High-resolution, high DQE X-ray detector for imaging systems

This invention, the “Charge Cloud Tracker” is a fast, low-cost, strip geometry x-ray detector that is predicted to provide limiting resolution on the order of 5 microns, with very high x-ray detection efficiency. This system has a high-speed electronics and data acquisition system that is designed to process every single photon-created charge cloud to determine the photon's energy and position of interaction. The basic detector unit can be fabricated with standard semiconductor manufacturing techniques using one of several different materials, thereby enabling clinical applications at x-ray energies ranging from 15 keV to 50 keV. The detector has a range of clinical and preclinical applications, including phase-contrast imaging scanning-slot mammography, small-animal CT, breast CT and clinical CT.