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US 7,982,191 B2Granted
Plasma panel based ionizing radiation detector
AssigneeIntegrated Sensors, LLC
InventorsPeter S. Friedman, Ray A. Stoller
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A radiation detector is formed from a plasma panel that includes a front substrate, and a back substrate that forms a generally parallel gap with the front substrate. X (column) and Y (row) electrodes are coupled by gas discharge events to define one or more pixels. Impedances are coupled to the X and Y electrodes, and a power supply is coupled to one or both types of electrodes. Discharge event detectors are coupled to the impedances.
Claims33
An ionizing-radiation counting detector comprising:
- a first substrate;
- a second substrate generally parallel to said first substrate and forming a gap with said first substrate;
- a gas contained within said gap;
- at least one first electrode coupled to said second substrate;
- at least one second electrode electrically coupled to said first electrode;
- a first impedance coupled to said first electrode;
- a power supply coupled to at least one of said electrodes;
- a first discharge event detector coupled to at least one of said electrodes for detecting a gas discharge counting event in said electrode;
- a plurality of pixels defined by said electrodes, each pixel capable of outputting a gas discharge counting event pulse upon interaction with ionizing-radiation, wherein each such gas discharge pulse is counted as having an approximately equal value;
- and
- circuitry for detecting if a gas discharge counting event pulse is output from the pixels, and for counting each such gas discharge pulse as an individual event.
8 more elements
A method of detecting ionizing-radiation based on a counting of gas discharge pulse events comprising:
- receiving ionizing-radiation at a first substrate of a plasma panel, said plasma panel having a second substrate with a gas contained within a gap between the first and second substrates;
- creating at least one free-electron within the gas in response to the receiving ionizing-radiation;
- causing a gas-discharge pulse counting event at a pixel site of an X-electrode and a Y-electrode within the plasma panel;
- and
- counting a plurality of said events with pulse detection circuitry coupled to at least one of said electrodes wherein each of said individual events is counted as having approximately an equal value.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.