DQE of photoconductive x-ray image detectors: application to a-Se

A cascaded linear system model that includes incomplete charge collection and interaction-depth dependent conversion gain and charge collection stages is considered for the calculation of the zero spatial frequency detective quantum efficiency, DQE(0), of a direct conversion x-ray image detector. The model includes signal and noise propagations in the following stages: (1) x-ray attenuation, (2) conversion gain, (3) charge collection, and (4) addition of electronic noise. The primary x-ray photon interaction and also the secondary K-fluorescent photon interaction are included in determining the interaction-depth dependent conversion gain across the photoconductor. We examine DQE(0) of a-Se detectors for fluoroscopic applications as a function of photoconductor thickness with varying amounts of electronic noise and x-ray exposure under (a) constant field, and (b) constant voltage operating conditions. We show that there is an optimum photoconductor thickness, which maximizes DQE(0) under a constant voltage operation. The optimum thickness depends on the added electronic noise, x-ray exposure, charge collection efficiency and bias voltage. For the quantities mentioned above that are appropriate for a-Se detectors and fluoroscopic applications, the optimum a-Se thickness is ∼700 μm and the corresponding DQE is ∼0.4. It is shown that the DQE depends strongly on the charge transport properties of the photoconductors. With the radiation-receiving electrode negatively biased, the DQE is more dependent on electron lifetime (τ_e) than hole lifetime (τ_h). Full electron trapping, (τ_e = 0) reduces the DQE by about 73.3% at the detector thickness of 1000 μm whereas full hole trapping (τ_h = 0) reduces the DQE by about 43.7%. The DQE for the negative bias is lower than for the positive bias, and the difference in DQE, as expected, increases with the photoconductor thickness because of the asymmetric transport properties of holes and electrons in a-Se. The present results show that the DQE generally does not continue to improve with greater photoconductor thickness because of charge carrier trapping effects. The DQE of a polyenergetic x-ray beam is only slightly lower than a monoenergetic x-ray beam with the same average photon energy. The theoretical model shows a very good agreement with the experimental DQE versus exposure characteristics published in the literature.