Back to results
US 2010/0074396 A1Published application
Medical imaging with black silicon photodetector
AssigneeSiemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc.
InventorsMatthias J. Schmand, Debora Henseler, Ronald Grazioso, Nan Zhang, Mark S. Andreaco
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Medical imaging may be accomplished with a high photoconductive gain at a relatively low operating voltage by employing a black silicon photodetector and integrating CMOS components with elements of the photodetector.
Claims20
A medical imaging method comprising:
- receiving high-energy radiation from a patient body;
- converting the received radiation into visible light;
- exposing the visible light to a black silicon photodetector to produce an electrical signal;
- and
- generating an image of the patient body from the electrical signal.
2 more elements
A medical imaging device comprising:
- a high-energy radiation source;
- a scintillator;
- a black silicon photodetector optically coupled to the scintillator;
- and
- a read-out circuit coupled to the black silicon photodetector.
2 more elements
A medical imaging method for X-ray computed tomography comprising:
- transmitting X-rays from a radiation source through a body of a patient;
- applying a reverse bias voltage of about 3 Volts;
- sensing the transmitted radiation by a detector comprising:
- a pixellated scintillator, the scintillator converting the radiation into visible light;
- a pixellated photodetector, the photodetector converting the photons into an electrical signal, the photodetector comprising a silicon wafer and black silicon photodiodes formed on the silicon wafer;
- and
- CMOS components integrated with the black silicon photodiodes on the silicon wafer;
- digitizing the electrical signal from the detector on the silicon wafer;
- and
- generating an image of the patient body.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.