3D semiconductor detector system
AssigneeSiSnap AB
InventorsMats Danielsson, Luca Terenzi
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A detector system for molecular imaging of a radionuclide comprises a 3D semiconductor detector comprising a plurality of sensor stacks of sensors made of a semiconductor material having an average atomic number Z below 40. A read-out circuitry connected to the pixels is configured to output, for each interaction induced by an incident gamma ray in the detector, a signal representative of a time, a position and an energy of the interaction in the detector. The interactions in the detector belonging to a same event induced by the incident gamma ray are predicted based on the output signals and used to estimate a direction of the incident gamma ray and reconstruct an image based on the estimated directions of incident gamma rays.
Claims28
A detector system for molecular imaging of a radionuclide, comprising:
- a three-dimensional (3D) semiconductor detector comprising a plurality of sensor stacks, wherein each sensor stack of the plurality of sensor stacks comprises a plurality of semiconductor sensors each comprising a plurality of pixels, wherein the plurality of semiconductor sensors is made of a semiconductor material having an average atomic number Z below 40;
- a read-out circuitry connected to the pixels in the 3D semiconductor detector and configured to output a pixel value from a pixel in a semiconductor sensor of the 3D semiconductor detector if the pixel value exceeds a cutoff threshold and if the pixel and at least one adjacent pixel in the semiconductor sensor both detect an interaction within a defined time interval, wherein pixel values are representative of a respective energy deposited at a pixel by an interaction induced by an incident gamma ray in the 3D semiconductor detector;
- at least one processor;
- and
- at least one memory comprising instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:
- predict, based on the pixel values output by the read-out circuitry, the interactions in the 3D semiconductor detector belonging to a same event induced by the incident gamma ray;
- estimate, based on the predicted interactions in the 3D semiconductor detector belonging to the same event, a direction of the incident gamma ray inducing the same event;
- and
- reconstruct an image based on the estimated directions of incident gamma rays.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.