阅读说明：本技术 检测器电路 (Detector circuit ) 是由 T·潘特萨 J·皮蒂拉 D·沙齐斯特拉蒂斯 G·泰奥多拉托斯 Y·格利基奥蒂斯 T·皮特卡 于 2019-11-28 设计创作，主要内容包括：一些实施例包括成像系统,该成像系统包括检测器衬底、至少一个检测器电路,该检测器电路包括与检测器衬底耦合的电容器,该电容器被设置为从检测器衬底收集电荷,并且该成像系统还包括至少一个可编程电流源,该可编程电流源被布置为向电容器提供中和电荷,并且该成像系统被配置为根据帧数选择中和电荷的值。(Some embodiments include an imaging system comprising a detector substrate, at least one detector circuit comprising a capacitor coupled with the detector substrate, the capacitor arranged to collect charge from the detector substrate, and at least one programmable current source arranged to provide a neutralizing charge to the capacitor, and configured to select a value of the neutralizing charge according to a number of frames.)

1. An imaging system, comprising:

-a detector substrate;

-at least one detector circuit comprising a capacitor coupled with the detector substrate, the capacitor being arranged to collect charge from the detector substrate, an

-the imaging system further comprises at least one programmable current source arranged to provide a neutralizing charge to the capacitor, wherein the imaging system is configured to select the value of the neutralizing charge in dependence on the number of frames.

2. The imaging system of claim 1, wherein the detector substrate comprises a semiconductor substrate, such as: CdTe substrate, GaAs substrate, Si substrate, HgI₂Or a Se substrate.

3. The imaging system of any of claims 1 to 2, wherein the at least one programmable current source is configured to provide the neutralizing charge to the capacitor separately for each pixel or group of pixels.

4. The imaging system of any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the imaging system is configured to select the value of the neutralizing charge for each pixel or for each group of pixels, respectively.

5. The imaging system of any of claims 1 to 4, wherein the imaging system is configured to select the value of the neutralizing charge as a function of a temperature of the detector substrate.

6. The imaging system of any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the imaging system is configured to select the value of the neutralizing charge as a function of at least one of: a current incident radiation dose and a cumulative incident radiation dose.

7. The imaging system of any of claims 1 to 6, wherein the at least one programmable current source is configured to provide the neutralizing charge during a portion of a charge collection time of a frame, but not during the entire charge collection time of a frame.

8. The imaging system of claim 7, wherein the at least one programmable current source is configured to provide the neutralizing charge during at most two-thirds of the charge collection time of a frame.

9. The imaging system of claim 7, wherein the at least one programmable current source is configured to provide the neutralizing charge during at most half of the charge collection time of a frame.

10. The imaging system of claim 7, wherein the at least one programmable current source is configured to provide the neutralizing charge during at most one-third of the charge collection time of a frame.

11. The imaging system of any of claims 1 to 10, wherein the detector circuit does not include a feedback loop on an amplifier.

12. The imaging system of any of claims 1 to 11, comprising a plurality of detector circuits, each detector circuit of the plurality of detector circuits comprising at least one capacitor and arranged to receive the neutralizing charge from the at least one programmable current source.

13. The imaging system of any of claims 1 to 12, comprising circuitry configured to generate a bias voltage across at least a portion of the detector substrate.

14. The imaging system of any of claims 1 to 13, further comprising a processing core configured to program the at least one programmable current source.

15. The imaging system of any of claims 1 to 14, wherein the at least one programmable current source is included inside the detector circuit.

16. The imaging system of any of claims 1 to 15, wherein the imaging system further comprises a memory configured to store information that enables the neutralizing charge to be defined for each pixel and frame number.

17. The imaging system of any of claims 1 to 16, wherein the imaging system further comprises at least one temperature sensor configured to measure a temperature of the detector substrate.

18. A method in a detector circuit, comprising:

-collecting charge from a detector substrate of the detector circuit in a capacitor coupled to the detector substrate, an

-providing a neutralizing charge to said capacitor from at least one programmable current source and selecting the value of said neutralizing charge in dependence on the number of frames.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the detector substrate comprises a semiconductor substrate, such as: CdTe substrate, GaAs substrate, Si substrate, HgI₂Or a Se substrate.

20. A method according to any one of claims 18 to 19, wherein said at least one programmable current source provides said neutralizing charge to said capacitor separately for each pixel or group of pixels.

21. The method of any one of claims 18 to 20, further comprising selecting the value of the neutralizing charge separately for each pixel or separately for each group of pixels.

22. The method of any of claims 18 to 21, further comprising generating a bias voltage across at least a portion of the detector substrate.

23. The method of any of claims 18 to 22, further comprising providing, by the at least one programmable current source, the neutralizing charge during a portion of a charge collection time of a frame, but not during the entire charge collection time of a frame.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the at least one programmable current provides the neutralizing charge during at most two-thirds of the charge collection time of a frame.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein the at least one programmable current source provides the neutralizing charge during at most half of the charge collection time of a frame.

26. The method of claim 23, wherein the at least one programmable current source provides the neutralizing charge during at most one-third of the charge collection time of a frame.

27. The method of any of claims 18-26, wherein the detector circuit does not include a feedback loop on an amplifier.

28. A method according to any one of claims 18 to 27, wherein the method comprises using a plurality of detector circuits as part of an imaging system, the imaging system further comprising the detector substrate.

29. The method of any of claims 18 to 28, further comprising programming the at least one programmable current source by a processing core.

30. The method of any of claims 18 to 29, wherein the at least one programmable current source is included inside the detector circuit.

31. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon a set of computer readable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause an imaging system to at least:

-collecting charge from a detector substrate in a capacitor comprised in a detector circuit of the imaging system, and

-providing a neutralizing charge to said capacitor from at least one programmable current source, wherein the value of said neutralizing charge is selected in dependence on the number of frames.

32. A computer program configured to cause a method according to at least one of claims 18 to 30 to be performed.

Technical Field

The present invention relates to detectors, such as high energy radiation or particle detectors, for example based on semiconductor technology.

Background

Digital high-energy radiation imaging has advantages over conventional film-based imaging techniques, including the ability to use smaller doses of radiation, such as X-ray or gamma radiation, and the possibility of obtaining more images.

Typically, an array of pixels is employed in digital imaging, such that each pixel is configured to produce a reading of radiation intensity, the pixel values from the array of pixels collectively forming a digital image.

In a direct conversion radiation detection device, a semiconductor detector substrate is conductively bonded to a semiconductor readout substrate. The detector substrate is made of a photoconductor material that converts incident radiation into electrical signals. Optimizing the performance of the detector and the readout substrate results in improved digital images obtained from such substrates.

Disclosure of Invention

According to some aspects, the subject matter of the independent claims is provided. Some embodiments are defined in the dependent claims.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an imaging system comprising a detector substrate, at least one detector circuit comprising a capacitor coupled to the detector substrate, the capacitor being arranged to collect charge from the detector substrate, and at least one programmable current source arranged to provide a neutralizing charge to the capacitor.

Various embodiments of the first aspect may include at least one feature of the following bulleted list:

the detector substrate comprises a semiconductor substrate, such as: CdTe substrate, GaAs substrate, Si substrate, HgI₂Or Se substrate

At least one programmable current source configured to supply a neutralizing charge to the capacitor for each pixel or group of pixels, respectively

The imaging system is configured to select the value of the neutralizing charge as a function of the number of frames

The imaging system is configured to select the value of the neutralizing charge as a function of the temperature of the detector substrate

The imaging system is configured to select a value of the neutralizing charge as a function of at least one of: current incident radiation dose and cumulative incident radiation dose

At least one programmable current source configured to provide neutralizing charge during a portion of the charge collection time of a frame, rather than providing neutralizing charge during the entire charge collection time of a frame

At least one programmable current source configured to provide a neutralizing charge during at most two thirds of the charge collection time of a frame

At least one programmable current source configured to provide a neutralizing charge during at most half of the charge collection time of a frame

At least one programmable current source configured to provide a neutralizing charge during at most one third of the charge collection time of a frame

The detector circuit does not comprise a feedback loop on the amplifier

A plurality of detector circuits, each of the plurality of detector circuits comprising at least one capacitor and arranged to receive a neutralizing charge from at least one programmable current source

Circuitry configured to generate a bias voltage across at least a portion of the detector substrate

A processing core configured to program at least one programmable current source

The detector circuit internally including at least one programmable current source

According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a method in a detector circuit, comprising collecting charge from a detector substrate of the detector circuit in a capacitor coupled to the detector substrate, and providing neutralizing charge to the capacitor from at least one programmable current source.

Various embodiments of the second aspect may include at least one feature of the aforementioned bulleted lists in combination with the first aspect.

According to a third aspect of the invention, there is provided a non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon a set of computer readable instructions which, when executed by at least one processor, cause an imaging system to collect charge at least from a detector substrate in a capacitor included in a detector circuit of the imaging system, and provide a neutralizing charge to the capacitor from at least one programmable current source.

According to a fourth aspect of the invention, there is provided a computer program configured to, when run on a processor, cause the method according to the second aspect to be performed.

Drawings

FIG. 1A illustrates an example system in accordance with at least some embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 1B illustrates the generation of dark surface current at the edge of a detector substrate;

FIG. 2 illustrates the use of programmable current sources in a detector circuit in accordance with at least some embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of dark current dependence on time, e.g., number of frames;

FIG. 4 illustrates an example process in accordance with at least some embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of a method in accordance with at least some embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 6A illustrates the initial generation of pixel charge distributions in a detector;

FIG. 6B illustrates the generation of a pixel charge distribution in a detector after a certain operating time;

FIG. 7 illustrates the use of programmable current sources and memories in a detector circuit, in accordance with at least some embodiments of the present invention, an

Fig. 8 illustrates the feedback loop on the amplifier.

Detailed Description

A solution is disclosed to mitigate the distortion caused by dark current in a digital imaging device. The current generated by the detector substrate is the sum of the photocurrent generated by the incident signal (such as X-rays) and the dark current generated by the electric field (also referred to as leakage current). For example, dark current is also generated in the detector circuit by transistor leakage. In a charge integration system, dark current is indistinguishable from photocurrent, since only total current is observed. The dark current does not contain information about the input signal, and thus the dark current component needs to be removed. The actual magnitude and polarity of the dark current may depend on at least one of the substrate material, the temperature, the location on the substrate material, the electric field, and the internal structure of the substrate. The internal structure may include crystals and other defects.

A programmable current source is provided to provide a neutralizing charge to counteract the effects of dark current so that the integrated charge substantially corresponds to the photocurrent. In particular, it aims to provide from one or more programmable current sources a charge of equal magnitude but opposite sign to the charge generated by the dark current, in an optimal way to eliminate the effect of the dark current on the total charge of the integrated pixel. Although it is intended to completely eliminate the influence of the dark current, even reducing the influence of the dark current is an improvement in the function of the imaging apparatus.

The programmable current source may be implemented as one or more components within the detector circuit block, such as, for example, an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC). The programmable current source may provide more current sources to one or more detector circuits that contain switches for activating them. The programmable current source may be implemented separately for each detector circuit. Alternatively, it may be implemented as a component external to the detector circuit block. The programmable current source may be shared between one or more detector circuits, and all or part of its control may be shared between the various detector circuits, i.e. the programmable current source may be made up of detector circuit-specific components and components common to a set of two or more detector circuits.

This has the advantage that the output of the detector circuit more accurately reflects the actual photocurrent, which means that its full capacity can be used. Without the present invention, part of the capacity would be consumed by dark current. A typical detector substrate may contain guard ring structures to compensate for edge effects such as an increase in dark current on or near the edge of the substrate. While a guard ring may be useful in some cases, it may also cause problems such as bending of the electric field at the edge of the substrate. Another advantage of the present invention is that the guard rings can be eliminated or reduced in size, which removes or reduces image distortion caused by bending of the bias electric field in the detector substrate. In addition, this allows for smaller gaps to be formed between the active imaging areas of adjacent pixel arrays. This results in less image distortion and less gaps. The detector substrate may comprise, for example, a semiconductor detector substrate.

FIG. 1A illustrates an example system in accordance with at least some embodiments of the invention. The system of fig. 1A is an imaging system. The imaging system may comprise, for example, an X-ray/gamma ray imaging system. The system of fig. 1A is arranged to image radiation 101 incident on a detector substrate 110 from the top. The detector substrate 110 is arranged to convert incident radiation 101 into a plurality of electrical signals, each such signal representing a value of a pixel 116 of the detector substrate 110. The electrical signals are collected by detector circuit 140 and output to processing device 120. Processing device 120 may selectively perform operations on information encoded in the electrical signals from detector circuit 140 to produce digital image 130. In the example shown in fig. 1A, the image includes an image of an object 132, which object 132 may include, for example, teeth.

For example, the incident radiation may be X-ray or gamma radiation. The detector substrate 110 can include, for example, a cadmium telluride (CdTe) substrate, a gallium arsenide (GaAs) substrate, a silicon (Si) substrate, a selenium (Se) substrate, or a mercury (II) iodide (HgI)₂) A substrate. Operations performed in the processing device 120 may include, for example, calibration, noise reduction, edge detection, and/or contrast enhancement. The imaging system may be provided with information characterizing detector substrate dark current, e.g., each detector circuit 140 interfaced with detector substrate 110 may have a memory with information related to the pixels 116 linked to the particular detector circuit, or the information may be otherwise stored in the memoryIn detector circuit 140 or for detector circuit 140.

FIG. 1B illustrates the dark surface current generated at the edge of the detector substrate. A jagged line is visible to the left of the substrate 110 as viewed from its edge. The serrated nature of the edge may result from the production process, including sawing or cutting. A bias voltage 112, such as 300 volts (V) or-300V, is applied across the substrate. When the radiation quanta interact with the detector substrate, they generate charge carrier pairs that are transported to the pixels 116 by the bias voltage. During the charge collection time of a frame, each pixel may integrate the charge arriving therein such that the intensity of radiation in a portion of the detector substrate 110 corresponding to the pixel may be approximated from the accumulated charge. Thus, the charge collection time may correspond to the time the detector is on for incident radiation to produce a frame of imaging data.

Due to the interaction between the jagged edge of the detector substrate and the bias voltage 112, a surface current 114 is generated across the jagged edge. This current, which corresponds to a dark current, can transfer a large amount of charge on the detector substrate 110, which may contaminate one or more pixels closest to the edge. To prevent this, a guard ring 118 may be employed to transmit dark current to ground or another potential, as shown. However, this has the following problems in producing an image using such a substrate: firstly, the edge structure may cause the field lines of the bias voltage 112 to bend, as shown, and secondly, the presence of the guard rings makes it useless to image the area of the detector substrate closest to the jagged edge.

The curved field lines of the bias voltage 112 cause distortion because charge carriers generated by the interaction of the incident radiation and the detector substrate 112 follow the field lines. Thus, some pixels 116 lose a portion of the intensity of the pixel or guard ring 118 to which they should integrate, at the guard ring 118, the intensity is lost. Some pixels 116 near the edge correspondingly receive some charge from the area of the detector substrate 110 that should provide charge to the pixels 116 to its right. Experimentally, the curvature of the bias voltage 112 field lines has been detected from the edge of the detector substrate 110 to the 10 th pixel.

The guard rings 118 increase the distance between the edge-most pixels of adjacent detector substrates 110. For example, the substrates themselves may be placed 100 microns apart from each other, and in the case of a guard ring moving one pixel on each substrate, the distance between the active pixels closest to the edge increases to 100 microns plus two pixel widths. For example, the pixel width may be 100 microns, whereby the guard ring would numerically increase the effective gap to 300 microns.

Fig. 2 illustrates the use of a programmable current source in a detector circuit in accordance with at least some embodiments of the present invention. The detector substrate 110 shown in fig. 2 corresponds to the substrate portion that transports its charge carriers to the detector circuit shown. The detector circuit may also be referred to as a pixel circuit. The detector substrate interface enables the detector circuitry to be connected to the detector substrate 110. In general, the detector circuit may include a detector substrate interface, a capacitor 220, and at least one programmable current source 210. The detector circuit may contain additional components not shown in fig. 2. In some embodiments, the detector circuit includes a plurality of capacitors.

In general, not limited to FIG. 2, the detector circuit may be an application specific integrated circuit, a circuit composed of discrete components, or a combination thereof. Examples of suitable application specific integrated circuit technologies include complementary metal oxide semiconductors, bipolar metal oxide semiconductors, and n-channel metal oxide semiconductors (NMOS).

In use, during the charge collection time of a frame, charge is received from the detector substrate 110 into the detector circuit and accumulated into the capacitor 220, storing charge in the capacitor 220 for readout. Readout occurs via switch 230 at the end of the charge collection time of the frame. Once the magnitude of the accumulated charge is read out, the capacitor can be emptied in preparation for a subsequent frame.

For charges generated by interaction of incident radiation with the detector substrate, i.e. by photocurrent, dark currents may reach the detector circuitry. The source of dark current may be the finite resistivity of the substrate that generates current when an electric field is applied, i.e., ohmic current according to ohm's law, a jagged edge of FIG. 1B, or a crystal electrode defect of the detector substrate in the area associated with the detector circuit. That is, dark current is also present elsewhere than at the edge of the detector substrate. Examples of the crystal electrode defects include point defects such as vacancy defects and interstitial defects, and line defects such as dislocations and disclinations. Obtaining a so-called dark frame may provide dark current information for each pixel, providing defect information and surface current magnitude for a particular detector substrate.

In order to counteract the effect of dark current, the detector circuit shown is provided with at least one programmable current source 210. In the example shown in fig. 2, there are three current sources 212, however the number of such current sources depends on the embodiment and the technical requirements of the embodiment. Thus, there may be one, two, three or indeed other numbers of such programmable current sources.

Using information of the dark current associated with the pixel, during the charge collection time, the programmable current source(s) can be configured to provide charge to the capacitor 220 that at least partially cancels out the effects of the dark current. For example, if it is known that dark current will carry charge or + Q _ dark to the capacitor 220 during the charge collection time, the at least one programmable current source can be programmed to provide charge of-Q _ dark during the charge collection time. The neutralizing charge need not be exactly the same as the charge carried by the dark current, e.g., if the neutralizing charge is-0.8 × Q _ dark, the effect of the dark current has been significantly mitigated. Dark current information associated with the pixel may characterize dark current as a function of frame number, as described below in connection with fig. 3, particularly for the pixel of the detector substrate. The substrate temperature may also affect the magnitude of the dark current. In use, this information can be used to program at least one programmable current source to provide the correct neutralizing charge to the capacitor 220 for each frame.

Note that while the dark current may last the entire charge collection time, the neutralizing charge from the programmable current source may be provided during only a portion of the charge collection time, such as two-thirds, one-half, or one-third of the charge collection time. This may make it easier to match the small amount of charge carried by the dark current, as the programmable current sources may not be easily constructed so that they provide a very small constant current. An example of the current generated by the current source is 50 pA. The capacitor 220 is used cumulatively, in other words, the success of reducing the dark current effect depends mainly on the cumulative total charge at the end of the charge collection time, rather than on the temporal behavior during the charge collection time. Whether the sign of the neutralizing charge is negative or positive depends on the composition of the material detector substrate 110.

For example, the current sources 212 are programmable because they can be switched by the switches 214. Where multiple current sources 212 are provided, they may provide different magnitudes of current so that a selectable total charge may be provided from them to the capacitor 220 by programming the switch 214 to an on state according to an appropriately selected length of time. Where a single current source 212 is provided, the charge it provides when the switch 214 is in a conducting state before switching back to a non-conducting state can also be selected by selecting the length of time that occurs during the charge collection time of a frame.

By neutralizing the charge of the dark current, possible guard rings can be omitted. Another benefit obtained is that the bias voltage field lines 112 can be straightened, which reduces distortion in the imaging device. Furthermore, the pixels may be placed at the edges of the detector substrate 110, which significantly reduces the effective gap between the active areas of two adjacent detector substrates. Furthermore, it has been observed that the dark current varies from frame to frame, and by using a programmable current source arrangement as shown in fig. 2, the detector circuit of the imaging system can accommodate this temporal development of the dark current, thereby enabling the effect of the dark current to be more accurately cancelled.

In some embodiments of the invention, the programmable current sources are arranged only at the edge of the detector substrate, e.g. the row of pixels closest to the edge, or two rows of pixels closest to the edge, or 5 or even 10 rows of pixels closest to the edge. In general, in case the programmable current sources are arranged only at the edges, there is a pixel area in the center of the detector substrate where there are no programmable current sources. This is very useful in terms of production efficiency, since dark current and its effects are more pronounced at the edges. On the other hand, if the crystal electrode defects are addressed by providing programmable current sources to the pixels of the entire detector substrate, the imaging results will be further enhanced.

In some embodiments of the invention, the neutralization charge used is greater near the edges of the detector substrate and smaller in the central region of the detector substrate. In the central region, the neutralizing charge is intended to reduce the influence of ohmic dark current and dark current generated from crystal electrode defects, while in the edge, the main purpose of neutralizing charge is to reduce the influence of surface current, which is a larger influence.

With respect to the illustrated elements, a detector circuit according to the present invention may include or be run on a memory and at least one processor or processing core. The memory and the at least one processor core may be located inside the detector circuit; in a separate component outside it; separation between the detector circuit and external components; or both. The memory may store information that enables the definition of neutralizing charge for each pixel and frame number. The processing core may be configured to program the programmable current sources accordingly to provide the correct neutralizing charge for each frame and each pixel. The processing cores may be disposed in a processor, microcontroller, or other suitable integrated circuit.

The processing cores may be included in a processor, which may include, for example, a single-core or multi-core processor, where a single-core processor includes one processing core and a multi-core processor includes more than one processing core. The processor may generally comprise a control device. The processor may comprise more than one processor. The processor may be a control device. The processing cores may include, for example, a Cortex-A8 processing core designed by ARM corporation or a Steamroller processing core manufactured by Advanced Micro Devices corporation. The processor may include at least one high flux cellcell and/or intel atom processor. The processor may comprise at least one application specific integrated circuit, i.e. an application specific integrated circuit. The processor may comprise at least one field programmable gate array FPGA or microcontroller. The processor may be means for performing method steps in an imaging system. The processor may be configured, at least in part by computer instructions, to perform actions.

In some embodiments, one, two, or more temperature sensors may be provided to measure the temperature of the detector substrate 110. In some embodiments, the temperature of the detector substrate 110 may be measured at multiple locations on the detector substrate. The neutralizing charge for a particular pixel may be selected based on the number of frames and the temperature of the detector substrate 110.

The one or more connections from the detector substrate 110 to the capacitor 220 may include metal traces on the substrate, metal leads, metal bump bonds, conductive glue, or a combination thereof. The metal used may be copper (Cu), aluminum (Al), gold (Au), silver (Ag), indium (In), tin (Sn), bismuth (Bi), lead (Pb), and alloys thereof. For example, the metal may be a copper alloy comprising copper and at least one other metal.

In some systems, the detector circuit is constructed to include a feedback loop on the amplifier. However, with at least one programmable current source according to an embodiment of the invention, no feedback loop on the amplifier is required in reducing the effect of dark current.

Fig. 3 illustrates an example of the dependence of dark current on time, e.g. frame number. The vertical axis corresponds to dark current, e.g., charge carried by dark current during a charge collection time of a single frame. The horizontal axis corresponds to time, for example in terms of number of frames.

Once imaging begins, phase a, and frames are captured, the dark current trend decreases. Experimental experience has shown that the dark current may continue to monotonically decrease, option B, depending on the system used. Alternatively, at some point, the dark current may settle and remain substantially constant between each frame, as shown in option C. Finally, it sometimes happens that after initially falling, at some point the dark current starts to increase again, option D.

Thus, understanding the behavior of dark current helps to neutralize (at least partially neutralize) the effects of dark current. As a calibration procedure, the detector substrate can be run without incident radiation to record the characteristics of the dark current. The resulting information, called dark frame, can be used for each pixel of the detector system separately as a function of the number of frames. This information can then be used to program at least one programmable current source to provide the correct neutralizing charge to capacitor 220, in use.

In general, the behavior of dark current may also depend on the temperature of the detector substrate. Thus, the calibration procedure can be run separately at different temperatures to enable the correct neutralising charge to be selected for each pixel according to temperature.

Furthermore, the present incident radiation dose and optionally the accumulated incident radiation dose may influence the dark current in the detector substrate, and thus the calibration process may also be run at different known incident radiation levels.

In summary, according to embodiments, the neutralizing charge may be selected for each pixel or group of pixels, respectively, according to the following factors: the number of frames; a combination of frame number and temperature; a combination of frame number, temperature and incident instantaneous radiation; a combination of frame number, temperature and cumulative incident radiation; or a combination of frame number, temperature, incident instantaneous radiation and cumulative incident radiation.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example process in accordance with at least some embodiments of the invention. At stage 410, a dark frame is obtained from a detector system including a detector substrate. The dark frame describes the behavior of dark current in the detector substrate, including surface current at the edges and dark current caused by crystal electrode defects. A series or series of dark frames may be obtained to obtain knowledge about the dark current behavior, as a function of the number of frames in the series of frames, and optionally the temperature and/or radiation as described above, for each pixel or group of pixels, respectively. Alternatively, a single dark frame is obtained.

At stage 420, the detector system is provided with the information obtained from stage 410. As a calibration step, this can be done before the detector system is shut down. In particular, information characterizing the amount of charge carried by the dark current may be stored in the imaging system for each pixel or group of pixels and number of frames, respectively.

After stage 420, the detector system is released from production and finally used to capture a sequence of N frames #1, # 2., # N, for example, to image the subject. In these frames, at least one programmable current source in each detector circuit is configured to provide a neutralizing charge to a capacitor of the detector circuit to counteract the effect of dark current on the charge carried by the pixel and frame. As described above, the correct neutralization current may be selected in addition to the pixels and frames, depending on the detector substrate temperature and/or the instantaneous and/or cumulative incident radiation dose. Once a sequence of N frames is captured, the detector system may be used later for another sequence. Dark frames may be collected when there is no radiation incident on the detector substrate before, after, between, or during the sequence. Dark frames can also be collected indirectly by collecting frames with known radiation levels and by calculating the dark current values before, after, between or during the sequence back.

Fig. 5 is a flow chart of a method in a detector circuit in accordance with at least some embodiments of the present invention. The various stages of the illustrated method may be performed in a detector system, or when installed in a detector system, may be performed in a control device configured to control the functions of the detector system.

Stage 510 includes collecting charge from a detector substrate of a detector circuit in a capacitor connected to the detector substrate. Stage 520 includes providing a neutralizing charge from at least one programmable current source to a capacitor. The magnitude of the neutralizing charge can be selected based on the number of frames associated with the collection. The magnitude of the neutralizing charge can be individually selected based on the number of frames in each detector circuit of the detector system. The magnitude of the neutralizing charge may also depend on the current detector substrate temperature and the current incident radiation dose. In some embodiments, the cumulative incident radiation dose is further considered in selecting the correct neutralizing charge from a pre-stored table. The pre-stored table may be generated during a calibration process by running the detector substrate over a plurality of frame sequences at different temperatures and different incident radiation levels.

In summary, according to embodiments, the neutralizing charge may be selected for each pixel or group of pixels, respectively, according to the following factors: the number of frames; a combination of frame number and temperature; a combination of frame number, temperature and incident instantaneous radiation; a combination of frame number, temperature and cumulative incident radiation; or a combination of frame number, temperature, incident instantaneous radiation and cumulative incident radiation. The selection can be based on a mapping from the input set to the set of neutralizing charge values. For example, in the case where the neutralizing charge is selected based on the number of frames and temperature, the mapping will take the number of frames and the current temperature as inputs and produce as an output the value of the neutralizing charge for a pixel or group of pixels. As another example, when the neutralizing charge is selected based on the number of frames, temperature, and incident instantaneous radiation, the map will take as input the number of frames, current temperature, and current incident instantaneous radiation, and produce as output the neutralizing charge value for a pixel or group of pixels. While mapping and/or using a lookup table is shown as a mechanism to generate neutralizing charge values, in other examples, relationships and/or equations may be generated based on dark current characteristics of the detector substrate, and the neutralizing charge values may be calculated based on frame number, temperature, incident instantaneous radiation, and/or cumulative incident radiation inputs of these relationships and/or equations. In other examples, the mapping may be combined with relationships and/or formulas to generate a neutralizing charge value, or an intermediate neutralizing charge value may be calculated from previously mapped values. For example, the temperature may be obtained by a suitably mounted temperature sensor, or otherwise estimated by measuring the dark current from a previously obtained look-up table of dark current versus temperature functions. For example, the instantaneous incident radiation may be determined based on the output amplitude of the detector system. The cumulative incident radiation may be determined based on, for example, an integral value of the instantaneous incident radiation. The mapping may be established using dark frames, as described above in connection with fig. 4.

Returning to FIG. 4, for example, stage 410 may be performed as part of device manufacturing and/or initial calibration prior to releasing the detector system from a production state to a use state, or prior to the detector system being placed into use, or during periodic recalibration of the detector system. As one example, periodic recalibrations may be performed to account for deviations in dark current behavior, and thus, for example, these recalibrations may be performed by recording less data than the initial calibrations associated with the manufacture of the detector system.

As previously mentioned, the neutralizing charge need not have the same opposite sign value as the charge carried by the dark current (e.g., -Q dark current), but the magnitude of the neutralizing charge used may be a fraction of the magnitude of the dark current. In one embodiment, the magnitude of the neutralizing charge may be 0.5 to 1.5 times the magnitude of the charge carried by the dark current (e.g., -0.5 × Q _ dark < neutralizing charge < -1.5 × Q _ dark). In another example, the magnitude of the neutralizing charge may be 0.8 to 1.2 times the magnitude of the charge carried by the dark current (e.g., -0.8 × Q _ dark < neutralizing charge < -1.2 × Q _ dark). Further, the magnitude of the neutralizing charge may be between 0.9 and 1.1 times the magnitude of the charge carried by the dark current, or between 0.7 and 1.3 times the magnitude of the charge carried by the dark current.

Fig. 6A and 6B illustrate the reason for different behavior of dark current as a function of frame number, as shown in fig. 3. Fig. 6 illustrates the reason for dark current in subsequent frames for some pixels to appear in option B (as shown in fig. 3) and for others to appear in option D (as shown in fig. 3). In particular, such behavior may be caused at least in part by charge traps inside the detector substrate (such as CdTe) that are trap centers. These trap centers may begin to shift the electric field away from the linear configuration so some pixels will begin to experience dark current from their neighbors while other pixels will receive less dark current. Charge trapping may be particularly involved with positive charges due to the lower drift velocity. Although fig. 6A and 6B are drawn with a CdTe substrate as an example, other materials may experience similar effects. Starting from fig. 6A, the electric field is linear, i.e. its field lines 697 pass as straight lines through the substrate. A defect 698 is disposed in the substrate, for example due to intrinsic crystal defects. Initially, the substrate is depleted of charge carriers and the charge of the defect is zero. In use, proceeding to FIG. 6B, charge 699 accumulates in defect 698, causing the local charge to alter the electric field near defect 698. As field lines 697 bend, the progress of the dark current is modified and the charge carried by the dark current is redistributed among the pixels such that some pixels receive more charge than before charge 699 accumulates, while other pixels receive less charge.

As shown in fig. 2, the programmable current source may be located within the detector circuit. In other embodiments (not shown), the programmable current source may be external to the detector circuit, but share the same application specific integrated circuit as the detector circuit. In other embodiments (not shown), the programmable current source may be external to the detector circuit and external to an application specific integrated circuit that includes the detector circuit. For example, an application specific integrated circuit may also perform pixel readout functions in the detector system. In other embodiments (not shown), the programmable current source may include features internal to the detector circuit (such as a switch) and other features external to the detector circuit but on the same application specific integrated circuit as the detector circuit (such as a current source).

Fig. 7 also illustrates an imaging system. As shown, the imaging system 700 includes a memory 710, a processing core 720, and a temperature sensor 730. Further, the imaging system 700 comprises a detector substrate 740, at least one capacitor 750, and at least one programmable current source 760, the at least one programmable current source 760 being arranged to provide a neutralizing charge to the capacitor, wherein the imaging system 700 is configured to select a value of the neutralizing charge as described above. The illustrated components may be interconnected in a suitable manner using electrical connection wires 735 or a communication bus to enable the processing core 720 to program the at least one programmable current source 760 to provide a neutralizing charge to the capacitor 750 to at least partially offset the charge carried into the capacitor 750 by dark current.

Fig. 8 illustrates a feedback loop on the amplifier, which is not used in at least some of the described embodiments. In the arrangement of fig. 8, an amplifier 820 is arranged before the pulse shaper 810 and the discriminating and counting unit 850, and a feedback loop 840 is connected to the amplifier 820 as shown to partially control the effect of dark current. Amplifier 820 is also connected to ground as shown. The feedback loop of fig. 8 comprises a capacitor 842 and a continuous reset unit 844 in parallel. For example, the discrimination and counting unit 850 may be used to read out the detector substrate. The threshold 860 may be provided to the discrimination and counting unit 850. In at least some embodiments of the present disclosure, a feedback loop on the amplifier is not used, and one benefit of at least some disclosed embodiments is that the feedback loop is not required.

It is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments of the invention are not limited to the particular structures, process steps, or materials disclosed herein, but extend to equivalents thereof as would be recognized by those ordinarily skilled in the relevant arts. It is also to be understood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only, and is not intended to be limiting.

Reference in the specification to one embodiment or an embodiment means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the invention. Thus, the appearances of the phrases "in one embodiment" or "in an embodiment" in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. When a numerical value is referred to using terms such as, for example, about or substantially, the exact numerical value is also disclosed.

As used herein, a plurality of items, structural elements, compositional elements, and/or materials may be presented in a common list for convenience. However, these lists should be construed as though each member of the list is individually identified as a separate and distinct member. Thus, no individual member of such list should be construed as being in fact equivalent to any other member of the same list solely based on their performance in a common group, without indications to the contrary. Additionally, various embodiments of the present invention and alternatives to the various components thereof may be mentioned herein. It should be understood that these embodiments, examples and alternatives are not to be construed as actual equivalents of each other, but are to be considered as independent and autonomous representations of the invention.

Furthermore, the described features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. In the previous descriptions, numerous specific details are provided, such as examples of lengths, widths, shapes, etc., to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the invention. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize, however, that the invention may be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or with other methods, components, materials, and so forth. In other instances, well-known structures, materials, or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of the invention.

While the foregoing examples illustrate the principles of the invention in one or more particular applications, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that numerous modifications in form, usage and details of implementation can be made without the use of inventive faculty, and without departing from the scope of the invention and without departing from the principles and concepts of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not limited except as by the following claims.

The verbs "comprise" and "comprise" are used in this document as open-ended limitations that neither exclude nor require the presence of unrecited features. The features recited in the dependent claims may be freely combined with each other, unless explicitly stated otherwise. Furthermore, it should be understood that the use of "a" or "an" in this document, i.e., the singular, does not exclude the plural.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

At least some embodiments of the invention have industrial application in digital imaging.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST