Scintillating glass pixelated imager

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10330798-B2
Application number	US-201615089422-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 1, 2016
Priority date	Apr 1, 2016
Publication date	Jun 25, 2019
Grant date	Jun 25, 2019

Abstract

In a method of making pixelated scintillators, a block of an amorphous scintillator material is divided into plural sections. The plural sections of the block are rejoined with plural first reflective septa to form an assembly. In the assembly, each of the plural first reflective septa separates two adjacent sections of the block. The assembly is then divided into plural sections in a way such that each of the plural sections of the block is divided into plural pixels. The plural sections of the assembly are rejoined with plural second reflective septa. Each of the plural second reflective septa separates two adjacent sections of the assembly, forming an array comprising plural rows and columns of pixels of the amorphous scintillator material. In the array, each pixel is separated from adjacent pixels by a portion of at least one of the plural first reflective septa and at least one of the second reflective septa.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of fabricating pixelated scintillators, comprising:
dividing a block of an amorphous scintillator material into plural sections, each of the plural sections of the amorphous scintillator material having a thickness configured to generate light photons from x-rays having a megavolt energy, wherein the amorphous scintillator material comprises scintillating glass;
rejoining the plural sections of the block with plural first reflective septa to form an assembly, wherein in the assembly each of the plural first reflective septa separates two adjacent sections of the block;
dividing the assembly into plural sections, wherein the assembly is divided such that each of the plural sections of the block is divided into plural pixels;
rejoining the plural sections of the assembly with plural second reflective septa to form an array, wherein in the array each of the plural second reflective septa separates two adjacent sections of the assembly thereby forming the array comprising plural rows and columns of pixels of the amorphous scintillator material, wherein each pixel is separated from adjacent pixels by a portion of at least one of the plural first reflective septa and at least one of the plural second reflective septa, wherein the pixels have a pixel pitch, and the array has an aspect ratio of the thickness to the pixel pitch ranging from 1:1 to 50:1.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the amorphous scintillator material comprises silicate or borate glass incorporated with one or more rare earth scintillation activators.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the amorphous scintillator material comprises silicate or borate glass incorporated with terbium-, cerium- or europium-doped oxides.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the amorphous scintillator material comprises scintillating nanospheres having a size significantly less than a wavelength of light emitted by the scintillating nanospheres.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the amorphous scintillator material comprises poly vinyl toluene incorporated with a scintillating dopant material.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first and/or second reflective septa comprises a specular reflector.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the first and/or second reflective septa comprises a same material.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the specular reflector comprises aluminized polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or polyester.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein the specular reflector comprises silver, gold, and aluminum.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the rejoining of the plural sections of the block with the plural first reflective septa comprises placing the plural first reflective septa in between the plural sections of the block and bonding the plural first reflective septa to the plural sections of the block using an adhesive.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the rejoining of the plural sections of the block with the plural first reflective septa comprises applying a coating of the first reflective septa on the plural sections of the block, and bonding the plural sections of the block coated with the first reflective septa using an adhesive.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the rejoining of the plural sections of the assembly with the plural second reflective septa comprises placing the plural second reflective septa in between the plural sections of the assembly and bonding the plural second reflective septa to the plural sections of the assembly using an adhesive.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the rejoining of the plural sections of the assembly with the plural second reflective septa comprises applying a coating of the second reflective septa on the plural sections of the assembly, and bonding the plural sections of the assembly coated with the second reflective septa using an adhesive.

14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising assembling a plurality of the arrays in a two-dimensional configuration to form a pixelated scintillator layer.

Assignees

• Varian Med Sys Inc

Inventors

• Shedlock Daniel
• Star-Lack Josh M
• Wang Adam

Classifications

• G01T1/2018 Primary

  Scintillation-photodiode combinations · CPC title

• G01T1/247

  Detector read-out circuitry (for processing gain or off-set correction H04N) · CPC title

• G01T1/2002 Primary

  Optical details, e.g. reflecting or diffusing layers · CPC title

• G01T1/20183 Primary

  Arrangements for preventing or correcting crosstalk, e.g. optical or electrical arrangements for correcting crosstalk · CPC title