CMOS APS光电器件单粒子效应电荷收集特性仿真分析

卫星在轨飞行期间,星载电子器件将不可避免地遭受空间带电粒子的辐射,随着半导体技术的不断进步,电子器件的单粒子效应敏感性越来越高,已经成为一个影响其可靠性的重要因素。互补金属氧化物半导体(Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor Active Pixel Sensor,CMOS APS)光电器件因其低功耗、小体积和微重量的优点已成为遥感卫星成像的重要发展方向。为获取CMOS APS光电器件在遭受带电粒子辐射后性能变化的特征,在分析SOI MOSFET(Silicon on Insulator Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor)结构和特性的基础上,通过理论分析和数值模拟,分析了重离子在CMOS APS光电器件中引起的辐射损伤,分析晶体管和光电二极管的电荷收集机理。通过TCAD(Technology Computer Aided Design)模拟了电荷收集过程,分析了影响漏电流变化的直接因素,获得了重离子LET(Linear Energy Transition)值、入射位置以及器件偏置电压与漏电流的相互关系,为后续CMOS APS的重离子模拟试验以及抗辐射加固设计提供了理论支撑。     

Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon Sensor Deposited on Integrated Circuit for Radiation Detection

Radiation detectors based on the deposition of a 10 to 30 mum thick hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) sensor directly on top of integrated circuits have been developed. The performance of this detector technology has been assessed for the first time in the context of particle detectors. Three different circuits were designed in a quarter micron CMOS technology for these studies. The so-called TFA (Thin-Film on ASIC) detectors obtained after deposition of a-Si:H sensors on the developed circuits are presented. High internal electric fields (10⁴ to 10⁵ V/cm) can be built in the a-Si:H sensor and overcome the low mobility of electrons and holes in this amorphous material. However, the deposited sensor's leakage current at such fields turns out to be an important parameter which limits the performance of a TFA detector. Its detailed study is presented as well as the detector's pixel segmentation. Signal induction by generated free carrier motion in the a-Si:H sensor has been characterized using a 660 nm pulsed laser. Results obtained with a TFA detector based on an ASIC integrating 5 ns peaking time pre-amplifiers are presented. Direct detection of 10 to 50 keV electrons and 5.9 keV X-rays with the detectors are then shown to understand the potential and the limitations of this technology for radiation detection.     

辐射导致CMOS图像传感器暗电流随机电报信号

针对空间和核工业应用中辐射引起CMOS图像传感器产生暗电流随机电报信号（DC RTS）问题,对0.18 μm CMOS图像传感器进行不同能量质子、γ射线的辐照试验,辐照后对DC RTS特征参数进行分析。试验结果表明：由于位移损伤和电离总剂量效应产生的RTS缺陷不同,两种DC RTS在台阶、最大跳变幅度、平均时间等参数存在差异。相比于位移损伤产生的DC RTS,电离总剂量产生的DC RTS具有跳变幅度小、平均时间长的波动特点,导致此类DC RTS难以检测分析。像素积分期间传输栅电压会对电离总剂量诱发的DC RTS产生影响。上述工作为深入认识CMOS图像传感器DC RTS现象、探索相关抑制技术提供重要参考。     

Characterization of dose delivery in a hard X-ray irradiation facility

The Radiation Bioengineering Laboratory at Seoul National University (SNU) operates a user-constructed hard X-ray irradiation facility for radiation biology and radiation therapy physics studies. The system package of YXLON model 450-D08 operating at the anode voltage of up to 450 kV is a key part of the facility, which enables in vitro cell irradiation and animal irradiation for in vivo studies. In this article, dose delivery in the hard X-ray irradiation facility was characterized in terms of the dose vs. operational parametric combination of the facility. The operational parameters included beam tube anode voltage, beam tube current, irradiation time, and beam exit-to-sample distance. Bremsstrahlung X-rays at energy below approximately 20 keV were filtered out by a 3 mm-thick aluminum plate fitted over the 5 mm-thick beryllium window. Gafchromic EBT films were used as radiation sensor materials in dose measurement. The characterization was validated via experimental observation of the in vitro biological responses of cells to radiation exposure. The biological responses obtained using the new hard X-ray irradiator were highly comparable with those obtained using a commercial gamma-ray irradiator.     

基于静态场景下不遮光CMOS摄像头的核辐射探测

CMOS传感器可与X/γ射线直接作用,因此存在利用分布广泛的监控摄像头进行核辐射探测的可能性。本文对静态场景下不遮光CMOS摄像头进行了初步实验验证:将约7.4×108 Bq的99 Tcm放射源置于罗技科技(Logitech)C170摄像头旁不同距离处,在静态场景下分别采集1 000帧视频图像,发现视频图像上产生了异常的随机亮斑。本文提出一种帧间差分、高斯平滑和阈值判断相结合的方法,甄别每帧图像是否含有随机亮斑,并采用TERRA-P多用途个人剂量报警仪进行了对比实验。实验结果表明:可见光图像上叠加的亮斑是由核辐射产生的,且每千帧视频图像中含亮斑帧数与辐射剂量率线性相关,相关系数R=0.99;本文提出的算法可有效甄别静态场景下不遮光CMOS摄像头所采集视频图像中的放射性事件,即实现了对核辐射的探测。未来将进一步优化视频处理算法,期望实现基于公共场所大量监控摄像头的低成本核辐射监测。     

Ultra fast electron beam X-ray computed tomography for two-phase flow measurement

Electron beam X-ray CT is a new technique for a fast measurement of multiphase flows with frame rates of 1000 images per second and more. It gives, in principle, quantitatively accurate images of the flow at high spatial resolution and it is non-intrusive since moderately radiation absorbing vessel walls can be penetrated by X-rays. However, on the road to a technical realisation of such a technique within a computed tomography system many problems have to be solved. As a first prototype for scientific flow measurement studies, we devised and built a fast scanned electron beam X-ray tomography scanner. The scanner consists of an electron beam unit that can be operated at up to 150 kV acceleration voltage and up to 65 mA electron beam current, with the required electron optics for beam adjustment, beam focusing and beam deflection unit and a fast circular CZT detector comprising 240 elements of 1.5 mm × 1.5 mm × 1.5 mm active pixel area. X-ray radiation is produced on a circular water cooled tungsten target. The CT system achieves up to 7000 frames per second with a spatial resolution of 1 mm. First two-phase flow experiments have been carried out on gas-water flows in bubble columns. Further, a vertical test section made of titanium alloy has been installed at the TOPFLOW facility and will be used in future to study the evolution of two-phase gas-water pipe flow at high pressures and temperatures.     

CMOS工艺X射线图像传感器设计

本文设计了一种不需闪烁体或增感屏,直接对X射线进行探测成像的线阵图像传感器,对其电荷收集进行了理论分析,设计了辐射加固的光敏元结构。采用0.5 μm DPTM CMOS工艺,针对单个像元内含不同个数光敏元的结构进行了流片和X射线实验测试。测试结果表明：该图像传感器暗信号电压约为1 V,随像元内光敏元个数的增加暗信号电压增大;饱和输出电压为2.4 V;随光敏元个数的增加,电荷收集总量增加,总寄生电容也同时增加,所设计的单个像元含3个光敏元的结构能得到相对更大的有效输出电压。     

Development of a new X-ray source using backscattered X-ray with the use of a cold cathode

The development of an intense X-ray source using backscattered X-ray produced using an advanced electrode configuration is described. The electrodes were composed of field emitters deposited on a wire mounted on a perforated plate as the cathode and a copper plate as the anode. Electrons from these emitters collided with the copper plate and X-ray was generated at collision points. The backscattered X-ray in the direction normal to the electron trajectory through a hole in the anode escaped from the vacuum chamber through a beryllium window. Continuous and characteristic X-rays were detected at an applied voltage lower than that of a conventional X-ray source from 3.0 to 9.4 kV, respectively. Moreover, the X-ray dosage measured with a survey meter reached 0.95 mSv/h at 5.0 kV of applied voltage. The transmission images of three types of material used as an X-ray source for the X-ray imaging system indicate three advantages; low power consumption, focal point controllable by adjusting applied voltage, and photographable motion picture of X-ray transmission.     

基于局部关联信息的视频监控图像中γ辐射噪斑的消除方法

为消除γ辐射环境视频监控图像内大量形状不规则、分布无规律、能量不均衡的噪斑,提出一种利用图像局部相邻像素关联信息去除噪斑的方法。首先根据γ辐射环境视频监控图像噪斑像素值的突变特性分割噪斑区域,再利用噪斑与当前帧噪斑相邻干净区域的局部关联性及噪斑与相邻帧相同坐标干净区域像素点的局部关联性,以两个干净区域像素值为基准、像素值差值为关联度,采用步进式方法修复噪斑区域。实验结果表明,与传统的图像噪斑去除算法相比,本方法在量化指标和视觉感知上均有较大提高。该噪斑消除方法可有效去除γ辐射环境视频监控图像的噪斑,保留图像细节纹理信息。     

X-ray imaging sensor using CdTe crystals for dual energy X-rayabsorptiometry

The authors have designed and built a multi-channel cadmium telluride detector array to test its suitability as an X-ray imaging sensor for dual energy X-ray absorptiometry. The X-ray imaging sensor was constructed of 64 CdTe detector elements with high frequency current amplifiers, discriminators, and counters. The detector elements were operated in the photon counting mode and output pulses induced by the X-ray photons were separated into two energy levels according to their height. The energy resolution of the detector elements was 18.7% to 59.54 keV gamma-rays. In combination with a K-edge filter to produce dual energy X-rays, the X-ray imaging sensor was able to generate two energy X-ray images simultaneously over a short time. By applying a simple energy subtraction method to these images, bone phantoms were distinguished from the overlying tissue phantoms and their densities could be successfully measured. It was clearly demonstrated that this X-ray imaging sensor using CdTe crystals has good potential for high speed bone densitometry     

Investigation of optimal scanning protocol for X-ray computed tomography polymer gel dosimetry

X-ray computed tomography is one of the potential tool used to evaluate the polymer gel dosimeters in three dimensions. The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors which affect the image noise for X-ray CT polymer gel dosimetry. A cylindrical water filled phantom was imaged with single slice Siemens Somatom Emotion CT scanner. The imaging parameters like tube voltage, tube current, slice scan time, slice thickness and reconstruction algorithm were varied independently to study the dependence of noise on each other. Reductions of noise with number of images to be averaged and spatial uniformity of the image were also investigated. Normoxic polymer gel PAGAT was manufactured and irradiated using Siemens Primus linear accelerator. The radiation induced change in CT number was evaluated using X-ray CT scanner. From this study it is clear that image noise is reduced with increase in tube voltage, tube current, slice scan time, slice thickness and also reduced with increasing the number of images averaged. However to reduce the tube load and total scan time, it was concluded that tube voltage of 130 kV, tube current of 200 mA, scan time of 1.5 s, slice thickness of 3 mm for high dose gradient and 5 mm for low dose gradient were optimal scanning protocols for this scanner. Optimum number of images to be averaged was concluded to be 25 for X-ray CT polymer gel dosimetry. Choice of reconstruction algorithm was also critical. From the study it is also clear that CT number increase with imaging tube voltage and shows the energy dependency of polymer gel dosimeter. Hence for evaluation of polymer gel dosimeters with X-ray CT scanner needs the optimization of scanning protocols to reduce the image noise.     

A simulation study on the influence of scattered X-rays in energy-resolved computed tomography

In computed tomography (CT), scattered X-rays are known to cause image quality degradation including low contrast and poor uniformity. Energy-resolved CT (ERCT) is a specialized imaging method that utilizes the measured energy distribution and intensity of detected X-rays when creating images. The influence of scatter in ERCT is expected to differ from conventional CT, which only relies on energy (charge) integration during detection. Monte Carlo simulations were performed with different X-ray beam qualities and contrast agents to determine the influence of scatter on ERCT images. The simulation geometry included a 16 cm diameter cylindrical polymethylmethacrylate phantom containing a 1 cm diameter region filled with iodine or gold contrast agent solution at the center. A detector array collected the photon energy, position, and number of scattering. The image contrast and scatter artifact in the simulated ERCT images were compared as a function of photon energy range. Results show that the scatter artifact in ERCT is correlated to energy and is affected by the beam hardness. Care should be taken while obtaining ERCT images in the low-energy region, specifically near the K-edge of iodine.     

Low-dose exposure energy-resolved X-ray computed tomography using a contrast agent with a high-energy K-edge

X-ray computed tomography (CT) with iodine contrast agent is widely employed to locate cancers. However, this method has shortcomings such as high-radiation dose exposure, iodine side effects, and a beam hardening effect. We have been working on the energy-resolved CT measurement method using a novel X-ray detection system, the “transXend” detector, which measures X-rays as electric currents and gives the energy distribution of incident X-rays after analysis. In the present study, we propose a method for low-dose exposure CT that involves the combination of the energy-resolved CT method, which is free from the beam hardening effect, and a harmless contrast agent with high-energy K-edge absorption, such as gold nanoparticles expected as a future contrast agent. Comparisons of radiation dose exposures as functions of aluminum filter thickness at the exit aperture of an X-ray tube and the K-edge energies of contrast agents are described.     

Development of precise energy spectrum measurement technique for high-power pulsed X-ray sources for industrial use

It is difficult to obtain an accurate energy spectrum by measurement for X-rays which are produced by linear accelerators because so many photons are emitted within a very short period and the photons have energies in a wide range. In order to solve the problem, we developed a new technique utilizing the Bayesian estimation method combined with attenuation curve measurement using a step-shaped attenuation material. We experimentally confirmed the validity of the presented technique for an X-ray computed tomography (CT) system. By using the accurate energy information of emitted X-rays obtained by the developed technique, the quality of non-destructive inspection images can be expected to be improved for industrial X-ray radiography, X-ray CT and so on, using high-power X-ray sources.     

Computed tomography reconstruction from two transmission measurements for iodine-marked cancer detection

The authors invented the transXend detector, which measures X-rays as electric currents, and then gives the energy distribution of the X-rays after an unfolding process. In a previous paper, it was shown that the material thickness distributions can be estimated with the transXend detector by using reference points plotted from the electric current ratios, such as the I ₂/I ₁ ? I ₃/I ₁ graph, where I_i denotes the electric current measured by the i-th segment of the transXend detector. In this paper, the tomographic images of iodine, aluminum, and the acrylic those surround the other two materials are reconstructed from their material thickness distributions, which are estimated from two X-ray incidence directions. The X-ray event ratios are also used to estimate the material thickness distributions.     

Low-Power Amplifier-Discriminators for High Time Resolution Detection

Low-power amplifier-discriminators based on a so-called NINO architecture have been developed with high time resolution for the readout of radiation detectors. Two different circuits were integrated in the NINO13 chip, processed in IBM 130 nm CMOS technology. The LCO version (Low Capacitance and consumption Optimization) was designed for potential use as front-end electronics in the Gigatracker of the NA62 experiment at CERN. It was developed as pixel readout for solid-state pixel detectors to permit minimum ionizing particle detection with less than 180 ps rms resolution per pixel on the output pulse, for power consumption below 300 muW per pixel. The HCO version (High Capacitance Optimization) was designed with 4 mW power consumption per channel to provide timing resolution below 20 ps rms on the output pulse, for charges above 10 fC. Results presented show the potential of the LCO and HCO circuits for the precise timing readout of solid-state detectors, vacuum tubes or gas detectors, for applications in high energy physics, bio-technologies or medical imaging.     

Physical Reasoning to Synchronize Electrical Signals and Related Diagnostics in Plasma Focus Devices

Plasma Focus (PF) devices as well as other similar pulsed discharge devices requires a variety of diagnostics for their proper control and optimization, including the voltage between electrodes, the time derivative of the discharge current, detection of X-rays and neutron emissions, and pulsed laser images (Shadow, Schlieren, interferograms). This article discusses the problem of the time reference of all these outputs and proposes specific techniques for synchronizing them based on sound physical grounds. The foundations of synchronization criterion are verified in several experiments on PF devices.     

Counting and Integrating Readout for Direct Conversion X-ray Imaging: Concept, Realization and First Prototype Measurements

A novel signal processing concept for X-ray imaging with directly converting pixelated semiconductor sensors is presented. The novelty of this approach compared to existing concepts is the combination of charge integration and photon counting in every single pixel. Simultaneous operation of both signal processing chains extends the dynamic range beyond the limits of the individual schemes and allows determination of the mean photon energy. Medical applications such as X-ray computed tomography can benefit from this additional spectral information through improved contrast and the ability to determine the hardening of the tube spectrum due to attenuation by the scanned object. A prototype chip in 0.35-micrometer technology has been successfully tested. The pixel electronics are designed using a low-swing differential current mode logic. Key element is a configurable feedback circuit for the charge sensitive amplifier which provides continuous reset, leakage current compensation and replicates the input signal for the integrator. This paper will discuss measurement results of the prototype structures and give details on the circuit design     

CMOS APS数字模组辐射环境中的屏蔽加固

对互补金属氧化物半导体（CMOS）有源像素传感器（APS）数字模组的辐射耐受性进行了研究,设计并制造了屏蔽加固结构。利用蒙特卡罗模拟软件对屏蔽结构的材料、挡板尺寸以及前挡板开孔孔径进行了设计和计算,并对所设计屏蔽结构的屏蔽性能,加固前后传感器模组的工作寿命以及辐射损伤模式进行了实验研究。实验结果表明:所设计屏蔽结构能够使APS的工作寿命提高约1倍;屏蔽后,主板的受照剂量率约为无屏蔽时的1/3,但其工作寿命仅提高约1倍,这可能是由于模组上各器件的耐辐射性能以及受照剂量存在差异导致的;当辐照总剂量小于50?Gy时暗电流几乎无变化,当总剂量大于150?Gy后APS各像素的暗电流逐渐增大。      

Low Exposure X-ray Transmission Measurements for Contrast Media Detection with Filtered X-rays

A feasibility study of X-ray transmission measurements for contrast media with less exposure using filtered X-rays and their energy information is described. Based on measurements of the energy spectra of La-filtered X-rays, sensitivity to the contrast media and the relative quantity of dose exposure of filtered X-rays as the ratio to white X-rays are shown. The dose exposure for the measurement of iodine contrast media is reduced by more than 50% with a 400/xm thick La filter. By using a filter with atomic number close to that of iodine such as Cs and Ba, a greater reduction in dose exposure with a smaller increase in the current of the X-ray tube is expected.