Challenges of pixelated scintillators in medical X-ray imaging

In current X-ray detectors, spatial resolution is limited by optical photon diffusion in the scintillator layer. A method to prevent photons from reaching neighboring pixels is the embedding of opaque walls within the scintillator. The realization of a pixelated scintillator faces, several challenges to obtain a good imaging performance, especially a high detective quantum efficiency (DQE). To maintain a high X-ray absorption, a high volume fill-factor is required. Losses of secondary light quanta have to be kept to a minimum to maintain an acceptable gain. Moreover, the signal per primary X-ray quanta should have a low variation with the depth of interaction to avoid a high secondary quantum noise (Swank-noise). Light scatter inside the scintillator causes both enhanced light loss and Swank-noise. For this work, a pixelated scintillator has been built from electrochemically etched silicon pore arrays, which are filled with cesium iodide (CsI:Tl). With a pixel pitch of 50 μm, wall thicknesses of 6.5 μm and pore depths of nearly 400 μm are achieved. The modulation transfer function is 40% at 4 lp/mm and 10–20% at 8 lp/mm. The ability of the pores to transport light quanta from their origin to the photodiode is expressed in a light guiding efficiency, which is determined as 6.5% in the better cases. The maximal DQE(0) is 0.28, while the X-ray absorption with the given thickness and fill-factor is 0.57. The difference is explained by high Swank-noise due to optical scatter inside the CsI-filled pores, in agreement to Monte-Carlo simulations of the photon transport inside the pore array structure.