Flat X-ray detectors based on CsI:Tl scintillators and amorphous silicon photodiodes are known to exhibit temporal artefacts (ghost images) which decay over time. Previously, these temporal artefacts have been attributed mainly to residual signals from the amorphous silicon photodiodes. More detailed experiments presented here show that a second class of effects, the so-called gain effects, also contributes significantly to the observed temporal artefacts. Both the residual signals and the photodiode gain effect have been characterized under various exposure conditions in the study presented here. The results of the experiments quantitatively show the decay of the temporal artefacts. Additionally, the influence of the detector's reset light on both effects in the photodiode has been studied in detail. The data from the measurements is interpreted based on a simple trapping model which suggests a strong link between the photodiode residual signals and the photodiode gain effect. For the residual signal effect a possible correction scheme is described. Furthermore, the relevance of the remaining temporal artefacts for the applications is briefly discussed for both the photodiode residual signals and the photodiode gain effect.

Date Published: 28 June 2001
PDF: 12 pages
Proc. SPIE 4320, Medical Imaging 2001: Physics of Medical Imaging, (28 June 2001); doi: 10.1117/12.430913

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 4320:
Medical Imaging 2001: Physics of Medical Imaging
Larry E. Antonuk; Martin Joel Yaffe, Editor(s)