conference Presentation)

Science.gov (United States)

Castello, Marco; Tortarolo, Giorgio; Buttafava, Mauro; Tosi, Alberto; Sheppard, Colin J. R.; Diaspro, Alberto; Vicidomini, Giuseppe

2017-02-01

The use of an array of detectors can help overcoming the traditional limitation of confocal microscopy: the compromise between signal and theoretical resolution. Each element independently records a view of the sample and the final image can be reconstructed by pixel reassignment or by inverse filtering (e.g. deconvolution). In this work, we used a SPAD array of 25 detectors specifically designed for this goal and our scanning microscopy control system (Carma) to acquire the partial images and to perform online image processing. Further work will be devoted to optimize the image reconstruction step and to improve the fill-factor of the detector.

A 7 ke-SD-FWC 1.2 e-RMS Temporal Random Noise 128×256 Time-Resolved CMOS Image Sensor With Two In-Pixel SDs for Biomedical Applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Seo, Min-Woong; Kawahito, Shoji

2017-12-01

A large full well capacity (FWC) for wide signal detection range and low temporal random noise for high sensitivity lock-in pixel CMOS image sensor (CIS) embedded with two in-pixel storage diodes (SDs) has been developed and presented in this paper. For fast charge transfer from photodiode to SDs, a lateral electric field charge modulator (LEFM) is used for the developed lock-in pixel. As a result, the time-resolved CIS achieves a very large SD-FWC of approximately 7ke-, low temporal random noise of 1.2e-rms at 20 fps with true correlated double sampling operation and fast intrinsic response less than 500 ps at 635 nm. The proposed imager has an effective pixel array of and a pixel size of . The sensor chip is fabricated by Dongbu HiTek 1P4M 0.11 CIS process.

CMS has a heart of pixels

CERN Multimedia

2003-01-01

In the immediate vicinity of the collision point, CMS will be equipped with pixel detectors consisting of no fewer than 50 million pixels measuring 150 microns along each side. Each of the pixels, which receive the signal, is connected to its own electronic circuit by a tiny sphere (seen here in the electron microscope image) measuring 15 to 20 microns in diameter.

Development and characterization of diamond and 3D-silicon pixel detectors with ATLAS-pixel readout electronics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mathes, Markus

2008-12-15

Hybrid pixel detectors are used for particle tracking in the innermost layers of current high energy experiments like ATLAS. After the proposed luminosity upgrade of the LHC, they will have to survive very high radiation fluences of up to 10{sup 16} particles per cm{sup 2} per life time. New sensor concepts and materials are required, which promise to be more radiation tolerant than the currently used planar silicon sensors. Most prominent candidates are so-called 3D-silicon and single crystal or poly-crystalline diamond sensors. Using the ATLAS pixel electronics different detector prototypes with a pixel geometry of 400 x 50 {mu}m{sup 2} have been built. In particular three devices have been studied in detail: a 3D-silicon and a single crystal diamond detector with an active area of about 1 cm{sup 2} and a poly-crystalline diamond detector of the same size as a current ATLAS pixel detector module (2 x 6 cm{sup 2}). To characterize the devices regarding their particle detection efficiency and spatial resolution, the charge collection inside a pixel cell as well as the charge sharing between adjacent pixels was studied using a high energy particle beam. (orig.)

A liquid-crystal-on-silicon color sequential display using frame buffer pixel circuits

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Sangrok

Next generation liquid-crystal-on-silicon (LCOS) high definition (HD) televisions and image projection displays will need to be low-cost and high quality to compete with existing systems based on digital micromirror devices (DMDs), plasma displays, and direct view liquid crystal displays. In this thesis, a novel frame buffer pixel architecture that buffers data for the next image frame while displaying the current frame, offers such a competitive solution is presented. The primary goal of the thesis is to demonstrate the LCOS microdisplay architecture for high quality image projection displays and at potentially low cost. The thesis covers four main research areas: new frame buffer pixel circuits to improve the LCOS performance, backplane architecture design and testing, liquid crystal modes for the LCOS microdisplay, and system integration and demonstration. The design requirements for the LCOS backplane with a 64 x 32 pixel array are addressed and measured electrical characteristics matches to computer simulation results. Various liquid crystal (LC) modes applicable for LCOS microdisplays and their physical properties are discussed. One- and two-dimensional director simulations are performed for the selected LC modes. Test liquid crystal cells with the selected LC modes are made and their electro-optic effects are characterized. The 64 x 32 LCOS microdisplays fabricated with the best LC mode are optically tested with interface circuitry. The characteristics of the LCOS microdisplays are summarized with the successful demonstration.

High Flux Energy-Resolved Photon-Counting X-Ray Imaging Arrays with CdTe and CdZnTe for Clinical CT

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barber, William C.; Hartsough, Neal E.; Gandhi, Thulasidharan; Iwanczyk, Jan S.; Wessel, Jan C.; Nygard, Einar; Malakhov, Nail; Wawrzyniak, Gregor; Dorholt, Ole; Danielsen, Roar

2013-06-01

We have fabricated fast room-temperature energy dispersive photon counting x-ray imaging arrays using pixellated cadmium zinc (CdTe) and cadmium zinc telluride (CdZnTe) semiconductors. We have also fabricated fast application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) with a two dimensional (2D) array of inputs for readout from the CdZnTe sensors. The new CdTe and CdZnTe sensors have a 2D array of pixels with a 0.5 mm pitch and can be tiled in 2D. The new 2D ASICs have four energy discriminators per pixel with a linear energy response across the entire dynamic range for clinical CT. The ASICs can also be tiled in 2D and are designed to fit within the active area of the 2D sensors. We have measured several important performance parameters including; an output count rate (OCR) in excess of 20 million counts per second per square mm, an energy resolution of 7 keV full width at half maximum (FWHM) across the entire dynamic range, and a noise floor less than 20 keV. This is achieved by directly interconnecting the ASIC inputs to the pixels of the CdTE and CdZnTe sensors incurring very little additional capacitance. We present a comparison of the performance of the CdTe and CdZnTe sensors including the OCR, FWHM energy resolution, and noise floor. (authors)

Charge sharing in silicon pixel detectors

CERN Document Server

Mathieson, K; Seller, P; Prydderch, M L; O'Shea, V; Bates, R L; Smith, K M; Rahman, M

2002-01-01

We used a pixellated hybrid silicon X-ray detector to study the effect of the sharing of generated charge between neighbouring pixels over a range of incident X-ray energies, 13-36 keV. The system is a room temperature, energy resolving detector with a Gaussian FWHM of 265 eV at 5.9 keV. Each pixel is 300 mu m square, 300 mu m deep and is bump bonded to matching read out electronics. The modelling packages MEDICI and MCNP were used to model the complete X-ray interaction and the subsequent charge transport. Using this software a model is developed which reproduces well the experimental results. The simulations are then altered to explore smaller pixel sizes and different X-ray energies. Charge sharing was observed experimentally to be 2% at 13 keV rising to 4.5% at 36 keV, for an energy threshold of 4 keV. The models predict that up to 50% of charge may be lost to the neighbouring pixels, for an X-ray energy of 36 keV, when the pixel size is reduced to 55 mu m.

Development of a time projection chamber with micro-pixel electrodes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kubo, Hidetoshi; Miuchi, Kentaro; Nagayoshi, Tsutomu; Ochi, Atsuhiko; Orito, Reiko; Takada, Atsushi; Tanimori, Toru; Ueno, Masaru

2003-01-01

A time projection chamber (TPC) based on a gaseous chamber with micro-pixel electrodes (μ-PIC) has been developed for measuring three-dimensional tracks of charged particles. The μ-PIC with a detection area of 10x10 cm 2 consists of a double-sided printing circuit board. Anode pixels are formed with 0.4 mm pitch on strips aligned perpendicular to the cathode strips in order to obtain a two-dimensional position. In the TPC with drift length of 8 cm, 4 mm wide field cage electrodes are aligned at 1 mm spaces and a uniform electric field of about 0.4 kV/cm is produced. For encoding of the three-dimensional position a synchronous readout system has been developed using Field Programmable Gate Arrays with 40 MHz clock. This system enables us to reconstruct the three-dimensional track of the particle at successive points like a cloud chamber even at high event rate. The drift velocity of electrons in the TPC was measured with the tracks of cosmic muons for 3 days, during which the TPC worked stably with the gas gain of 3000. With a radioisotope of gamma-ray source the three-dimensional track of a Compton scattered electron was taken successfully

CVD diamond pixel detectors for LHC experiments

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wedenig, R.; Adam, W.; Bauer, C.; Berdermann, E.; Bergonzo, P.; Bogani, F.; Borchi, E.; Brambilla, A.; Bruzzi, M.; Colledani, C.; Conway, J.; Dabrowski, W.; Delpierre, P.; Deneuville, A.; Dulinski, W.; Eijk, B. van; Fallou, A.; Fizzotti, F.; Foulon, F.; Friedl, M.; Gan, K.K.; Gheeraert, E.; Grigoriev, E.; Hallewell, G.; Hall-Wilton, R.; Han, S.; Hartjes, F.; Hrubec, J.; Husson, D.; Kagan, H.; Kania, D.; Kaplon, J.; Karl, C.; Kass, R.; Knoepfle, K.T.; Krammer, M.; Logiudice, A.; Lu, R.; Manfredi, P.F.; Manfredotti, C.; Marshall, R.D.; Meier, D.; Mishina, M.; Oh, A.; Pan, L.S.; Palmieri, V.G.; Pernicka, M.; Peitz, A.; Pirollo, S.; Polesello, P.; Pretzl, K.; Procario, M.; Re, V.; Riester, J.L.; Roe, S.; Roff, D.; Rudge, A.; Runolfsson, O.; Russ, J.; Schnetzer, S.; Sciortino, S.; Speziali, V.; Stelzer, H.; Stone, R.; Suter, B.; Tapper, R.J.; Tesarek, R.; Trawick, M.; Trischuk, W.; Vittone, E.; Wagner, A.; Walsh, A.M.; Weilhammer, P.; White, C.; Zeuner, W.; Ziock, H.; Zoeller, M.; Blanquart, L.; Breugnion, P.; Charles, E.; Ciocio, A.; Clemens, J.C.; Dao, K.; Einsweiler, K.; Fasching, D.; Fischer, P.; Joshi, A.; Keil, M.; Klasen, V.; Kleinfelder, S.; Laugier, D.; Meuser, S.; Milgrome, O.; Mouthuy, T.; Richardson, J.; Sinervo, P.; Treis, J.; Wermes, N

1999-08-01

This paper reviews the development of CVD diamond pixel detectors. The preparation of the diamond pixel sensors for bump-bonding to the pixel readout electronics for the LHC and the results from beam tests carried out at CERN are described.

CVD diamond pixel detectors for LHC experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wedenig, R.; Adam, W.; Bauer, C.; Berdermann, E.; Bergonzo, P.; Bogani, F.; Borchi, E.; Brambilla, A.; Bruzzi, M.; Colledani, C.; Conway, J.; Dabrowski, W.; Delpierre, P.; Deneuville, A.; Dulinski, W.; Eijk, B. van; Fallou, A.; Fizzotti, F.; Foulon, F.; Friedl, M.; Gan, K.K.; Gheeraert, E.; Grigoriev, E.; Hallewell, G.; Hall-Wilton, R.; Han, S.; Hartjes, F.; Hrubec, J.; Husson, D.; Kagan, H.; Kania, D.; Kaplon, J.; Karl, C.; Kass, R.; Knoepfle, K.T.; Krammer, M.; Logiudice, A.; Lu, R.; Manfredi, P.F.; Manfredotti, C.; Marshall, R.D.; Meier, D.; Mishina, M.; Oh, A.; Pan, L.S.; Palmieri, V.G.; Pernicka, M.; Peitz, A.; Pirollo, S.; Polesello, P.; Pretzl, K.; Procario, M.; Re, V.; Riester, J.L.; Roe, S.; Roff, D.; Rudge, A.; Runolfsson, O.; Russ, J.; Schnetzer, S.; Sciortino, S.; Speziali, V.; Stelzer, H.; Stone, R.; Suter, B.; Tapper, R.J.; Tesarek, R.; Trawick, M.; Trischuk, W.; Vittone, E.; Wagner, A.; Walsh, A.M.; Weilhammer, P.; White, C.; Zeuner, W.; Ziock, H.; Zoeller, M.; Blanquart, L.; Breugnion, P.; Charles, E.; Ciocio, A.; Clemens, J.C.; Dao, K.; Einsweiler, K.; Fasching, D.; Fischer, P.; Joshi, A.; Keil, M.; Klasen, V.; Kleinfelder, S.; Laugier, D.; Meuser, S.; Milgrome, O.; Mouthuy, T.; Richardson, J.; Sinervo, P.; Treis, J.; Wermes, N.

1999-01-01

This paper reviews the development of CVD diamond pixel detectors. The preparation of the diamond pixel sensors for bump-bonding to the pixel readout electronics for the LHC and the results from beam tests carried out at CERN are described

Urban Image Classification: Per-Pixel Classifiers, Sub-Pixel Analysis, Object-Based Image Analysis, and Geospatial Methods. 10; Chapter

Science.gov (United States)

Myint, Soe W.; Mesev, Victor; Quattrochi, Dale; Wentz, Elizabeth A.

2013-01-01

Remote sensing methods used to generate base maps to analyze the urban environment rely predominantly on digital sensor data from space-borne platforms. This is due in part from new sources of high spatial resolution data covering the globe, a variety of multispectral and multitemporal sources, sophisticated statistical and geospatial methods, and compatibility with GIS data sources and methods. The goal of this chapter is to review the four groups of classification methods for digital sensor data from space-borne platforms; per-pixel, sub-pixel, object-based (spatial-based), and geospatial methods. Per-pixel methods are widely used methods that classify pixels into distinct categories based solely on the spectral and ancillary information within that pixel. They are used for simple calculations of environmental indices (e.g., NDVI) to sophisticated expert systems to assign urban land covers. Researchers recognize however, that even with the smallest pixel size the spectral information within a pixel is really a combination of multiple urban surfaces. Sub-pixel classification methods therefore aim to statistically quantify the mixture of surfaces to improve overall classification accuracy. While within pixel variations exist, there is also significant evidence that groups of nearby pixels have similar spectral information and therefore belong to the same classification category. Object-oriented methods have emerged that group pixels prior to classification based on spectral similarity and spatial proximity. Classification accuracy using object-based methods show significant success and promise for numerous urban 3 applications. Like the object-oriented methods that recognize the importance of spatial proximity, geospatial methods for urban mapping also utilize neighboring pixels in the classification process. The primary difference though is that geostatistical methods (e.g., spatial autocorrelation methods) are utilized during both the pre- and post

CVD diamond pixel detectors for LHC experiments

CERN Document Server

Wedenig, R; Bauer, C; Berdermann, E; Bergonzo, P; Bogani, F; Borchi, E; Brambilla, A; Bruzzi, Mara; Colledani, C; Conway, J; Dabrowski, W; Delpierre, P A; Deneuville, A; Dulinski, W; van Eijk, B; Fallou, A; Fizzotti, F; Foulon, F; Friedl, M; Gan, K K; Gheeraert, E; Grigoriev, E; Hallewell, G D; Hall-Wilton, R; Han, S; Hartjes, F G; Hrubec, Josef; Husson, D; Kagan, H; Kania, D R; Kaplon, J; Karl, C; Kass, R; Knöpfle, K T; Krammer, Manfred; Lo Giudice, A; Lü, R; Manfredi, P F; Manfredotti, C; Marshall, R D; Meier, D; Mishina, M; Oh, A; Pan, L S; Palmieri, V G; Pernicka, Manfred; Peitz, A; Pirollo, S; Polesello, P; Pretzl, Klaus P; Procario, M; Re, V; Riester, J L; Roe, S; Roff, D G; Rudge, A; Runólfsson, O; Russ, J; Schnetzer, S R; Sciortino, S; Speziali, V; Stelzer, H; Stone, R; Suter, B; Tapper, R J; Tesarek, R J; Trawick, M L; Trischuk, W; Vittone, E; Wagner, A; Walsh, A M; Weilhammer, Peter; White, C; Zeuner, W; Ziock, H J; Zöller, M

1999-01-01

This paper reviews the development of CVD diamond pixel detectors. The preparation of the diamond pixel sensors for bump-bonding to the pixel readout electronics for the LHC and the results from beam tests carried out at CERN are described. (9 refs).

Micromirror array nanostructures for anticounterfeiting applications

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Robert A.

2004-06-01

The optical characteristics of pixellated passive micro mirror arrays are derived and applied in the context of their use as reflective optically variable device (OVD) nanostructures for the protection of documents from counterfeiting. The traditional design variables of foil based diffractive OVDs are shown to be able to be mapped to a corresponding set of design parameters for reflective optical micro mirror array (OMMA) devices. The greatly increased depth characteristics of micro mirror array OVDs provides an opportunity for directly printing the OVD microstructure onto the security document in-line with the normal printing process. The micro mirror array OVD architecture therefore eliminates the need for hot stamping foil as the carrier of the OVD information, thereby reducing costs. The origination of micro mirror array devices via a palette based data format and a combination electron beam lithography and photolithography techniques is discussed via an artwork example and experimental tests. Finally the application of the technology to the design of a generic class of devices which have the interesting property of allowing for both application and customer specific OVD image encoding and data encoding at the end user stage of production is described. Because of the end user nature of the image and data encoding process these devices are particularly well suited to ID document applications and for this reason we refer this new OVD concept as biometric OVD technology.

Operational Experience with the ATLAS Pixel Detector

CERN Document Server

Djama, Fares; The ATLAS collaboration

2017-01-01

Run 2 of the LHC collider sets new challenges to track and vertex reconstruction because of its higher energy, pileup and luminosity. The ATLAS tracking performance relies critically on the Pixel Detector. Therefore, in view of Run 2, the ATLAS collaboration has constructed the first 4-layer pixel detector in Particle Physics by installing a new pixel layer, called Insertable B-Layer (IBL). Operational experience and performance of the 4-layer Pixel Detector during Run 2 are presented.

Performance comparison of small-pixel CdZnTe radiation detectors with gold contacts formed by sputter and electroless deposition

Science.gov (United States)

Bell, S. J.; Baker, M. A.; Duarte, D. D.; Schneider, A.; Seller, P.; Sellin, P. J.; Veale, M. C.; Wilson, M. D.

2017-06-01

Recent improvements in the growth of wide-bandgap semiconductors, such as cadmium zinc telluride (CdZnTe or CZT), has enabled spectroscopic X/γ-ray imaging detectors to be developed. These detectors have applications covering homeland security, industrial analysis, space science and medical imaging. At the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) a promising range of spectroscopic, position sensitive, small-pixel Cd(Zn)Te detectors have been developed. The challenge now is to improve the quality of metal contacts on CdZnTe in order to meet the demanding energy and spatial resolution requirements of these applications. The choice of metal deposition method and fabrication process are of fundamental importance. Presented is a comparison of two CdZnTe detectors with contacts formed by sputter and electroless deposition. The detectors were fabricated with a 74 × 74 array of 200 μm pixels on a 250 μm pitch and bump-bonded to the HEXITEC ASIC. The X/γ-ray emissions from an 241Am source were measured to form energy spectra for comparison. It was found that the detector with contacts formed by electroless deposition produced the best uniformity and energy resolution; the best pixel produced a FWHM of 560 eV at 59.54 keV and 50% of pixels produced a FWHM better than 1.7 keV . This compared with a FWHM of 1.5 keV for the best pixel and 50% of pixels better than 4.4 keV for the detector with sputtered contacts.

Optimization of a partially segmented block detector for MR-compatible small animal PET

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hwang, Ji Yeon; Chung, Yong Hyun; Baek, Cheol-Ha; An, Su Jung; Kim, Hyun-Il; Kim, Kwang Hyun

2011-01-01

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in the magnetic resonance (MR)-compatible positron emission tomography (PET) scanners for both clinical and preclinical practice. The aim of this study was to design a novel PET detector module using a segmented block crystal readout with an array of multi-pixel photon counters (MPPCs). A 16.5x16.5x10.0 mm 3 LSO block was segmented into an 11x11 array, and reflective material was used to fill in the cuts to optically isolate the elements. The block was attached to a 4x4 MPPC array (Hamamatsu S11064) of 3.0x3.0 mm 2 detectors to give a total effective area of 144 mm 2 . To visualize all the individual detector elements in this 11x11 detector module, the depth of the cuts was optimized by DETECT2000 simulations. The depth of the cuts determines the spread of scintillation light onto the MPPC array. The accuracy of positioning was evaluated by varying the depth of the cuts from 0.0 to 10.0 mm in steps of 0.5 mm. A spatial resolution of 1.5 mm was achieved using the optimized partially segmented block detector. The simulation results of this study can be used effectively as a guide for parameter optimization for the development of a partially segmented block detector for high-resolution MR-compatible PET scanners.

Ultrathin NbN film superconducting single-photon detector array

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smirnov, K; Korneev, A; Minaeva, O; Divochiy, A; Tarkhov, M; Ryabchun, S; Seleznev, V; Kaurova, N; Voronov, B; Gol'tsman, G; Polonsky, S

2007-01-01

We report on the fabrication process of the 2 x 2 superconducting single-photon detector (SSPD) array. The SSPD array is made from ultrathin NbN film and is operated at liquid helium temperatures. Each detector is a nanowire-based structure patterned by electron beam lithography process. The advances in fabrication technology allowed us to produce highly uniform strips and preserve superconducting properties of the unpatterned film. SSPD exhibit up to 30% quantum efficiency in near infrared and up to 1% at 5-μm wavelength. Due to 120 MHz counting rate and 18 ps jitter, the time-domain multiplexing read-out is proposed for large scale SSPD arrays. Single-pixel SSPD has already found a practical application in non-invasive testing of semiconductor very-large scale integrated circuits. The SSPD significantly outperformed traditional single-photon counting avalanche diodes

Development of readout system for FE-I4 pixel module using SiTCP

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Teoh, J.J., E-mail: jjteoh@champ.hep.sci.osaka-u.ac.jp [Graduate School of Science, Osaka University, 1-1 Machikaneyama, Toyonaka, Osaka, 560-0043 (Japan); Hanagaki, K. [Graduate School of Science, Osaka University, 1-1 Machikaneyama, Toyonaka, Osaka, 560-0043 (Japan); Ikegami, Y.; Takubo, Y.; Terada, S.; Unno, Y. [Institute for Particle and Nuclear Studies, High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), 1-1 Oho, Tsukuba City, Ibaraki-ken 305-0801 (Japan)

2013-12-11

The ATLAS pixel detector will be replaced in the future High Luminosity-Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) upgrade to preserve or improve the detector performance at high luminosity environment. To meet the tight requirements of the upgrade, a new pixel Front-End (FE) Integrated Circuit (IC) called FE-I4 has been developed. We have then devised a readout system for the new FE IC. Our system incorporates Silicon Transmission Control Protocol (SiTCP) technology (Uchida, 2008 [1]) which utilizes the standard TCP/IP and UDP communication protocols. This technology allows direct data access and transfer between a readout hardware chain and PC via a high speed Ethernet. In addition, the communication protocols are small enough to be implemented in a single Field-Programable Gate Array (FPGA). Relying on this technology, we have been able to construct a very compact, versatile and fast readout system. We have developed a firmware and software together with the readout hardware chain. We also have established basic functionalities for reading out FE-I4.

Toward VIP-PIX: A Low Noise Readout ASIC for Pixelated CdTe Gamma-Ray Detectors for Use in the Next Generation of PET Scanners.

Science.gov (United States)

Macias-Montero, Jose-Gabriel; Sarraj, Maher; Chmeissani, Mokhtar; Puigdengoles, Carles; Lorenzo, Gianluca De; Martínez, Ricardo

2013-08-01

VIP-PIX will be a low noise and low power pixel readout electronics with digital output for pixelated Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) detectors. The proposed pixel will be part of a 2D pixel-array detector for various types of nuclear medicine imaging devices such as positron-emission tomography (PET) scanners, Compton gamma cameras, and positron-emission mammography (PEM) scanners. Each pixel will include a SAR ADC that provides the energy deposited with 10-bit resolution. Simultaneously, the self-triggered pixel which will be connected to a global time-to-digital converter (TDC) with 1 ns resolution will provide the event's time stamp. The analog part of the readout chain and the ADC have been fabricated with TSMC 0.25 μ m mixed-signal CMOS technology and characterized with an external test pulse. The power consumption of these parts is 200 μ W from a 2.5 V supply. It offers 4 switchable gains from ±10 mV/fC to ±40 mV/fC and an input charge dynamic range of up to ±70 fC for the minimum gain for both polarities. Based on noise measurements, the expected equivalent noise charge (ENC) is 65 e - RMS at room temperature.

Microlens array processor with programmable weight mask and direct optical input

Science.gov (United States)

Schmid, Volker R.; Lueder, Ernst H.; Bader, Gerhard; Maier, Gert; Siegordner, Jochen

1999-03-01

We present an optical feature extraction system with a microlens array processor. The system is suitable for online implementation of a variety of transforms such as the Walsh transform and DCT. Operating with incoherent light, our processor accepts direct optical input. Employing a sandwich- like architecture, we obtain a very compact design of the optical system. The key elements of the microlens array processor are a square array of 15 X 15 spherical microlenses on acrylic substrate and a spatial light modulator as transmissive mask. The light distribution behind the mask is imaged onto the pixels of a customized a-Si image sensor with adjustable gain. We obtain one output sample for each microlens image and its corresponding weight mask area as summation of the transmitted intensity within one sensor pixel. The resulting architecture is very compact and robust like a conventional camera lens while incorporating a high degree of parallelism. We successfully demonstrate a Walsh transform into the spatial frequency domain as well as the implementation of a discrete cosine transform with digitized gray values. We provide results showing the transformation performance for both synthetic image patterns and images of natural texture samples. The extracted frequency features are suitable for neural classification of the input image. Other transforms and correlations can be implemented in real-time allowing adaptive optical signal processing.

GOSSIPO-4: an array of high resolution TDCs with a PLL control

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zappon, F; Beuzekom, M van; Gromov, V; Kluit, R; Fang, X; Kruth, A

2012-01-01

GOSSIPO-4 is a prototype chip featuring an array of high resolution Time to Digital Converters with a PLL control that has been taped out the 9th of August 2011. This prototype is the successor of GOSSIPO-3 test chip and the precursor of the 65k pixel chip TimePix3. The prototype is being developed to test a set of new features that will be used in TimePix3, including a 8 pixel structure sharing one fast oscillator with a new topology, a PLL to provide the control voltage to the oscillators, a custom fast counter and a new small-area cell library.

Developments of the ATLAS pixel detector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Andreazza, Attilio

2004-01-01

The ATLAS silicon pixel detector is the innermost tracking device of the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hardon Collider, consisting of more than 1700 modules for a total sensitive area of about 1.7m2 and over 80 million pixel cells. The concept is a hybrid of front-end chips bump bonded to the pixel sensor. The elementary pixel cell has 50μmx400μm size, providing pulse height information via the time over threshold technique. Prototype devices with oxygenated silicon sensor and rad-hard electronics built in the IBM 0.25μm process have been tested and maintain good resolution, efficiency and timing performances even after receiving the design radiation damage of 1015neq/cm2

Fractal assembly of micrometre-scale DNA origami arrays with arbitrary patterns

Science.gov (United States)

Tikhomirov, Grigory; Petersen, Philip; Qian, Lulu

2017-12-01

Self-assembled DNA nanostructures enable nanometre-precise patterning that can be used to create programmable molecular machines and arrays of functional materials. DNA origami is particularly versatile in this context because each DNA strand in the origami nanostructure occupies a unique position and can serve as a uniquely addressable pixel. However, the scale of such structures has been limited to about 0.05 square micrometres, hindering applications that demand a larger layout and integration with more conventional patterning methods. Hierarchical multistage assembly of simple sets of tiles can in principle overcome this limitation, but so far has not been sufficiently robust to enable successful implementation of larger structures using DNA origami tiles. Here we show that by using simple local assembly rules that are modified and applied recursively throughout a hierarchical, multistage assembly process, a small and constant set of unique DNA strands can be used to create DNA origami arrays of increasing size and with arbitrary patterns. We illustrate this method, which we term ‘fractal assembly’, by producing DNA origami arrays with sizes of up to 0.5 square micrometres and with up to 8,704 pixels, allowing us to render images such as the Mona Lisa and a rooster. We find that self-assembly of the tiles into arrays is unaffected by changes in surface patterns on the tiles, and that the yield of the fractal assembly process corresponds to about 0.95m - 1 for arrays containing m tiles. When used in conjunction with a software tool that we developed that converts an arbitrary pattern into DNA sequences and experimental protocols, our assembly method is readily accessible and will facilitate the construction of sophisticated materials and devices with sizes similar to that of a bacterium using DNA nanostructures.

The DELPHI pixels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Becks, K.H.; Brunet, J.M.

1997-01-01

To improve tracking in the very forward direction for running at LEP200, the angular acceptance of the DELPHI Vertex detector has been extended from 45 to 11 with respect to the beam axis. Pixel detector crowns cover the region between 25 and 13 . Due to very tight space and material thickness constraints it was necessary to develop new techniques (integrated busses in the detector substrate, high density layout on Kapton, etc.). About 1000 cm 2 of pixels are already installed and working in DELPHI. Techniques, tests and production of these detectors will be described, as well as the main problems encountered during this work. (orig.)

Spatial noise in staring IR focal plane arrays

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Scribner, D.A.; Kruer, M.R.; Sarkady, K.; Gridley, J.C.

1988-01-01

Problems with nonuniformity correction algorithms due to nonlinear pixel response and 1/f noise have been shown previously to cause spatial noise which can be significantly greater than temporal noise. The residual spatial noise after correction cannot be reduced with time averaging. Because of spatial noise the sensitivity of staring FPA sensors is often less than predicted on the basis of the temporal noise of the individual elements. A review is given of methods for measuring and analyzing spatial noise (after nonuniformity correction) in staring infrared focal plane arrays. Automated measurement techniques are described briefly, including necessary equipment and data reduction procedures. An example of spatial noise measurements is given using a staring InSb Charge Injection Device (CID) array

Empirical electro-optical and x-ray performance evaluation of CMOS active pixels sensor for low dose, high resolution x-ray medical imaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arvanitis, C. D.; Bohndiek, S. E.; Royle, G.; Blue, A.; Liang, H. X.; Clark, A.; Prydderch, M.; Turchetta, R.; Speller, R.

2007-01-01

Monolithic complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) active pixel sensors with high performance have gained attention in the last few years in many scientific and space applications. In order to evaluate the increasing capabilities of this technology, in particular where low dose high resolution x-ray medical imaging is required, critical electro-optical and physical x-ray performance evaluation was determined. The electro-optical performance includes read noise, full well capacity, interacting quantum efficiency, and pixels cross talk. The x-ray performance, including x-ray sensitivity, modulation transfer function, noise power spectrum, and detection quantum efficiency, has been evaluated in the mammographic energy range. The sensor is a 525x525 standard three transistor CMOS active pixel sensor array with more than 75% fill factor and 25x25 μm pixel pitch. Reading at 10 f/s, it is found that the sensor has 114 electrons total additive noise, 10 5 electrons full well capacity with shot noise limited operation, and 34% interacting quantum efficiency at 530 nm. Two different structured CsI:Tl phosphors with thickness 95 and 115 μm, respectively, have been optically coupled via a fiber optic plate to the array resulting in two different system configurations. The sensitivity of the two different system configurations was 43 and 47 electrons per x-ray incident on the sensor. The MTF at 10% of the two different system configurations was 9.5 and 9 cycles/mm with detective quantum efficiency of 0.45 and 0.48, respectively, close to zero frequency at ∼0.44 μC/kg (1.72 mR) detector entrance exposure. The detector was quantum limited at low spatial frequencies and its performance was comparable with high resolution a:Si and charge coupled device based x-ray imagers. The detector also demonstrates almost an order of magnitude lower noise than active matrix flat panel imagers. The results suggest that CMOS active pixel sensors when coupled to structured CsI:Tl can

Charge Pump Clock Generation PLL for the Data Output Block of the Upgraded ATLAS Pixel Front-End in 130 nm CMOS

CERN Document Server

Kruth, A; Arutinov, D; Barbero, M; Gronewald, M; Hemperek, T; Karagounis, M; Krueger, H; Wermes, N; Fougeron, D; Menouni, M; Beccherle, R; Dube, S; Ellege, D; Garcia-Sciveres, M; Gnani, D; Mekkaoui, A; Gromov, V; Kluit, R; Schipper, J

2009-01-01

FE-I4 is the 130 nm ATLAS pixel IC currently under development for upgraded Large Hadron Collider (LHC) luminosities. FE-I4 is based on a low-power analog pixel array and digital architecture concepts tuned to higher hit rates [1]. An integrated Phase Locked Loop (PLL) has been developed that locally generates a clock signal for the 160 Mbit/s output data stream from the 40 MHz bunch crossing reference clock. This block is designed for low power, low area consumption and recovers quickly from loss of lock related to single-event transients in the high radiation environment of the ATLAS pixel detector. After a general introduction to the new FE-I4 pixel front-end chip, this work focuses on the FE-I4 output blocks and on a first PLL prototype test chip submitted in early 2009. The PLL is nominally operated from a 1.2V supply and consumes 3.84mW of DC power. Under nominal operating conditions, the control voltage settles to within 2% of its nominal value in less than 700 ns. The nominal operating frequency for t...

Mega-pixel PQR laser chips for interconnect, display ITS, and biocell-tweezers OEIC

Science.gov (United States)

Kwon, O'Dae; Yoon, J. H.; Kim, D. K.; Kim, Y. C.; Lee, S. E.; Kim, S. S.

2008-02-01

We describe a photonic quantum ring (PQR) laser device of three dimensional toroidal whispering gallery cavity. We have succeeded in fabricating the first genuine mega-pixel laser chips via regular semiconductor technology. This has been realized since the present injection laser emitting surface-normal dominant 3D whispering gallery modes (WGMs) can be operated CW with extremely low operating currents (μA-nA per pixel), together with the lasing temperature stabilities well above 140 deg C with minimal redshifts, which solves the well-known integration problems facing the conventional VCSEL. Such properties unusual for quantum well lasers become usual because the active region, involving vertically confining DBR structure in addition to the 2D concave WGM geometry, induces a 'photonic quantum ring (PQR)-like' carrier distribution through a photonic quantum corral effect. A few applications of such mega-pixel PQR chips are explained as follows: (A) Next-generation 3D semiconductor technologies demand a strategy on the inter-chip and intra-chip optical interconnect schemes with a key to the high-density emitter array. (B) Due to mounting traffic problems and fatalities ITS technology today is looking for a revolutionary change in the technology. We will thus outline how 'SLEEP-ITS' can emerge with the PQR's position-sensing capability. (C) We describe a recent PQR 'hole' laser of convex WGM: Mega-pixel PQR 'hole' laser chips are even easier to fabricate than PQR 'mesa' lasers. Genuine Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) beam patterns of PQR holes are very promising for biocell manipulations like sorting mouse myeloid leukemia (M1s) cells. (D) Energy saving and 3D speckle-free POR laser can outdo LEDs in view of red GaAs and blue GaN devices fabricated recently.

Calculating Viewing Angles Pixel by Pixel in Optical Remote Sensing Satellite Imagery Using the Rational Function Model

OpenAIRE

Kai Xu; Guo Zhang; Qingjun Zhang; Deren Li

2018-01-01

In studies involving the extraction of surface physical parameters using optical remote sensing satellite imagery, sun-sensor geometry must be known, especially for sensor viewing angles. However, while pixel-by-pixel acquisitions of sensor viewing angles are of critical importance to many studies, currently available algorithms for calculating sensor-viewing angles focus only on the center-point pixel or are complicated and are not well known. Thus, this study aims to provide a simple and ge...

Mixed Linear/Square-Root Encoded Single Slope Ramp Provides a Fast, Low Noise Analog to Digital Converter with Very High Linearity for Focal Plane Arrays

Science.gov (United States)

Wrigley, Christopher James (Inventor); Hancock, Bruce R. (Inventor); Newton, Kenneth W. (Inventor); Cunningham, Thomas J. (Inventor)

2014-01-01

An analog-to-digital converter (ADC) converts pixel voltages from a CMOS image into a digital output. A voltage ramp generator generates a voltage ramp that has a linear first portion and a non-linear second portion. A digital output generator generates a digital output based on the voltage ramp, the pixel voltages, and comparator output from an array of comparators that compare the voltage ramp to the pixel voltages. A return lookup table linearizes the digital output values.

Wafer-level radiometric performance testing of uncooled microbolometer arrays

Science.gov (United States)

Dufour, Denis G.; Topart, Patrice; Tremblay, Bruno; Julien, Christian; Martin, Louis; Vachon, Carl

2014-03-01

A turn-key semi-automated test system was constructed to perform on-wafer testing of microbolometer arrays. The system allows for testing of several performance characteristics of ROIC-fabricated microbolometer arrays including NETD, SiTF, ROIC functionality, noise and matrix operability, both before and after microbolometer fabrication. The system accepts wafers up to 8 inches in diameter and performs automated wafer die mapping using a microscope camera. Once wafer mapping is completed, a custom-designed quick insertion 8-12 μm AR-coated Germanium viewport is placed and the chamber is pumped down to below 10-5 Torr, allowing for the evaluation of package-level focal plane array (FPA) performance. The probe card is electrically connected to an INO IRXCAM camera core, a versatile system that can be adapted to many types of ROICs using custom-built interface printed circuit boards (PCBs). We currently have the capability for testing 384x288, 35 μm pixel size and 160x120, 52 μm pixel size FPAs. For accurate NETD measurements, the system is designed to provide an F/1 view of two rail-mounted blackbodies seen through the Germanium window by the die under test. A master control computer automates the alignment of the probe card to the dies, the positioning of the blackbodies, FPA image frame acquisition using IRXCAM, as well as data analysis and storage. Radiometric measurement precision has been validated by packaging dies measured by the automated probing system and re-measuring the SiTF and Noise using INO's pre-existing benchtop system.

3D silicon pixel detectors for the ATLAS Forward Physics experiment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lange, J.; Cavallaro, E.; Grinstein, S.; Paz, I. López

2015-01-01

The ATLAS Forward Physics (AFP) project plans to install 3D silicon pixel detectors about 210 m away from the interaction point and very close to the beamline (2–3 mm). This implies the need of slim edges of about 100–200 μm width for the sensor side facing the beam to minimise the dead area. Another challenge is an expected non-uniform irradiation of the pixel sensors. It is studied if these requirements can be met using slightly-modified FE-I4 3D pixel sensors from the ATLAS Insertable B-Layer production. AFP-compatible slim edges are obtained with a simple diamond-saw cut. Electrical characterisations and beam tests are carried out and no detrimental impact on the leakage current and hit efficiency is observed. For devices without a 3D guard ring a remaining insensitive edge of less than 15 μm width is found. Moreover, 3D detectors are non-uniformly irradiated up to fluences of several 10 15 n eq /cm 2 with either a focussed 23 GeV proton beam or a 23 MeV proton beam through holes in Al masks. The efficiency in the irradiated region is found to be similar to the one in the non-irradiated region and exceeds 97% in case of favourable chip-parameter settings. Only in a narrow transition area at the edge of the hole in the Al mask, a significantly lower efficiency is seen. A follow-up study of this effect using arrays of small pad diodes for position-resolved dosimetry via the leakage current is carried out

Uncooled Terahertz real-time imaging 2D arrays developed at LETI: present status and perspectives

Science.gov (United States)

Simoens, François; Meilhan, Jérôme; Dussopt, Laurent; Nicolas, Jean-Alain; Monnier, Nicolas; Sicard, Gilles; Siligaris, Alexandre; Hiberty, Bruno

2017-05-01

As for other imaging sensor markets, whatever is the technology, the commercial spread of terahertz (THz) cameras has to fulfil simultaneously the criteria of high sensitivity and low cost and SWAP (size, weight and power). Monolithic silicon-based 2D sensors integrated in uncooled THz real-time cameras are good candidates to meet these requirements. Over the past decade, LETI has been studying and developing such arrays with two complimentary technological approaches, i.e. antenna-coupled silicon bolometers and CMOS Field Effect Transistors (FET), both being compatible to standard silicon microelectronics processes. LETI has leveraged its know-how in thermal infrared bolometer sensors in developing a proprietary architecture for THz sensing. High technological maturity has been achieved as illustrated by the demonstration of fast scanning of large field of view and the recent birth of a commercial camera. In the FET-based THz field, recent works have been focused on innovative CMOS read-out-integrated circuit designs. The studied architectures take advantage of the large pixel pitch to enhance the flexibility and the sensitivity: an embedded in-pixel configurable signal processing chain dramatically reduces the noise. Video sequences at 100 frames per second using our 31x31 pixels 2D Focal Plane Arrays (FPA) have been achieved. The authors describe the present status of these developments and perspectives of performance evolutions are discussed. Several experimental imaging tests are also presented in order to illustrate the capabilities of these arrays to address industrial applications such as non-destructive testing (NDT), security or quality control of food.

Ultrahigh Detective Heterogeneous Photosensor Arrays with In-Pixel Signal Boosting Capability for Large-Area and Skin-Compatible Electronics.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Jaehyun; Kim, Jaekyun; Jo, Sangho; Kang, Jingu; Jo, Jeong-Wan; Lee, Myungwon; Moon, Juhyuk; Yang, Lin; Kim, Myung-Gil; Kim, Yong-Hoon; Park, Sung Kyu

2016-04-01

An ultra-thin and large-area skin-compatible heterogeneous organic/metal-oxide photosensor array is demonstrated which is capable of sensing and boosting signals with high detectivity and signal-to-noise ratio. For the realization of ultra-flexible and high-sensitive heterogeneous photosensor arrays on a polyimide substrate having organic sensor arrays and metal-oxide boosting circuitry, solution-processing and room-temperature alternating photochemical conversion routes are applied. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Measurement of the point spread function of a pixelated detector array

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ritzer, Christian; Hallen, Patrick; Schug, David; Schulz, Volkmar [Department of Physics of Molecular Imaging Systems, Institute for Experimental Molecular Imaging, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen (Germany)

2015-05-18

In order to further understand the PET/MRI scanner of our group, we measured the point spread function of a preclinical scintillation crystal array with a pitch of 1 mm and a total size of 30 mm ~ 30 mm ~ 12 mm. It is coupled via a lightguide to a dSiPM from Philips Digital Photon Counting, used on the TEK-setup. Crystal identification is done with a centre of gravity algorithm and the whole data analysis is performed with the same processing software as for the PET insert, giving comparable results. The beam is created with a 22 NA-Point-Source and a lead collimator, with 0.5 mm bore diameter. The algorithm sorted 62 % of the coincidences into the correct crystal.

Measurement of the point spread function of a pixelated detector array

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ritzer, Christian; Hallen, Patrick; Schug, David; Schulz, Volkmar

2015-01-01

In order to further understand the PET/MRI scanner of our group, we measured the point spread function of a preclinical scintillation crystal array with a pitch of 1 mm and a total size of 30 mm ~ 30 mm ~ 12 mm. It is coupled via a lightguide to a dSiPM from Philips Digital Photon Counting, used on the TEK-setup. Crystal identification is done with a centre of gravity algorithm and the whole data analysis is performed with the same processing software as for the PET insert, giving comparable results. The beam is created with a 22 NA-Point-Source and a lead collimator, with 0.5 mm bore diameter. The algorithm sorted 62 % of the coincidences into the correct crystal.

Edge pixel response studies of edgeless silicon sensor technology for pixellated imaging detectors

Science.gov (United States)

Maneuski, D.; Bates, R.; Blue, A.; Buttar, C.; Doonan, K.; Eklund, L.; Gimenez, E. N.; Hynds, D.; Kachkanov, S.; Kalliopuska, J.; McMullen, T.; O'Shea, V.; Tartoni, N.; Plackett, R.; Vahanen, S.; Wraight, K.

2015-03-01

Silicon sensor technologies with reduced dead area at the sensor's perimeter are under development at a number of institutes. Several fabrication methods for sensors which are sensitive close to the physical edge of the device are under investigation utilising techniques such as active-edges, passivated edges and current-terminating rings. Such technologies offer the goal of a seamlessly tiled detection surface with minimum dead space between the individual modules. In order to quantify the performance of different geometries and different bulk and implant types, characterisation of several sensors fabricated using active-edge technology were performed at the B16 beam line of the Diamond Light Source. The sensors were fabricated by VTT and bump-bonded to Timepix ROICs. They were 100 and 200 μ m thick sensors, with the last pixel-to-edge distance of either 50 or 100 μ m. The sensors were fabricated as either n-on-n or n-on-p type devices. Using 15 keV monochromatic X-rays with a beam spot of 2.5 μ m, the performance at the outer edge and corners pixels of the sensors was evaluated at three bias voltages. The results indicate a significant change in the charge collection properties between the edge and 5th (up to 275 μ m) from edge pixel for the 200 μ m thick n-on-n sensor. The edge pixel performance of the 100 μ m thick n-on-p sensors is affected only for the last two pixels (up to 110 μ m) subject to biasing conditions. Imaging characteristics of all sensor types investigated are stable over time and the non-uniformities can be minimised by flat-field corrections. The results from the synchrotron tests combined with lab measurements are presented along with an explanation of the observed effects.

The ALICE Silicon Pixel Detector System (SPD)

CERN Document Server

Kluge, A; Antinori, Federico; Burns, M; Cali, I A; Campbell, M; Caselle, M; Ceresa, S; Dima, R; Elias, D; Fabris, D; Krivda, Marian; Librizzi, F; Manzari, Vito; Morel, M; Moretto, Sandra; Osmic, F; Pappalardo, G S; Pepato, Adriano; Pulvirenti, A; Riedler, P; Riggi, F; Santoro, R; Stefanini, G; Torcato De Matos, C; Turrisi, R; Tydesjo, H; Viesti, G; PH-EP

2007-01-01

The ALICE silicon pixel detector (SPD) comprises the two innermost layers of the ALICE inner tracker system. The SPD includes 120 detector modules (half-staves) each consisting of 10 ALICE pixel chips bump bonded to two silicon sensors and one multi-chip read-out module. Each pixel chip contains 8192 active cells, so that the total number of pixel cells in the SPD is ≈ 107. The on-detector read-out is based on a multi-chip-module containing 4 ASICs and an optical transceiver module. The constraints on material budget and detector module dimensions are very demanding.

Applying Statistical Mechanics to pixel detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pindo, Massimiliano

2002-01-01

Pixel detectors, being made of a large number of active cells of the same kind, can be considered as significant sets to which Statistical Mechanics variables and methods can be applied. By properly redefining well known statistical parameters in order to let them match the ones that actually characterize pixel detectors, an analysis of the way they work can be performed in a totally new perspective. A deeper understanding of pixel detectors is attained, helping in the evaluation and comparison of their intrinsic characteristics and performance

Design and Deployment of a Multichroic Polarimeter Array on the Atacama Cosmology Telescope

Science.gov (United States)

Datta, R.; Austermann, J.; Beall, J. A.; Becker, D.; Coughlin, K. P.; Duff, S. M.; Gallardo, P.A.; Grace, E.; Hasselfield, M.; Henderson, S. W.;

Design and Deployment of a Multichroic Polarimeter Array on the Atacama Cosmology Telescope

Science.gov (United States)

Datta, R.; Austermann, J.; Beall, J. A.; Becker, D.; Coughlin, K. P.; Duff, S. M.; Gallardo, P. A.; Grace, E.; Hasselfield, M.; Henderson, S. W.; Hilton, G. C.; Ho, S. P.; Hubmayr, J.; Koopman, B. J.; Lanen, J. V.; Li, D.; McMahon, J.; Munson, C. D.; Nati, F.; Niemack, M. D.; Page, L.; Pappas, C. G.; Salatino, M.; Schmitt, B. L.; Schillaci, A.; Simon, S. M.; Staggs, S. T.; Stevens, J. R.; Vavagiakis, E. M.; Ward, J. T.; Wollack, E. J.

2016-08-01

We present the design and the preliminary on-sky performance with respect to beams and passbands of a multichroic polarimeter array covering the 90 and 146 GHz cosmic microwave background bands and its enabling broad-band optical system recently deployed on the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT). The constituent pixels are feedhorn-coupled multichroic polarimeters fabricated at NIST. This array is coupled to the ACT telescope via a set of three silicon lenses incorporating novel broad-band metamaterial anti-reflection coatings. This receiver represents the first multichroic detector array deployed for a CMB experiment and paves the way for the extensive use of multichroic detectors and broad-band optical systems in the next generation of CMB experiments.

SU-E-J-91: Novel Epitaxial Silicon Array for Quality Assurance in Photon and Proton Therapy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Talamonti, C; Zani, M; Scaringella, M; Bruzzi, M; Bucciolini, M; Menichelli, D; Friedl, F

2014-01-01

Purpose: to demonstrate suitability of a novel silicon array for measuring the dose properties of highly conformal photon and proton beams. Methods: prototype under test is a 24cm long linear array prototype, although the underlying technology is suitable to construct 2D arrays as well. It is based on a 64pixels monolithic sensor with 1mm pixel pitch, made of epitaxial ptype silicon. Thanks to design modularity, more sensors can be placed side by side without breaking pixel pitch. Flattened and unflattened photon beams, as well as proton radiation from a cyclotron in pencil beam scanning mode, were considered. Measurements of beam characteristics as percentage depth doses, dose profiles, output factors and energy response, which are necessary to deliver radiation with high precision and reliability, were performed. Results: Dose rate independence with photons was verified in the dose per pulse range 0.03 to 2mGy. Results clearly indicate nondependence of the detector sensitivity both for flattened and unflattened beams, with a variation of at most 0.5percentage. OFs were obtained for field with a lateral size ranging from 0.8cm to 16cm and the results are in good agreement with ion chamber A1SL, max difference less than 1.5percentage. Field sizes and beam penumbra were measured and compared to EBT film results. Concerning proton beams, sensitivity independence on dose rate was verified by changing the beam current in the interval 2-130Gy/s. Field sizes and beam penumbra measurements are in agreement with data taken with a scintillating 2D array with 0.5mm resolution IBA Lynx, and a better penumbra definition than an array of ionization chambers IBA MatriXX is reached. Conclusion: The device is a novel and valuable tool for QA both for photon and proton dose delivery. All measurements demonstrated its capability to measure with high spatial resolution many crucial properties of the RT beam

SU-E-J-91: Novel Epitaxial Silicon Array for Quality Assurance in Photon and Proton Therapy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Talamonti, C; Zani, M; Scaringella, M; Bruzzi, M; Bucciolini, M [University of Florence, Firenze (Italy); Menichelli, D; Friedl, F [IBA Dosimetry, Schwarzenbruck, Bavaria (Germany)

2014-06-01

Purpose: to demonstrate suitability of a novel silicon array for measuring the dose properties of highly conformal photon and proton beams. Methods: prototype under test is a 24cm long linear array prototype, although the underlying technology is suitable to construct 2D arrays as well. It is based on a 64pixels monolithic sensor with 1mm pixel pitch, made of epitaxial ptype silicon. Thanks to design modularity, more sensors can be placed side by side without breaking pixel pitch. Flattened and unflattened photon beams, as well as proton radiation from a cyclotron in pencil beam scanning mode, were considered. Measurements of beam characteristics as percentage depth doses, dose profiles, output factors and energy response, which are necessary to deliver radiation with high precision and reliability, were performed. Results: Dose rate independence with photons was verified in the dose per pulse range 0.03 to 2mGy. Results clearly indicate nondependence of the detector sensitivity both for flattened and unflattened beams, with a variation of at most 0.5percentage. OFs were obtained for field with a lateral size ranging from 0.8cm to 16cm and the results are in good agreement with ion chamber A1SL, max difference less than 1.5percentage. Field sizes and beam penumbra were measured and compared to EBT film results. Concerning proton beams, sensitivity independence on dose rate was verified by changing the beam current in the interval 2-130Gy/s. Field sizes and beam penumbra measurements are in agreement with data taken with a scintillating 2D array with 0.5mm resolution IBA Lynx, and a better penumbra definition than an array of ionization chambers IBA MatriXX is reached. Conclusion: The device is a novel and valuable tool for QA both for photon and proton dose delivery. All measurements demonstrated its capability to measure with high spatial resolution many crucial properties of the RT beam.

GOSSIPO-4: an array of high resolution TDCs with a PLL control

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zappon, F.; van Beuzekom, M.; Gromov, V.; Kluit, R.; Fang, X.; Kruth, A.

2012-01-01

GOSSIPO-4 is a prototype chip featuring an array of high resolution Time to Digital Converters with a PLL control that has been taped out the 9th of August 2011. This prototype is the successor of GOSSIPO-3 test chip and the precursor of the 65k pixel chip TimePix3. The prototype is being developed

Evaluating performance of a pixel array semiconductor SPECT system for small animal imaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kubo, Naoki; Zhao, Songji; Fujiki, Yutaka

2005-01-01

Small animal imaging has recently been focused on basic nuclear medicine. We have designed and built a small animal SPECT imaging system using a semiconductor camera and a newly designed collimator. We assess the performance of this system for small object imaging. We employed an MGC 1500 (Acrorad Co.) camera including a CdTe semiconductor. The pixel size was 1.4 mm/pixel. We designed and produced a parallel-hole collimator with 20-mm hole length. Our SPECT system consisted of a semiconductor camera with the subject holder set on an electric rotating stage controlled by a computer. We compared this system with a conventional small animal SPECT system comprising a SPECT-2000H scanner with four Anger type cameras and pinhole collimators. The count rate linearity for estimation of the scatter was evaluated for a pie-chart phantom containing different concentrations of 99m Tc. We measured the full width half maximum (FWHM) of the 99m Tc SPECT line source along with scatter. The system volume sensitivity was examined using a flood source phantom which was 35 mm long with a 32-mm inside diameter. Additionally, an in vivo myocardial perfusion SPECT study was performed with a rat. With regards to energy resolution, the semiconductor camera (5.6%) was superior to the conventional Anger type camera (9.8%). In the count rate linearity evaluation, the regression lines of the SPECT values were y=0.019x+0.031 (r 2 =0.999) for our system and y=0.018x+0.060 (r 2 =0.997) for the conventional system. Thus, the scatter count using the semiconductor camera was less than that using the conventional camera. FWHMs of our system and the conventional system were 2.9±0.1 and 2.0±0.1 mm, respectively. Moreover, the system volume sensitivity of our system [0.51 kcps/(MBq/ml)/cm] was superior to that of the conventional system [0.44 kcps/(MBq/ml)/cm]. Our system provided clear images of the rat myocardium, sufficient for practical use in small animal imaging. Our SPECT system, utilizing a

MTF measurement and analysis of linear array HgCdTe infrared detectors

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Tong; Lin, Chun; Chen, Honglei; Sun, Changhong; Lin, Jiamu; Wang, Xi

2018-01-01

The slanted-edge technique is the main method for measurement detectors MTF, however this method is commonly used on planar array detectors. In this paper the authors present a modified slanted-edge method to measure the MTF of linear array HgCdTe detectors. Crosstalk is one of the major factors that degrade the MTF value of such an infrared detector. This paper presents an ion implantation guard-ring structure which was designed to effectively absorb photo-carriers that may laterally defuse between adjacent pixels thereby suppressing crosstalk. Measurement and analysis of the MTF of the linear array detectors with and without a guard-ring were carried out. The experimental results indicated that the ion implantation guard-ring structure effectively suppresses crosstalk and increases MTF value.

Development of Fast and High Precision CMOS Pixel Sensors for an ILC Vertex Detector

CERN Document Server

Hu-Guo, Christine

2010-01-01

The development of CMOS pixel sensors with column parallel read-out and integrated zero-suppression has resulted in a full size, nearly 1 Megapixel, prototype with ~100 \\mu s read-out time. Its performances are quite close to the ILD vertex detector specifications, showing that the sensor architecture can presumably be evolved to meet these specifications exactly. Starting from the existing architecture and achieved performances, the paper will expose the details of how the sensor will be evolved in the coming 2-3 years in perspective of the ILD Detector Baseline Document, to be delivered in 2012. Two different devices are foreseen for this objective, one being optimized for the inner layers and their fast read-out requirement, while the other exploits the dimmed background in the outer layers to reduce the power consumption. The sensor evolution relies on a high resistivity epitaxial layer, on the use of an advanced CMOS process and on the combination of column-level ADCs with a pixel array. The paper will p...

Reflectivity quenching of ESR multilayer polymer film reflector in optically bonded scintillator arrays

Science.gov (United States)

Loignon-Houle, Francis; Pepin, Catherine M.; Charlebois, Serge A.; Lecomte, Roger

2017-04-01

The 3M-ESR multilayer polymer film is a widely used reflector in scintillation detector arrays. As specified in the datasheet and confirmed experimentally by measurements in air, it is highly reflective (> 98 %) over the entire visible spectrum (400-1000 nm) for all angles of incidence. Despite these outstanding characteristics, it was previously found that light crosstalk between pixels in a bonded LYSO scintillator array with ESR reflector can be as high as ∼30-35%. This unexplained light crosstalk motivated further investigation of ESR optical performance. Analytical simulation of a multilayer structure emulating the ESR reflector showed that the film becomes highly transparent to incident light at large angles when surrounded on both sides by materials of refractive index higher than air. Monte Carlo simulations indicate that a considerable fraction (∼25-35%) of scintillation photons are incident at these leaking angles in high aspect ratio LYSO scintillation crystals. The film transparency was investigated experimentally by measuring the scintillation light transmission through the ESR film sandwiched between a scintillation crystal and a photodetector with or without layers of silicone grease. Strong light leakage, up to nearly 30%, was measured through the reflector when coated on both sides with silicone, thus elucidating the major cause of light crosstalk in bonded arrays. The reflector transparency was confirmed experimentally for angles of incidence larger than 60 ° using a custom designed setup allowing illumination of the bonded ESR film at selected grazing angles. The unsuspected ESR film transparency can be beneficial for detector arrays exploiting light sharing schemes, but it is highly detrimental for scintillator arrays designed for individual pixel readout.

Pixelated CdZnTe drift detectors

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kuvvetli, Irfan; Budtz-Jørgensen, Carl

2005-01-01

A technique, the so-called Drift Strip Method (DSM), for improving the CdZnTe detector energy response to hard X-rays and gamma-rays was applied as a pixel geometry. First tests have confirmed that this detector type provides excellent energy resolution and imaging performance. We specifically...... report on the performance of 3 mm thick prototype CZT drift pixel detectors fabricated using material from eV-products. We discuss issues associated with detector module performance. Characterization results obtained from several prototype drift pixel detectors are presented. Results of position...

Compensation of PVT Variations in ToF Imagers with In-Pixel TDC.

Science.gov (United States)

Vornicu, Ion; Carmona-Galán, Ricardo; Rodríguez-Vázquez, Ángel

2017-05-09

The design of a direct time-of-flight complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor (dToF-CIS) based on a single-photon avalanche-diode (SPAD) array with an in-pixel time-to-digital converter (TDC) must contemplate system-level aspects that affect its overall performance. This paper provides a detailed analysis of the impact of process parameters, voltage supply, and temperature (PVT) variations on the time bin of the TDC array. Moreover, the design and characterization of a global compensation loop is presented. It is based on a phase locked loop (PLL) that is integrated on-chip. The main building block of the PLL is a voltage-controlled ring-oscillator (VCRO) that is identical to the ones employed for the in-pixel TDCs. The reference voltage that drives the master VCRO is distributed to the voltage control inputs of the slave VCROs such that their multiphase outputs become invariant to PVT changes. These outputs act as time interpolators for the TDCs. Therefore the compensation scheme prevents the time bin of the TDCs from drifting over time due to the aforementioned factors. Moreover, the same scheme is used to program different time resolutions of the direct time-of-flight (ToF) imager aimed at 3D ranging or depth map imaging. Experimental results that validate the analysis are provided as well. The compensation loop proves to be remarkably effective. The spreading of the TDCs time bin is lowered from: (i) 20% down to 2.4% while the temperature ranges from 0 °C to 100 °C; (ii) 27% down to 0.27%, when the voltage supply changes within ±10% of the nominal value; (iii) 5.2 ps to 2 ps standard deviation over 30 sample chips, due to process parameters' variation.

Quality Assurance of Pixel Hybrid Photon Detectors for the LHCb Ring Imaging Cherenkov Counters

CERN Document Server

Carson, Laurence

Pion/kaon discrimination in the LHCb experiment will be provided by two Ring Imaging Cherenkov (RICH) counters. These use arrays of 484 Hybrid Photon Detectors (HPDs) to detect the Cherenkov photons emitted by charged particles traversing the RICH. The results from comprehensive quality assurance tests on the 550 HPDs manufactured for LHCb are described. Leakage currents, dead channel probabilities, dark count rates and ion feedback rates are reported. Furthermore, measurements carried out on a sample of tubes to determine the efficiency of the HPD pixel chip by measuring the summed analogue response from the backplane of the silicon sensor are described.

A camac based data acquisition system for flat-panel image array readout

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morton, E.J.; Antonuk, L.E.; Berry, J.E.; Huang, W.; Mody, P.; Yorkston, J.; Longo, M.J.

1993-01-01

A readout system has been developed to facilitate the digitization and subsequent display of image data from two-dimensional, pixellated, flat-panel, amorphous silicon imaging arrays. These arrays have been designed specifically for medical x-ray imaging applications. The readout system is based on hardware and software developed for various experiments at CERN and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. Additional analog signal processing and digital control electronics were constructed specifically for this application. The authors report on the form of the resulting data acquisition system, discuss aspects of its performance, and consider the compromises which were involved in its design

Phoswich solutions for the PET DOI problem

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eriksson, L.; Melcher, C.L.; Zhuravleva, M.; Eriksson, M.; Rothfuss, H.; Conti, M

2011-01-01

A high spatial resolution in PET can be achieved by using small detector elements. To maintain good sensitivity these elements have to be quite long, thus introducing parallax error and making the spatial resolution non-uniform over the image volume. Uniformity of spatial resolution can be improved by utilizing depth-of-interaction (DOI) information to reduce the parallax error. In the present study we have focused on phoswich approaches based on interacting scintillators, that is, a phoswich combination in which one scintillator emits light in the excitation band of the other. We have looked at LaBr 3 :Ce and LaCl 3 :Ce and the interactions of those two scintillators with LSO:Ce, GSO:Ce and YSO:Ce. The reasons to use the two Lanthanum scintillators are twofold: light output is high and the two different emission wavelengths, 350 nm (LaCl 3 :Ce) and 380 nm (LaBr 3 :Ce) may produce different interactions with the three oxyorthosilicate scintillators. In addition a possible DOI detector comprising LuAG:Pr pixels with a thin LSO:Ce layer at one end has been evaluated. A Bollinger-Thomas set-up was used to measure luminescence rise and luminescence decay time characteristics in all cases. When using LaCl 3 :Ce, the phoswich combinations with YSO:Ce and GSO:Ce showed phoswich decay time characteristics as expected for a simple convolution of the decay times of the two phoswich components. A correction was needed, however, for the LaCl 3 :Ce-LSO:Ce phoswich due to the LSO:Ce intrinsic activity. For the LaBr 3 :Ce-LSO:Ce phoswich, corrections were needed for non-interacting LaBr 3 :Ce light in addition to the expected phoswich interaction.

An investigation on continuous depth-of-interaction detection using a monolithic scintillator with single-ended readout

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, H; Zhou, R; Yang, C

2014-01-01

PET detectors with depth-of-interaction (DOI) capability have been studied to improve imaging resolution widely over the world. Since discrete DOI and continuous DOI detection with dual-ended readout technology have their respective limitations, we in this work focus on the continuous DOI detection with single-ended readout using a monolithic LSO scintillator and a multi-pixel photodetector. Based on a non-linear least squares data fitting method and Geant4 simulation, we studied the relationship between the spatial resolution of gamma positioning and the pixel number of photodetector. The results show that for a pixel number larger than 6x6, the positioning spatial resolution does not become significantly better when increasing the pixel number moreover. Another aspect studied is the effect of crystal thickness on the spatial resolution. Increasing the thickness of crystal leads to higher detection efficiency but lower spatial resolution

Operational Experience with the ATLAS Pixel Detector

CERN Document Server

Djama, Fares; The ATLAS collaboration

2017-01-01

Run-2 of the LHC is providing new challenges to track and vertex reconstruction imposed by the higher collision energy, pileup and luminosity that are being delivered. The ATLAS tracking performance relies critically on the Pixel Detector, therefore, in view of Run-2 of LHC, the ATLAS experiment has constructed the first 4-layer Pixel detector in HEP, installing a new Pixel layer, also called Insertable B-Layer (IBL). Pixel detector was refurbished with a new service quarter panel to recover about 3% of defective modules lost during run-1 and an additional optical link per module was added to overcome in some layers the readout bandwidth limitation when LHC will exceed the nominal peak luminosity by almost a factor of 3. The key features and challenges met during the IBL project will be presented, as well as its operational experience and Pixel Detector performance in LHC.

Actively addressed single pixel full-colour plasmonic display

Science.gov (United States)

Franklin, Daniel; Frank, Russell; Wu, Shin-Tson; Chanda, Debashis

2017-05-01

Dynamic, colour-changing surfaces have many applications including displays, wearables and active camouflage. Plasmonic nanostructures can fill this role by having the advantages of ultra-small pixels, high reflectivity and post-fabrication tuning through control of the surrounding media. However, previous reports of post-fabrication tuning have yet to cover a full red-green-blue (RGB) colour basis set with a single nanostructure of singular dimensions. Here, we report a method which greatly advances this tuning and demonstrates a liquid crystal-plasmonic system that covers the full RGB colour basis set, only as a function of voltage. This is accomplished through a surface morphology-induced, polarization-dependent plasmonic resonance and a combination of bulk and surface liquid crystal effects that manifest at different voltages. We further demonstrate the system's compatibility with existing LCD technology by integrating it with a commercially available thin-film-transistor array. The imprinted surface interfaces readily with computers to display images as well as video.

Operational Experience with the ATLAS Pixel Detector

CERN Document Server

Lantzsch, Kerstin; The ATLAS collaboration

2016-01-01

Run 2 of the LHC is providing new challenges to track and vertex reconstruction with higher energies, denser jets and higher rates. Therefore the ATLAS experiment has constructed the first 4-layer Pixel detector in HEP, installing a new Pixel layer, also called Insertable B-Layer (IBL). In addition the Pixel detector was refurbished with new service quarter panels to recover about 3% of defective modules lost during run 1 and a new optical readout system to readout the data at higher speed while reducing the occupancy when running with increased luminosity. The commissioning, operation and performance of the 4-layer Pixel Detector will be presented.

The development of a single-crystal fiber-array scintillator area detector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Loong, Chun; Vitt, Richard; Sayir, Ali; Sayir, Haluk

2001-01-01

The scientific output of a neutron instrument is directly proportional to the effectiveness of its detector system-coverage of scattering area, pixel resolution, counting efficiency, signal-to-noise ratio, life time and cost. The current neutron scintillator detectors employ mainly 6 Li-doped glass and ZnS, both of which present well-know limitations such as low light output, high gamma sensitivity in the case of 6 Li-glass and optical opacity in the case of ZnS. We aim to develop a position-sensitive, flight-time differentiable, efficient and cost-effective neutron detector system based on single-crystal scintillator fiber-arrays. The laser-heated melt modulation fiber growth technology developed at NASA provides the means to grow high-purity single-crystal fibers or rods of variable diameters (200 μm to 5 mm) and essentially unlimited length. Arrays of such fibers can be tailored to meet the requirements of pixel size, geometric configuration, and coverage area for a detector system. We report a plan in the growth and characterization of scintillators based on lithium silicates and boron aluminates using Ce as activator. (author)

Slice sensitivity profiles and pixel noise of multi-slice CT in comparison with single-slice CT

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schorn, C.; Obenauer, S.; Funke, M.; Hermann, K.P.; Kopka, L.; Grabbe, E.

1999-01-01

Purpose: Presentation and evaluation of slice sensitivity profile and pixel noise of multi-slice CT in comparison to single-slice CT. Methods: Slice sensitivity profiles and pixel noise of a multi-slice CT equiped with a 2D matrix detector array and of a single-slice CT were evaluated in phantom studies. Results: For the single-slice CT the width of the slice sensitivity profiles increased with increasing pitch. In spite of a much higher table speed the slice sensitivity profiles of multi-slice CT were narrower and did not increase with higher pitch. Noise in single-slice CT was independent of pitch. For multi-slice CT noise increased with higher pitch and for the higher pitch decreased slightly with higher detector row collimation. Conclusions: Multi-slice CT provides superior z-resolution and higher volume coverage speed. These qualities fulfill one of the prerequisites for improvement of 3D postprocessing. (orig.) [de

A Design of a PET Detector Using Micro-Channel Plate Photomultipliers with Transmission-Line Readout.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, H; Frisch, H; Chen, C-T; Genat, J-F; Tang, F; Moses, W W; Choong, W S; Kao, C-M

2010-01-01

A computer simulation study has been conducted to investigate the feasibility of a positron emission tomography (PET) detector design by using micro-channel plate (MCP) photomultiplier tubes (PMT) with transmission-line (TL) read-out and waveform sampling. The detector unit consisted of a 24×24 array of pixelated LSO crystals, each of which was 4×4×25 mm(3) in size, and two 102×102 mm(2) MCP-PMTs coupled to both sides of the scintillator array. The crystal (and TL) pitch was 4.25 mm and reflective medium was inserted between the crystals. The transport of the optical photons inside the scintillator were simulated by using the Geant4 package. The output pulses of the MCP-PMT/TL unit were formed by applying the measured single photo-electron response of the MCP-PMT/TL unit to each individual photon that interacts with the photo-cathode of the MCP-PMT. The waveforms of the pulses at both ends of the TL strips were measured and analyzed to produce energy and timing information for the detected event. An experimental setup was developed by employing a Photonis Planacon MCP-PMT (XP85022) and a prototype TL board for measuring the single photo-electron response of the MCP-PMT/TL. The simulation was validated by comparing the predicted output pulses to measurements obtained with a single MCP-PMT/TL coupled to an LSO crystal exposed to 511 keV gamma rays. The validated simulation was then used to investigate the performance of the proposed new detector design. Our simulation result indicates an energy resolution of ~11% at 511 keV. When using a 400-600 keV energy window, we obtain a coincidence timing resolution of ~323 ps FWHM and a coincidence detection efficiency of ~40% for normally-incident 511keV photons. For the positioning accuracy, it is determined by the pitch of the TLs (and crystals) in the direction normal to the TLs and measured to be ~2.5 mm in the direction parallel to the TLs. The energy and timing obtained at the front- and back-end of the scintillator

Coded aperture detector: an image sensor with sub 20-nm pixel resolution.

Science.gov (United States)

Miyakawa, Ryan; Mayer, Rafael; Wojdyla, Antoine; Vannier, Nicolas; Lesser, Ian; Aron-Dine, Shifrah; Naulleau, Patrick

2014-08-11

We describe the coded aperture detector, a novel image sensor based on uniformly redundant arrays (URAs) with customizable pixel size, resolution, and operating photon energy regime. In this sensor, a coded aperture is scanned laterally at the image plane of an optical system, and the transmitted intensity is measured by a photodiode. The image intensity is then digitally reconstructed using a simple convolution. We present results from a proof-of-principle optical prototype, demonstrating high-fidelity image sensing comparable to a CCD. A 20-nm half-pitch URA fabricated by the Center for X-ray Optics (CXRO) nano-fabrication laboratory is presented that is suitable for high-resolution image sensing at EUV and soft X-ray wavelengths.

Time-resolved optical spectrometer based on a monolithic array of high-precision TDCs and SPADs

Science.gov (United States)

Tamborini, Davide; Markovic, Bojan; Di Sieno, Laura; Contini, Davide; Bassi, Andrea; Tisa, Simone; Tosi, Alberto; Zappa, Franco

2013-12-01

We present a compact time-resolved spectrometer suitable for optical spectroscopy from 400 nm to 1 μm wavelengths. The detector consists of a monolithic array of 16 high-precision Time-to-Digital Converters (TDC) and Single-Photon Avalanche Diodes (SPAD). The instrument has 10 ps resolution and reaches 70 ps (FWHM) timing precision over a 160 ns full-scale range with a Differential Non-Linearity (DNL) better than 1.5 % LSB. The core of the spectrometer is the application-specific integrated chip composed of 16 pixels with 250 μm pitch, containing a 20 μm diameter SPAD and an independent TDC each, fabricated in a 0.35 μm CMOS technology. In front of this array a monochromator is used to focus different wavelengths into different pixels. The spectrometer has been used for fluorescence lifetime spectroscopy: 5 nm spectral resolution over an 80 nm bandwidth is achieved. Lifetime spectroscopy of Nile blue is demonstrated.

Online data reduction with FPGA-based track reconstruction for the Belle II DEPFET pixel detector

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Deschamps, Bruno; Wessel, Christian; Marinas, Carlos; Dingfelder, Jochen [Physikalisches Institut, Universitaet Bonn (Germany)

2016-07-01

The innermost two layers of the Belle II vertex detector at the KEK facility in Tsukuba, Japan, will be covered by high-granularity DEPFET pixel sensors (PXD). The large number of pixels leads to a maximum data rate of 256 Gbps, which has to be significantly reduced by the Data Acquisition System (DATCON). For the data reduction the hit information of the surrounding Silicon strip Vertex Detector (SVD) is utilized to define so-called Regions of Interest (ROI). Only hit information of the pixels located inside these ROIs are saved. The ROIs for the PXD are computed by reconstructing track segments from SVD data and extrapolation to the PXD. The goal is to achieve a data reduction of at least a factor of 10 with this ROI selection. All the necessary processing stages, the receiving, decoding and multiplexing of SVD data on 48 optical fibers, the track reconstruction and the definition of the ROIs, will be performed by the presented system. The planned hardware design is based on a distributed set of Advanced Mezzanine Cards (AMC) each equipped with a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) and 4 optical transceivers. In this talk, the status and plans for the DATCON prototype and the FPGA-based tracking algorithm are introduced as well as the plans for their test in the upcoming test beam at DESY.

E-Beam Effects on CMOS Active Pixel Sensors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kang, Dong Ook; Jo, Gyu Seong; Kim, Hyeon Daek; Kim, Hyunk Taek; Kim, Jong Yeol; Kim, Chan Kyu

2011-01-01

Three different CMOS active pixel structures manufactured in a deep submicron process have been evaluated with electron beam. The devices were exposed to 1 MeV electron beam up to 5kGy. Dark current increased after E-beam irradiation differently at each pixel structure. Dark current change is dependent on CMOS pixel structures. CMOS image sensors are now good candidates in demanding applications such as medical image sensor, particle detection and space remote sensing. In these situations, CISs are exposed to high doses of radiation. In fact radiation is known to generate trapped charge in CMOS oxides. It can lead to threshold voltage shifts and current leakages in MOSFETs and dark current increase in photodiodes. We studied ionizing effects in three types of CMOS APSs fabricated by 0.25 CMOS process. The devices were irradiated by a Co 60 source up to 50kGy. All irradiation took place at room temperature. The dark current in the three different pixels exhibits increase with electron beam exposure. From the above figure, the change of dark current is dependent on the pixel structure. Double junction structure has shown relatively small increase of dark current after electron beam irradiation. The dark current in the three different pixels exhibits increase with electron beam exposure. The contribution of the total ionizing dose to the dark current increase is small here, since the devices were left unbiased during the electron beam irradiation. Radiation hardness in dependent on the pixel structures. Pixel2 is relatively vulnerable to radiation exposure. Pixel3 has radiation hardened structure

Operational experience with the ATLAS Pixel Detector

CERN Document Server

Ince, T; The ATLAS collaboration

2012-01-01

The ATLAS Pixel Detector is the innermost element of the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, providing high-resolution measurements of charged particle tracks in the high radiation environment close to the collision region. This capability is vital for the identification and measurement of proper decay times of long-lived particles such as b-hadrons, and thus vital for the ATLAS physics program. The detector provides hermetic coverage with three cylindrical layers and three layers of forward and backward pixel detectors. It consists of approximately 80 million pixels that are individually read out via chips bump-bonded to 1744 n-in-n silicon substrates. In this paper, results from the successful operation of the Pixel Detector at the LHC will be presented, including monitoring, calibration procedures, timing optimization and detector performance. The detector performance is excellent: 96.2% of the pixels are operational, noise occupancy and hit efficiency exceed the design specification, an...

Operational experience of the ATLAS Pixel detector

CERN Document Server

Hirschbuehl, D; The ATLAS collaboration

2011-01-01

The ATLAS Pixel Detector is the innermost detector of the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, providing high-resolution measurements of charged particle tracks in the high radiation environment close to the collision region. This capability is vital for the identification and measurement of proper decay times of long-lived particles such as b-hadrons, and thus vital for the ATLAS physics program. The detector provides hermetic coverage with three cylindrical layers and three layers of forward and backward pixel detectors. It consists of approximately 80 million pixels that are individually read out via chips bump-bonded to 1744 n-in-n silicon substrates. In this talk, results from the successful operation of the Pixel Detector at the LHC will be presented, including monitoring, calibration procedures, timing optimization and detector performance. The detector performance is excellent: 97,5% of the pixels are operational, noise occupancy and hit efficiency exceed the design specification, an...

Operational experience of the ATLAS Pixel Detector

CERN Document Server

Marcisovsky, M; The ATLAS collaboration

2011-01-01

The ATLAS Pixel Detector is the innermost detector of the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, providing high-resolution measurements of charged particle tracks in the high radiation environment close to the collision region. This capability is vital for the identification and measurement of proper decay times of long-lived particles such as b-hadrons, and thus vital for the ATLAS physics program. The detector provides hermetic coverage with three cylindrical layers and three layers of forward and backward pixel detectors. It consists of approximately 80 million pixels that are individually read out via chips bump-bonded to 1744 n-in-n silicon substrates. In this talk, results from the successful operation of the Pixel Detector at the LHC will be presented, including monitoring, calibration procedures, timing optimization and detector performance. The detector performance is excellent: 97,5% of the pixels are operational, noise occupancy and hit efficiency exceed the design specification, an...

Fabrication of Detector Arrays for the SPT-3G Receiver

Science.gov (United States)

Posada, C. M.; Ade, P. A. R.; Ahmed, Z.; Anderson, A. J.; Austermann, J. E.; Avva, J. S.; Thakur, R. Basu; Bender, A. N.; Benson, B. A.; Carlstrom, J. E.; Carter, F. W.; Cecil, T.; Chang, C. L.; Cliche, J. F.; Cukierman, A.; Denison, E. V.; de Haan, T.; Ding, J.; Divan, R.; Dobbs, M. A.; Dutcher, D.; Everett, W.; Foster, A.; Gannon, R. N.; Gilbert, A.; Groh, J. C.; Halverson, N. W.; Harke-Hosemann, A. H.; Harrington, N. L.; Henning, J. W.; Hilton, G. C.; Holzapfel, W. L.; Huang, N.; Irwin, K. D.; Jeong, O. B.; Jonas, M.; Khaire, T.; Kofman, A. M.; Korman, M.; Kubik, D.; Kuhlmann, S.; Kuo, C. L.; Lee, A. T.; Lowitz, A. E.; Meyer, S. S.; Michalik, D.; Miller, C. S.; Montgomery, J.; Nadolski, A.; Natoli, T.; Nguyen, H.; Noble, G. I.; Novosad, V.; Padin, S.; Pan, Z.; Pearson, J.; Rahlin, A.; Ruhl, J. E.; Saunders, L. J.; Sayre, J. T.; Shirley, I.; Shirokoff, E.; Smecher, G.; Sobrin, J. A.; Stan, L.; Stark, A. A.; Story, K. T.; Suzuki, A.; Tang, Q. Y.; Thompson, K. L.; Tucker, C.; Vale, L. R.; Vanderlinde, K.; Vieira, J. D.; Wang, G.; Whitehorn, N.; Yefremenko, V.; Yoon, K. W.; Young, M. R.

2018-05-01

The South Pole Telescope third-generation (SPT-3G) receiver was installed during the austral summer of 2016-2017. It is designed to measure the cosmic microwave background across three frequency bands centered at 95, 150, and 220 GHz. The SPT-3G receiver has ten focal plane modules, each with 269 pixels. Each pixel features a broadband sinuous antenna coupled to a niobium microstrip transmission line. In-line filters define the desired band-passes before the signal is coupled to six bolometers with Ti/Au/Ti/Au transition edge sensors (three bands × two polarizations). In total, the SPT-3G receiver is composed of 16,000 detectors, which are read out using a 68× frequency-domain multiplexing scheme. In this paper, we present the process employed in fabricating the detector arrays.

Building CMS Pixel Barrel Detectur Modules

CERN Document Server

König, S; Horisberger, R.; Meier, B.; Rohe, T.; Streuli, S.; Weber, R.; Kastli, H.Chr.; Erdmann, W.

2007-01-01

For the barrel part of the CMS pixel tracker about 800 silicon pixel detector modules are required. The modules are bump bonded, assembled and tested at the Paul Scherrer Institute. This article describes the experience acquired during the assembly of the first ~200 modules.

PIXEL PATTERN BASED STEGANOGRAPHY ON IMAGES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. Rejani

2015-02-01

Full Text Available One of the drawback of most of the existing steganography methods is that it alters the bits used for storing color information. Some of the examples include LSB or MSB based steganography. There are also various existing methods like Dynamic RGB Intensity Based Steganography Scheme, Secure RGB Image Steganography from Pixel Indicator to Triple Algorithm etc that can be used to find out the steganography method used and break it. Another drawback of the existing methods is that it adds noise to the image which makes the image look dull or grainy making it suspicious for a person about existence of a hidden message within the image. To overcome these shortcomings we have come up with a pixel pattern based steganography which involved hiding the message within in image by using the existing RGB values whenever possible at pixel level or with minimum changes. Along with the image a key will also be used to decrypt the message stored at pixel levels. For further protection, both the message stored as well as the key file will be in encrypted format which can have same or different keys or decryption. Hence we call it as a RGB pixel pattern based steganography.

A functional hybrid memristor crossbar-array/CMOS system for data storage and neuromorphic applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Kuk-Hwan; Gaba, Siddharth; Wheeler, Dana; Cruz-Albrecht, Jose M; Hussain, Tahir; Srinivasa, Narayan; Lu, Wei

2012-01-11

Crossbar arrays based on two-terminal resistive switches have been proposed as a leading candidate for future memory and logic applications. Here we demonstrate a high-density, fully operational hybrid crossbar/CMOS system composed of a transistor- and diode-less memristor crossbar array vertically integrated on top of a CMOS chip by taking advantage of the intrinsic nonlinear characteristics of the memristor element. The hybrid crossbar/CMOS system can reliably store complex binary and multilevel 1600 pixel bitmap images using a new programming scheme. © 2011 American Chemical Society

Development and Characterization of Diamond and 3D-Silicon Pixel Detectors with ATLAS-Pixel Readout Electronics

CERN Document Server

Mathes, Markus

2008-01-01

Hybrid pixel detectors are used for particle tracking in the innermost layers of current high energy experiments like ATLAS. After the proposed luminosity upgrade of the LHC, they will have to survive very high radiation fluences of up to 10^16 particles per cm^2 per life time. New sensor concepts and materials are required, which promise to be more radiation tolerant than the currently used planar silicon sensors. Most prominent candidates are so-called 3D-silicon and single crystal or poly-crystalline diamond sensors. Using the ATLAS pixel electronics different detector prototypes with a pixel geometry of 400 × 50 um^2 have been built. In particular three devices have been studied in detail: a 3D-silicon and a single crystal diamond detector with an active area of about 1 cm^2 and a poly-crystalline diamond detector of the same size as a current ATLAS pixel detector module (2 × 6 cm^2). To characterize the devices regarding their particle detection efficiency and spatial resolution, the charge collection ...

Dual-gate photo thin-film transistor: a “smart” pixel for high- resolution and low-dose X-ray imaging

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Kai; Ou, Hai; Chen, Jun

2015-06-01

Since its emergence a decade ago, amorphous silicon flat panel X-ray detector has established itself as a ubiquitous platform for an array of digital radiography modalities. The fundamental building block of a flat panel detector is called a pixel. In all current pixel architectures, sensing, storage, and readout are unanimously kept separate, inevitably compromising resolution by increasing pixel size. To address this issue, we hereby propose a “smart” pixel architecture where the aforementioned three components are combined in a single dual-gate photo thin-film transistor (TFT). In other words, the dual-gate photo TFT itself functions as a sensor, a storage capacitor, and a switch concurrently. Additionally, by harnessing the amplification effect of such a thin-film transistor, we for the first time created a single-transistor active pixel sensor. The proof-of-concept device had a W/L ratio of 250μm/20μm and was fabricated using a simple five-mask photolithography process, where a 130nm transparent ITO was used as the top photo gate, and a 200nm amorphous silicon as the absorbing channel layer. The preliminary results demonstrated that the photocurrent had been increased by four orders of magnitude due to light-induced threshold voltage shift in the sub-threshold region. The device sensitivity could be simply tuned by photo gate bias to specifically target low-level light detection. The dependence of threshold voltage on light illumination indicated that a dynamic range of at least 80dB could be achieved. The "smart" pixel technology holds tremendous promise for developing high-resolution and low-dose X-ray imaging and may potentially lower the cancer risk imposed by radiation, especially among paediatric patients.

Dual-gate photo thin-film transistor: a “smart” pixel for high- resolution and low-dose X-ray imaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Kai; Ou, Hai; Chen, Jun

2015-01-01

Since its emergence a decade ago, amorphous silicon flat panel X-ray detector has established itself as a ubiquitous platform for an array of digital radiography modalities. The fundamental building block of a flat panel detector is called a pixel. In all current pixel architectures, sensing, storage, and readout are unanimously kept separate, inevitably compromising resolution by increasing pixel size. To address this issue, we hereby propose a “smart” pixel architecture where the aforementioned three components are combined in a single dual-gate photo thin-film transistor (TFT). In other words, the dual-gate photo TFT itself functions as a sensor, a storage capacitor, and a switch concurrently. Additionally, by harnessing the amplification effect of such a thin-film transistor, we for the first time created a single-transistor active pixel sensor. The proof-of-concept device had a W/L ratio of 250μm/20μm and was fabricated using a simple five-mask photolithography process, where a 130nm transparent ITO was used as the top photo gate, and a 200nm amorphous silicon as the absorbing channel layer. The preliminary results demonstrated that the photocurrent had been increased by four orders of magnitude due to light-induced threshold voltage shift in the sub-threshold region. The device sensitivity could be simply tuned by photo gate bias to specifically target low-level light detection. The dependence of threshold voltage on light illumination indicated that a dynamic range of at least 80dB could be achieved. The 'smart' pixel technology holds tremendous promise for developing high-resolution and low-dose X-ray imaging and may potentially lower the cancer risk imposed by radiation, especially among paediatric patients. (paper)

Characterization of Pixel Sensors

CERN Document Server

Oliveira, Felipe Ferraz

2017-01-01

It was commissioned at CERN ATLAS pixel group a fluorescence setup for characterization of pixel sensors. The idea is to measure the energies of different targets to calibrate your sensor. It was measured four matrices (80, 95, 98 and 106) of the Investigator1 sensor with different deep PW using copper, iron and titanium as target materials. The matrix 80 has a higher gain (0.065 ± 0.002) and matrix 106 has a better energy resolution (0.05 ± 0.04). The noise of the setup is around 3.6 mV .

Small Pixel Hybrid CMOS X-ray Detectors

Science.gov (United States)

Hull, Samuel; Bray, Evan; Burrows, David N.; Chattopadhyay, Tanmoy; Falcone, Abraham; Kern, Matthew; McQuaide, Maria; Wages, Mitchell

2018-01-01

Concepts for future space-based X-ray observatories call for a large effective area and high angular resolution instrument to enable precision X-ray astronomy at high redshift and low luminosity. Hybrid CMOS detectors are well suited for such high throughput instruments, and the Penn State X-ray detector lab, in collaboration with Teledyne Imaging Sensors, has recently developed new small pixel hybrid CMOS X-ray detectors. These prototype 128x128 pixel devices have 12.5 micron pixel pitch, 200 micron fully depleted depth, and include crosstalk eliminating CTIA amplifiers and in-pixel correlated double sampling (CDS) capability. We report on characteristics of these new detectors, including the best read noise ever measured for an X-ray hybrid CMOS detector, 5.67 e- (RMS).

LISe pixel detector for neutron imaging

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Herrera, Elan; Hamm, Daniel [Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States); Wiggins, Brenden [Technology Development, Y-12 National Security Complex, Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN (United States); Milburn, Rob [Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States); Burger, Arnold [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN (United States); Department of Life and Physical Sciences, Fisk University, Nashville, TN (United States); Bilheux, Hassina [Chemical and Engineering Materials Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Santodonato, Louis [Instrument and Source Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Chvala, Ondrej [Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States); Stowe, Ashley [Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States); Technology Development, Y-12 National Security Complex, Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN (United States); Lukosi, Eric, E-mail: elukosi@utk.edu [Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)

2016-10-11

Semiconducting lithium indium diselenide, {sup 6}LiInSe{sub 2} or LISe, has promising characteristics for neutron detection applications. The 95% isotopic enrichment of {sup 6}Li results in a highly efficient thermal neutron-sensitive material. In this study, we report on a proof-of-principle investigation of a semiconducting LISe pixel detector to demonstrate its potential as an efficient neutron imager. The LISe pixel detector had a 4×4 of pixels with a 550 µm pitch on a 5×5×0.56 mm{sup 3} LISe substrate. An experimentally verified spatial resolution of 300 µm was observed utilizing a super-sampling technique.

Pixel-by-pixel mean transit time without deconvolution.

Science.gov (United States)

Dobbeleir, Andre A; Piepsz, Amy; Ham, Hamphrey R

2008-04-01

Mean transit time (MTT) within a kidney is given by the integral of the renal activity on a well-corrected renogram between time zero and time t divided by the integral of the plasma activity between zero and t, providing that t is close to infinity. However, as the data acquisition of a renogram is finite, the MTT calculated using this approach might result in the underestimation of the true MTT. To evaluate the degree of this underestimation we conducted a simulation study. One thousand renograms were created by convoluting various plasma curves obtained from patients with different renal clearance levels with simulated retentions curves having different shapes and mean transit times. For a 20 min renogram, the calculated MTT started to underestimate the MTT when the MTT was higher than 6 min. The longer the MTT, the greater was the underestimation. Up to a MTT value of 6 min, the error on the MTT estimation is negligible. As normal cortical transit is less than 2 min, this approach is used for patients to calculate pixel-to-pixel cortical mean transit time and to create a MTT parametric image without deconvolution.

The TDCpix readout ASIC: A 75 ps resolution timing front-end for the NA62 Gigatracker hybrid pixel detector

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kluge, A., E-mail: alexander.kluge@cern.ch; Aglieri Rinella, G.; Bonacini, S.; Jarron, P.; Kaplon, J.; Morel, M.; Noy, M.; Perktold, L.; Poltorak, K.

2013-12-21

The TDCpix is a novel pixel readout ASIC for the NA62 Gigatracker detector. NA62 is a new experiment being installed at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron. Its Gigatracker detector shall provide on-beam tracking and time stamping of individual particles with a time resolution of 150 ps rms. It will consist of three tracking stations, each with one hybrid pixel sensor. The peak flow of particles crossing the detector modules reaches 1.27 MHz/mm{sup 2} for a total rate of about 0.75 GHz. Ten TDCpix chips will be bump-bonded to every silicon pixel sensor. Each chip shall perform time stamping of 100 M particle hits per second with a detection efficiency above 99% and a timing accuracy better than 200 ps rms for an overall three-station-setup time resolution of better than 150 ps. The TDCpix chip has been designed in a 130 nm CMOS technology. It will feature 45×40 square pixels of 300×300μm{sup 2} and a complex End of Column peripheral region including an array of TDCs based on DLLs, four high speed serializers, a low-jitter PLL, readout and control circuits. This contribution will describe the complete design of the final TDCpix ASIC. It will discuss design choices, the challenges faced and some of the lessons learned. Furthermore, experimental results from the testing of circuit prototypes will be presented. These demonstrate the achievement of key performance figures such as a time resolution of the processing chain of 75 ps rms with a laser sent to the center of the pixel and the capability of time stamping charged particles with an overall resolution below 200 ps rms. -- Highlights: • Feasibility demonstration of a silicon pixel detector with sub-ns time tagging capability. • Demonstrator detector assembly with a time resolution of 75 ps RMS with laser charge injection; 170 ps RMS with particle beam. • Design of trigger-less TDCpix ASIC with 1800 pixels, 720 TDC channels and 4 3.2 Gbit/s serializers.

Random On-Board Pixel Sampling (ROPS) X-Ray Camera

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, Zhehui [Los Alamos; Iaroshenko, O. [Los Alamos; Li, S. [Los Alamos; Liu, T. [Fermilab; Parab, N. [Argonne (main); Chen, W. W. [Purdue U.; Chu, P. [Los Alamos; Kenyon, G. [Los Alamos; Lipton, R. [Fermilab; Sun, K.-X. [Nevada U., Las Vegas

2017-09-25

Recent advances in compressed sensing theory and algorithms offer new possibilities for high-speed X-ray camera design. In many CMOS cameras, each pixel has an independent on-board circuit that includes an amplifier, noise rejection, signal shaper, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), and optional in-pixel storage. When X-ray images are sparse, i.e., when one of the following cases is true: (a.) The number of pixels with true X-ray hits is much smaller than the total number of pixels; (b.) The X-ray information is redundant; or (c.) Some prior knowledge about the X-ray images exists, sparse sampling may be allowed. Here we first illustrate the feasibility of random on-board pixel sampling (ROPS) using an existing set of X-ray images, followed by a discussion about signal to noise as a function of pixel size. Next, we describe a possible circuit architecture to achieve random pixel access and in-pixel storage. The combination of a multilayer architecture, sparse on-chip sampling, and computational image techniques, is expected to facilitate the development and applications of high-speed X-ray camera technology.

Algorithms for spectral calibration of energy-resolving small-pixel detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Scuffham, J; Veale, M C; Wilson, M D; Seller, P

2013-01-01

Small pixel Cd(Zn)Te detectors often suffer from inter-pixel variations in gain, resulting in shifts in the individual energy spectra. These gain variations are mainly caused by inclusions and defects within the crystal structure, which affect the charge transport within the material causing a decrease in the signal pulse height. In imaging applications, spectra are commonly integrated over a particular peak of interest. This means that the individual pixels must be accurately calibrated to ensure that the same portion of the spectrum is integrated in every pixel. The development of large-area detectors with fine pixel pitch necessitates automated algorithms for this spectral calibration, due to the very large number of pixels. Algorithms for automatic spectral calibration require accurate determination of characteristic x-ray or photopeak positions on a pixelwise basis. In this study, we compare two peak searching spectral calibration algorithms for a small-pixel CdTe detector in gamma spectroscopic imaging. The first algorithm uses rigid search ranges to identify peaks in each pixel spectrum, based on the average peak positions across all pixels. The second algorithm scales the search ranges on the basis of the position of the highest-energy peak relative to the average across all pixels. In test spectra acquired with Tc-99m, we found that the rigid search algorithm failed to correctly identify the target calibraton peaks in up to 4% of pixels. In contrast, the scaled search algorithm failed in only 0.16% of pixels. Failures in the scaled search algorithm were attributed to the presence of noise events above the main photopeak, and possible non-linearities in the spectral response in a small number of pixels. We conclude that a peak searching algorithm based on scaling known peak spacings is simple to implement and performs well for the spectral calibration of pixellated radiation detectors

Steganography based on pixel intensity value decomposition

Science.gov (United States)

Abdulla, Alan Anwar; Sellahewa, Harin; Jassim, Sabah A.

2014-05-01

This paper focuses on steganography based on pixel intensity value decomposition. A number of existing schemes such as binary, Fibonacci, Prime, Natural, Lucas, and Catalan-Fibonacci (CF) are evaluated in terms of payload capacity and stego quality. A new technique based on a specific representation is proposed to decompose pixel intensity values into 16 (virtual) bit-planes suitable for embedding purposes. The proposed decomposition has a desirable property whereby the sum of all bit-planes does not exceed the maximum pixel intensity value, i.e. 255. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed technique offers an effective compromise between payload capacity and stego quality of existing embedding techniques based on pixel intensity value decomposition. Its capacity is equal to that of binary and Lucas, while it offers a higher capacity than Fibonacci, Prime, Natural, and CF when the secret bits are embedded in 1st Least Significant Bit (LSB). When the secret bits are embedded in higher bit-planes, i.e., 2nd LSB to 8th Most Significant Bit (MSB), the proposed scheme has more capacity than Natural numbers based embedding. However, from the 6th bit-plane onwards, the proposed scheme offers better stego quality. In general, the proposed decomposition scheme has less effect in terms of quality on pixel value when compared to most existing pixel intensity value decomposition techniques when embedding messages in higher bit-planes.

Simulation study of pixel detector charge digitization

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Fuyue; Nachman, Benjamin; Sciveres, Maurice; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Team

2017-01-01

Reconstruction of tracks from nearly overlapping particles, called Tracking in Dense Environments (TIDE), is an increasingly important component of many physics analyses at the Large Hadron Collider as signatures involving highly boosted jets are investigated. TIDE makes use of the charge distribution inside a pixel cluster to resolve tracks that share one of more of their pixel detector hits. In practice, the pixel charge is discretized using the Time-over-Threshold (ToT) technique. More charge information is better for discrimination, but more challenging for designing and operating the detector. A model of the silicon pixels has been developed in order to study the impact of the precision of the digitized charge distribution on distinguishing multi-particle clusters. The output of the GEANT4-based simulation is used to train neutral networks that predict the multiplicity and location of particles depositing energy inside one cluster of pixels. By studying the multi-particle cluster identification efficiency and position resolution, we quantify the trade-off between the number of ToT bits and low-level tracking inputs. As both ATLAS and CMS are designing upgraded detectors, this work provides guidance for the pixel module designs to meet TIDE needs. Work funded by the China Scholarship Council and the Office of High Energy Physics of the U.S. Department of Energy under contract DE-AC02-05CH11231.

INFN Camera demonstrator for the Cherenkov Telescope Array

CERN Document Server

Ambrosi, G; Aramo, C.; Bertucci, B.; Bissaldi, E.; Bitossi, M.; Brasolin, S.; Busetto, G.; Carosi, R.; Catalanotti, S.; Ciocci, M.A.; Consoletti, R.; Da Vela, P.; Dazzi, F.; De Angelis, A.; De Lotto, B.; de Palma, F.; Desiante, R.; Di Girolamo, T.; Di Giulio, C.; Doro, M.; D'Urso, D.; Ferraro, G.; Ferrarotto, F.; Gargano, F.; Giglietto, N.; Giordano, F.; Giraudo, G.; Iacovacci, M.; Ionica, M.; Iori, M.; Longo, F.; Mariotti, M.; Mastroianni, S.; Minuti, M.; Morselli, A.; Paoletti, R.; Pauletta, G.; Rando, R.; Fernandez, G. Rodriguez; Rugliancich, A.; Simone, D.; Stella, C.; Tonachini, A.; Vallania, P.; Valore, L.; Vagelli, V.; Verzi, V.; Vigorito, C.

2015-01-01

The Cherenkov Telescope Array is a world-wide project for a new generation of ground-based Cherenkov telescopes of the Imaging class with the aim of exploring the highest energy region of the electromagnetic spectrum. With two planned arrays, one for each hemisphere, it will guarantee a good sky coverage in the energy range from a few tens of GeV to hundreds of TeV, with improved angular resolution and a sensitivity in the TeV energy region better by one order of magnitude than the currently operating arrays. In order to cover this wide energy range, three different telescope types are envisaged, with different mirror sizes and focal plane features. In particular, for the highest energies a possible design is a dual-mirror Schwarzschild-Couder optical scheme, with a compact focal plane. A silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) based camera is being proposed as a solution to match the dimensions of the pixel (angular size of ~ 0.17 degrees). INFN is developing a camera demonstrator made by 9 Photo Sensor Modules (PSMs...

A CMOS 128-APS linear array integrated with a LVOF for highsensitivity and high-resolution micro-spectrophotometry

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Liu, C.; Emadi, A.; Wu, H.; De Graaf, G.; Wolffenbuttel, R.F.

2010-01-01

A linear array of 128 Active Pixel Sensors has been developed in standard CMOS technology and a Linear Variable Optical Filter (LVOF) is added using CMOS-compatible post-process, resulting in a single chip highly-integrated highresolution microspectrometer. The optical requirements imposed by the

The FE-I4 pixel readout integrated circuit

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Garcia-Sciveres, M., E-mail: mgarcia-sciveres@bl.gov [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA (United States); Arutinov, D.; Barbero, M. [University of Bonn, Bonn (Germany); Beccherle, R. [Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare Sezione di Genova, Genova (Italy); Dube, S.; Elledge, D. [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA (United States); Fleury, J. [Laboratoire de l' Accelerateur Lineaire, Orsay (France); Fougeron, D.; Gensolen, F. [Centre de Physique des Particules de Marseille, Marseille (France); Gnani, D. [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA (United States); Gromov, V. [Nationaal Instituut voor Subatomaire Fysica, Amsterdam (Netherlands); Hemperek, T.; Karagounis, M. [University of Bonn, Bonn (Germany); Kluit, R. [Nationaal Instituut voor Subatomaire Fysica, Amsterdam (Netherlands); Kruth, A. [University of Bonn, Bonn (Germany); Mekkaoui, A. [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA (United States); Menouni, M. [Centre de Physique des Particules de Marseille, Marseille (France); Schipper, J.-D. [Nationaal Instituut voor Subatomaire Fysica, Amsterdam (Netherlands)

2011-04-21

A new pixel readout integrated circuit denominated FE-I4 is being designed to meet the requirements of ATLAS experiment upgrades. It will be the largest readout IC produced to date for particle physics applications, filling the maximum allowed reticle area. This will significantly reduce the cost of future hybrid pixel detectors. In addition, FE-I4 will have smaller pixels and higher rate capability than the present generation of LHC pixel detectors. Design features are described along with simulation and test results, including low power and high rate readout architecture, mixed signal design strategy, and yield hardening.

Qualification Procedures of the CMS Pixel Barrel Modules

CERN Document Server

Starodumov, A; Horisberger, R.; Kastli, H.Chr.; Kotlinski, D.; Langenegger, U.; Meier, B.; Rohe, T.; Trueb, P.

2006-01-01

The CMS pixel barrel system will consist of three layers built of about 800 modules. One module contains 66560 readout channels and the full pixel barrel system about 48 million channels. It is mandatory to test each channel for functionality, noise level, trimming mechanism, and bump bonding quality. Different methods to determine the bump bonding yield with electrical measurements have been developed. Measurements of several operational parameters are also included in the qualification procedure. Among them are pixel noise, gains and pedestals. Test and qualification procedures of the pixel barrel modules are described and some results are presented.

'Optical' soft x-ray arrays for fluctuation diagnostics in magnetic fusion energy experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Delgado-Aparicio, L.F.; Stutman, D.; Tritz, K.; Finkenthal, M.; Kaita, R.; Roquemore, L.; Johnson, D.; Majeski, R.

2004-01-01

We are developing large pixel count, fast (≥100 kHz) and continuously sampling soft x-ray (SXR) array for the diagnosis of magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) and turbulent fluctuations in magnetic fusion energy plasmas. The arrays are based on efficient scintillators, high thoughput multiclad fiber optics, and multichannel light amplification and integration. Compared to conventional x-ray diode arrays, such systems can provide vastly increased spatial coverage, and access to difficult locations with small neutron noise and damage. An eight-channel array has been built using columnar CsI:Tl as an SXR converter and a multianode photomultiplier tube as photoamplifier. The overall system efficiency is measured using laboratory SXR sources, while the time response and signal-to-noise performance have been evaluated by recording MHD activity from the spherical tori (ST) Current Drive Experiment-Upgrade and National Spherical Torus Experiment, both at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory

Fully Integrated Linear Single Photon Avalanche Diode (SPAD) Array with Parallel Readout Circuit in a Standard 180 nm CMOS Process

Science.gov (United States)

Isaak, S.; Bull, S.; Pitter, M. C.; Harrison, Ian.

2011-05-01

This paper reports on the development of a SPAD device and its subsequent use in an actively quenched single photon counting imaging system, and was fabricated in a UMC 0.18 μm CMOS process. A low-doped p- guard ring (t-well layer) encircling the active area to prevent the premature reverse breakdown. The array is a 16×1 parallel output SPAD array, which comprises of an active quenched SPAD circuit in each pixel with the current value being set by an external resistor RRef = 300 kΩ. The SPAD I-V response, ID was found to slowly increase until VBD was reached at excess bias voltage, Ve = 11.03 V, and then rapidly increase due to avalanche multiplication. Digital circuitry to control the SPAD array and perform the necessary data processing was designed in VHDL and implemented on a FPGA chip. At room temperature, the dark count was found to be approximately 13 KHz for most of the 16 SPAD pixels and the dead time was estimated to be 40 ns.

The pin pixel detector--neutron imaging

CERN Document Server

Bateman, J E; Derbyshire, G E; Duxbury, D M; Marsh, A S; Rhodes, N J; Schooneveld, E M; Simmons, J E; Stephenson, R

2002-01-01

The development and testing of a neutron gas pixel detector intended for application in neutron diffraction studies is reported. Using standard electrical connector pins as point anodes, the detector is based on a commercial 100 pin connector block. A prototype detector of aperture 25.4 mmx25.4 mm has been fabricated, giving a pixel size of 2.54 mm which matches well to the spatial resolution typically required in a neutron diffractometer. A 2-Dimensional resistive divide readout system has been adapted to permit the imaging properties of the detector to be explored in advance of true pixel readout electronics. The timing properties of the device match well to the requirements of the ISIS-pulsed neutron source.

The ATLAS Pixel Detector

CERN Document Server

Huegging, Fabian

2006-06-26

The contruction of the ATLAS Pixel Detector which is the innermost layer of the ATLAS tracking system is prgressing well. Because the pixel detector will contribute significantly to the ATLAS track and vertex reconstruction. The detector consists of identical sensor-chip-hybrid modules, arranged in three barrels in the centre and three disks on either side for the forward region. The position of the detector near the interaction point requires excellent radiation hardness, mechanical and thermal robustness, good long-term stability for all parts, combined with a low material budget. The final detector layout, new results from production modules and the status of assembly are presented.

Adaptive pixel-to-pixel projection intensity adjustment for measuring a shiny surface using orthogonal color fringe pattern projection

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Chao; Gao, Nan; Wang, Xiangjun; Zhang, Zonghua

2018-05-01

Three-dimensional (3D) shape measurement based on fringe pattern projection techniques has been commonly used in various fields. One of the remaining challenges in fringe pattern projection is that camera sensor saturation may occur if there is a large range of reflectivity variation across the surface that causes measurement errors. To overcome this problem, a novel fringe pattern projection method is proposed to avoid image saturation and maintain high-intensity modulation for measuring shiny surfaces by adaptively adjusting the pixel-to-pixel projection intensity according to the surface reflectivity. First, three sets of orthogonal color fringe patterns and a sequence of uniform gray-level patterns with different gray levels are projected onto a measured surface by a projector. The patterns are deformed with respect to the object surface and captured by a camera from a different viewpoint. Subsequently, the optimal projection intensity at each pixel is determined by fusing different gray levels and transforming the camera pixel coordinate system into the projector pixel coordinate system. Finally, the adapted fringe patterns are created and used for 3D shape measurement. Experimental results on a flat checkerboard and shiny objects demonstrate that the proposed method can measure shiny surfaces with high accuracy.

Characterization of dual layer phoswich detector performance for small animal PET using Monte Carlo simulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chung, Yong Hyun; Choi, Yong; Cho, Gyuseong; Choe, Yearn Seong; Lee, Kyung-Han; Kim, Byung-Tae

2004-01-01

A positron emission tomograph dedicated to small animal imaging should have high spatial resolution and sensitivity, and dual layer scintillators have been developed for this purpose. In this study, simulations were performed to optimize the order and the length of each crystal of a dual layer phoswich detector, and to evaluate the possibility of measuring signals from each layer of the phoswich detector. A simulation tool GATE was used to estimate the sensitivity and resolution of a small PET scanner. The proposed scanner is based on dual layer phoswich detector modules arranged in a ring of 10 cm diameter. Each module is composed of 8 x 8 arrays of phoswich detectors consisting of LSO and LuYAP with a 2 mm x 2 mm sensitive area coupled to a Hamamatsu R7600-00-M64 PSPMT. The length of the front layer of the phoswich detector varied from 0 to 10 mm at 1 mm intervals, and the total length (LSO + LuYAP) was fixed at 20 mm. The order of the crystal layers of the phoswich detector was also changed. Radial resolutions were kept below 3.4 mm and 3.7 mm over 8 cm FOV, and sensitivities were 7.4% and 8.0% for LSO 5 mm-LuYAP 15 mm, and LuYAP 6 mm-LSO 14 mm phoswich detectors, respectively. Whereas, high and uniform resolutions were achieved by using the LSO front layer, higher sensitivities were obtained by changing the crystal order. The feasibilities for applying crystal identification methods to phoswich detectors consisting of LSO and LuYAP were investigated using simulation and experimentally derived measurements of the light outputs from each layer of the phoswich detector. In this study, the optimal order and lengths of the dual layer phoswich detector were derived in order to achieve high sensitivity and high and uniform radial resolution

High-voltage pixel sensors for ATLAS upgrade

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Perić, I., E-mail: ivan.peric@ziti.uni-heidelberg.de [Heidelberg University, Institute of Computer Engineering, Mannheim (Germany); Kreidl, C.; Fischer, P. [Heidelberg University, Institute of Computer Engineering, Mannheim (Germany); Bompard, F.; Breugnon, P.; Clemens, J.-C.; Fougeron, D.; Liu, J.; Pangaud, P.; Rozanov, A.; Barbero, M. [CPPM, Marseille (France); Feigl, S.; Capeans, M.; Ferrere, D.; Pernegger, H.; Ristic, B. [CERN, Geneve (Switzerland); Muenstermann, D.; Gonzalez Sevilla, S.; La Rosa, A.; Miucci, A. [University of Geneve (Switzerland); and others

2014-11-21

The high-voltage (HV-) CMOS pixel sensors offer several good properties: a fast charge collection by drift, the possibility to implement relatively complex CMOS in-pixel electronics and the compatibility with commercial processes. The sensor element is a deep n-well diode in a p-type substrate. The n-well contains CMOS pixel electronics. The main charge collection mechanism is drift in a shallow, high field region, which leads to a fast charge collection and a high radiation tolerance. We are currently evaluating the use of the high-voltage detectors implemented in 180 nm HV-CMOS technology for the high-luminosity ATLAS upgrade. Our approach is replacing the existing pixel and strip sensors with the CMOS sensors while keeping the presently used readout ASICs. By intelligence we mean the ability of the sensor to recognize a particle hit and generate the address information. In this way we could benefit from the advantages of the HV sensor technology such as lower cost, lower mass, lower operating voltage, smaller pitch, smaller clusters at high incidence angles. Additionally we expect to achieve a radiation hardness necessary for ATLAS upgrade. In order to test the concept, we have designed two HV-CMOS prototypes that can be readout in two ways: using pixel and strip readout chips. In the case of the pixel readout, the connection between HV-CMOS sensor and the readout ASIC can be established capacitively.

Wafer-scale pixelated detector system

Science.gov (United States)

Fahim, Farah; Deptuch, Grzegorz; Zimmerman, Tom

2017-10-17

A large area, gapless, detection system comprises at least one sensor; an interposer operably connected to the at least one sensor; and at least one application specific integrated circuit operably connected to the sensor via the interposer wherein the detection system provides high dynamic range while maintaining small pixel area and low power dissipation. Thereby the invention provides methods and systems for a wafer-scale gapless and seamless detector systems with small pixels, which have both high dynamic range and low power dissipation.

Super-pixel extraction based on multi-channel pulse coupled neural network

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, GuangZhu; Hu, Song; Zhang, Liu; Zhao, JingJing; Fu, YunXia; Lei, BangJun

2018-04-01

Super-pixel extraction techniques group pixels to form over-segmented image blocks according to the similarity among pixels. Compared with the traditional pixel-based methods, the image descripting method based on super-pixel has advantages of less calculation, being easy to perceive, and has been widely used in image processing and computer vision applications. Pulse coupled neural network (PCNN) is a biologically inspired model, which stems from the phenomenon of synchronous pulse release in the visual cortex of cats. Each PCNN neuron can correspond to a pixel of an input image, and the dynamic firing pattern of each neuron contains both the pixel feature information and its context spatial structural information. In this paper, a new color super-pixel extraction algorithm based on multi-channel pulse coupled neural network (MPCNN) was proposed. The algorithm adopted the block dividing idea of SLIC algorithm, and the image was divided into blocks with same size first. Then, for each image block, the adjacent pixels of each seed with similar color were classified as a group, named a super-pixel. At last, post-processing was adopted for those pixels or pixel blocks which had not been grouped. Experiments show that the proposed method can adjust the number of superpixel and segmentation precision by setting parameters, and has good potential for super-pixel extraction.

Silicon PIN diode hybrid arrays for charged particle detection: Building blocks for vertex detectors at the SSC

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kramer, G.; Gaalema, S.; Shapiro, S.L.; Dunwoodie, W.M.; Arens, J.F.; Jernigan, J.G.

1989-05-01

Two-dimensional arrays of solid state detectors have long been used in visible and infrared systems. Hybrid arrays with separately optimized detector and readout substrates have been extensively developed for infrared sensors. The characteristics and use of these infrared readout chips with silicon PIN diode arrays produced by MICRON SEMICONDUCTOR for detecting high-energy particles are reported. Some of these arrays have been produced in formats as large as 512 /times/ 512 pixels; others have been radiation hardened to total dose levels beyond 1 Mrad. Data generation rates of 380 megasamples/second have been achieved. Analog and digital signal transmission and processing techniques have also been developed to accept and reduce these high data rates. 9 refs., 15 figs., 2 tabs

Steganography on quantum pixel images using Shannon entropy

Science.gov (United States)

Laurel, Carlos Ortega; Dong, Shi-Hai; Cruz-Irisson, M.

2016-07-01

This paper presents a steganographical algorithm based on least significant bit (LSB) from the most significant bit information (MSBI) and the equivalence of a bit pixel image to a quantum pixel image, which permits to make the information communicate secretly onto quantum pixel images for its secure transmission through insecure channels. This algorithm offers higher security since it exploits the Shannon entropy for an image.

Characterization of Ir/Au pixel TES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kunieda, Y.; Takahashi, H.; Zen, N.; Damayanthi, R.M.T.; Mori, F.; Fujita, K.; Nakazawa, M.; Fukuda, D.; Ohkubo, M.

2006-01-01

Signal shapes and noise characteristics of an asymmetrical ten-pixel Ir/Au-TES have been studied. The asymmetric design may be effective to realize an imaging spectrometer. Distinct two exponential decays observed for X-ray events are consistent with a two-step R-T curve. A theoretical thermal model for noise in multi-pixel devices reasonably explains the experimental data

Dose mapping of the rectal wall during brachytherapy with an array of scintillation dosimeters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cartwright, L. E.; Suchowerska, N.; Yin, Y.; Lambert, J.; Haque, M.; McKenzie, D. R.

2010-01-01

Purpose: In pelvic brachytherapy treatments, the rectum is an organ at risk. The authors have developed an array of scintillation dosimeters suitable for in vivo use that enables quality assurance of the treatment delivery and provides an alert to potential radiation accidents. Ultimately, this will provide evidence to direct treatment planning and dose escalation and correlate dose with the rectal response. Methods: An array of 16 scintillation dosimeters in an insertable applicator has been developed. The dosimeters were calibrated simultaneously in a custom designed circular jig before use. Each dosimeter is optically interfaced to a set of pixels on a CCD camera located outside the treatment bunker. A customized software converts pixel values into dose rate and accumulates dose for presentation during treatment delivery. The performance of the array is tested by simulating brachytherapy treatments in a water phantom. The treatment plans were designed to deliver a known dose distribution on the surface of the rectal applicator, assumed to represent the dose to the rectal wall. Results: The measured doses were compared to those predicted by the treatment plan and found to be in agreement to within the uncertainty in measurement, usually within 3%. The array was also used to track the progression of the source as it moved along the catheter. The measured position was found to agree with the position reported by the afterloader to within the measurement uncertainty, usually within 2 mm. Conclusions: This array is capable of measuring the actual dose received by each region of the rectal wall during brachytherapy treatments. It will provide real time monitoring of treatment delivery and raise an alert to a potential radiation accident. Real time dose mapping in the clinical environment will give the clinician additional confidence to carry out dose escalation to the tumor volume while avoiding rectal side effects.

4T CMOS Active Pixel Sensors under Ionizing Radiation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tan, J.

2013-01-01

This thesis investigates the ionizing radiation effects on 4T pixels and the elementary in-pixel test devices with regard to the electrical performance and the optical performance. In addition to an analysis of the macroscopic pixel parameter degradation, the radiation-induced degradation mechanisms

Selecting Pixels for High-Precision Photometry in the Kepler Mission

Science.gov (United States)

Bryson, Steve; Jenkins, J.; Caldwell, D.; Koch, D.; Borucki, W.

2007-12-01

The Kepler Mission is designed to discover and characterize the frequency of Earth-size planets in the habitable zone of solar-like stars by observing 100,000 main-sequence stars in a 100 square degree field of view (FOV). Kepler's transit detection method uses a long photometric time series for each target star. Each data point is created by summing several pixels.The data are co-added and stored at a 30 minute cadence that is stored for monthly downlink. Memory and bandwidth constraints prevent the storage of all 95 million pixels in the photometer, so pixels of interest are assigned to each target. We describe the automated method by which each transit target is assigned a set of pixels that are optimal for high precision photometry. This method relies on synthetic images based on the Kepler input catalog combined with a direct measurement of the Kepler systempoint spread function. We cover the PSF measurement process, the rendering of the synthetic image, and the use of the synthetic image to determine the contribution of each pixel to a target's signal-to-noise ratio. The optimal pixels for a target are defined as those pixels which maximize that target's signal-to-noise ratio. Our method includes models of the noise associated with pixel response variations and for spacecraft motion. We describe the process that is used to identify appropriate pixels for modeling the background as well as pixel management, including the specification of pixels for non-transit targets. Funding for this mission provided by NASA's Discovery Program Office, SMD.

High Frequency High Spectral Resolution Focal Plane Arrays for AtLAST

Science.gov (United States)

Baryshev, Andrey

2018-01-01

Large collecting area single dish telescope such as ATLAST will be especially effective for medium (R 1000) and high (R 50000) spectral resolution observations. Large focal plane array is a natural solution to increase mapping speed. For medium resolution direct detectors with filter banks (KIDs) and or heterodyne technology can be employed. We will analyze performance limits of comparable KID and SIS focal plane array taking into account quantum limit and high background condition of terrestrial observing site. For large heterodyne focal plane arrays, a high current density AlN junctions open possibility of large instantaneous bandwidth >40%. This and possible multi frequency band FPSs presents a practical challenge for spatial sampling and scanning strategies. We will discuss phase array feeds as a possible solution, including a modular back-end system, which can be shared between KID and SIS based FPA. Finally we will discuss achievable sensitivities and pixel co unts for a high frequency (>500 GHz) FPAs and address main technical challenges: LO distribution, wire counts, bias line multiplexing, and monolithic vs. discrete mixer component integration.