Progress in the development of large-area modular 64/spl times/64 CdZnTe imaging arrays for nuclear medicine

• Published in: 1997 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium Conference Record Vol. 1; pp. 276 - 280 vol.1
• Main Authors: Matherson, K.J., Barber, H.B., Barrett, H.H., Eskin, J.D., Dereniak, E.L., Marks, D.G., Woolfenden, J.M., Young, E.T., Augustine, F.L.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 1997
• Subjects: Biomedical electrodes; Circuits; Gamma ray detection; Gamma ray detectors; Multiplexing; Nuclear imaging; Nuclear medicine; Optical imaging; Prototypes; Sensor arrays
• ISBN: 0780342585; 9780780342583
• ISSN: 1082-3654; 2577-0829
• DOI: 10.1109/NSSMIC.1997.672584

Previous efforts by our group have demonstrated the potential of hybrid semiconductor detector arrays for use in gamma-ray imaging applications. In this paper, we describe progress in the development of a prototype imaging system consisting of a 64/spl times/64-pixel CdZnTe detector array mated to a multiplexer readout circuit that was custom designed for our nuclear medicine application. The detector array consists of a 0.15 cm thick slab of CdZnTe which has a 64/spl times/64 array of 380 /spl mu/m square pixel electrodes on one side produced by photolithography; the other side has a continuous electrode biased at -150 V. Electrical connections between the detector electrodes and corresponding multiplexer bump pads are made with indium bump bonds. Although the CdZnTe detector arrays characterized in this paper are room-temperature devices, a slight amount of cooling is necessary to reduce thermally generated dark current in the detectors. Initial tests show that this prototype imager functions well with more than 90% of its pixels operating. The device is an excellent imager; phantom images have a spatial resolution of 1.5 mm, limited by the collimator bore.