Scintillator sealing for solid state X-ray detector

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9871073-B1
Application number	US-201615358352-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Nov 22, 2016
Priority date	Nov 22, 2016
Publication date	Jan 16, 2018
Grant date	Jan 16, 2018

Abstract

An x-ray detector may comprise: a moisture-impermeable substrate including a non-monolithic conductive portion integrated with a monolithic dielectric portion; a scintillator and an array of CMOS tiles positioned between the scintillator and the substrate; a cover positioned on the substrate and forming a seal therebetween that semi-hermetically encloses the scintillator and the array of CMOS tiles in a covered sealed region; and analog-to-digital electronics conductively coupled to the array of CMOS tiles and to the conductive portion, wherein the conductive portion transmits signals from the covered sealed region to beyond the seal without disrupting a semi-hermeticity of the seal. In this way, sealing of multiply-tiled CMOS image array detectors within a single x-ray detector can be more simply and reliably achieved.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An x-ray detector, comprising:
a moisture-impermeable substrate including a non-monolithic conductive portion integrated with a monolithic dielectric portion, wherein the non-monolithic conductive portion is impregnated in the monolithic dielectric portion;
a scintillator and an array of CMOS tiles positioned between the scintillator and the substrate;
a cover positioned on the substrate and forming a seal therebetween that semi-hermetically encloses the scintillator and the array of CMOS tiles in a covered sealed region; and
analog-to-digital electronics conductively coupled to the array of CMOS tiles and to the conductive portion, wherein the conductive portion transmits signals from the covered sealed region to beyond the seal without disrupting the semi-hermeticity of the seal.

2. The x-ray detector of claim 1 , wherein the conductive portion comprises a plurality of vias spanning a thickness of the monolithic dielectric portion.

3. The x-ray detector of claim 2 , wherein the conductive portion further comprises a plurality of conductive traces positioned at a substrate surface outside of the covered sealed region.

4. The x-ray detector of claim 3 , wherein the plurality of vias includes vias positioned in the substrate within a perimeter of the array of CMOS tiles and vias positioned in the substrate beyond the perimeter of the array of CMOS tiles.

5. The x-ray detector of claim 4 , wherein the analog-to-digital electronics are positioned internal to the covered sealed region, and conductively coupled to the plurality of vias.

6. The x-ray detector of claim 4 , wherein the analog-to-digital electronics are positioned external to the covered sealed region, and conductively coupled to the array of CMOS tiles by the plurality of vias.

7. The x-ray detector of claim 2 , wherein the plurality of vias is positioned in the substrate within a perimeter of the array of CMOS tiles.

8. The x-ray detector of claim 7 , wherein the array of CMOS tiles comprises a four-side buttable CMOS tile.

9. The x-ray detector of claim 8 , wherein the analog-to-digital electronics are positioned outside of the covered sealed region at an opposing surface of the substrate from the four-side buttable CMOS tile, and conductively coupled to the four-side buttable CMOS tile by the plurality of vias.

10. An x-ray detector, comprising:
a monolithic substrate comprising a moisture-impermeable and dielectric material;
a scintillator and a plurality of CMOS tiles, the plurality of CMOS tiles positioned between the scintillator and the monolithic substrate;
a cover positioned on the monolithic substrate and forming a seal therebetween that semi-hermetically seals the scintillator and the plurality of CMOS tiles between the cover and the monolithic substrate; and
a plurality of conductive connectors coupled to the monolithic substrate, the conductive connectors transmitting signals from the array of CMOS tiles external to the seal without disrupting the semi-hermeticity of the seal.

11. The x-ray detector of claim 10 , wherein the monolithic substrate comprises one of glass and ceramic.

12. The x-ray detector of claim 11 , wherein the seal comprises one of solder and a weld.

13. The x-ray detector of claim 12 , wherein the x-ray detector further comprises an insulating mask positioned between the seal and the monolithic substrate.

14. The x-ray detector of claim 13 , further comprising analog-to-digital electronics positioned external to the seal, and wherein the plurality of conductive connectors comprise an anisotropic conductor film bond between the analog-to-digital electronics and the monolithic substrate.

15. The x-ray detector of claim 14 , wherein the plurality of conductive connectors comprises one or more vias through a thickness of the monolithic substrate.

16. The x-ray detector of claim 11 , wherein the seal comprises one or a combination of a glass-to-glass semi-hermetic seal and a glass-to-ceramic semi-hermetic seal.

17. A method of assembling an x-ray detector, comprising:
forming a moisture-impermeable substrate by impregnating a monolithic dielectric material with a plurality of non-monolithic conductive structures;
positioning an array of CMOS tiles between a scintillator and the moisture-impermeable substrate;
attaching a cover to the moisture-impermeable substrate, thereby forming a seal that semi-hermetically seals the scintillator and the array of CMOS tiles therebetween; and
transmitting signals from the array of CMOS tiles external to the seal through the plurality of non-monolithic conductive structures without disrupting the semi-hermeticity of the seal.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein impregnating the monolithic dielectric material with the plurality of non-monolithic conductive structures comprises forming a plurality of conductive traces in the moisture-impermeable substrate, each of the plurality of conductive traces extending across the seal, and
further comprising conductively coupling analog-to-digital electronics to one or more of the conductive traces through an ACF bond, and conductively coupling the array of CMOS tiles through one or more wire bonds.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein impregnating the monolithic dielectric material with the plurality of non-monolithic conductive structures further comprises forming a plurality of vias spanning a thickness of the moisture-impermeable substrate, each of the vias conductively coupled to one or more of the conductive traces.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein forming the seal that semi-hermetically seals the scintillator and the array of CMOS tiles therebetween comprises semi-hermetically attaching an insulating mask to the moisture-impermeable substrate and forming the seal between the insulating mask and the cover.

Assignees

• Gen Electric

Inventors

• Konkle Nicholas
• Jacob Biju
• Albagli Douglas
• Hennessy William Andrew

Classifications

• G01T1/24

  with semiconductor detectors · CPC title

• H01L27/14618

  Electricity · mapped topic

• G01T1/2018

  Scintillation-photodiode combinations · CPC title

• H01L27/14663 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L27/14683

  Electricity · mapped topic