Dental caries is a persistent public health problem that impacts a large fraction of the US population. Nearly alladults in the United States are considered at risk of developing tooth decay, and for children it is a commonchronic disease. Though widely and routinely used, there are always concerns about patient exposure to X-raysduring radiographic imaging - a concern especially heightened with children.Radiation Monitoring Devices (RMD) proposes to develop an improved digital X-ray detector for dentalradiography that will retain all the benefits of a current digital technology, while improving sensitivity andreducing patient dose. The device will involve the integration of two technologies - silicon based imaging arraysand semiconductor x-ray conversion layers. The silicon capabilities are well understood, with CCD and CMOSdevices well established in dental imaging. The application of a semiconductor conversion layer is the moreinnovative and challenging aspect of the concept.RMD's innovation is to replace the commonly used CsI or amorphous selenium X-ray receptors with thesemiconductor thallium bromide (TlBr). TlBr will provide a much greater dose efficiency and higher imagecontrast. The advantage to dental imaging is that dentists will get the high resolution images that they areaccustomed to, but now with a much lower dose to the patient.During Phase I, RMD will develop the processes to fabricate high quality films of TlBr and compare thetechnology to existing detector films to demonstrate the superiority of TlBr. The work plan will encompass filmdeposition, investigation of compatible electrode layers to work in conjunction with the TlBr, identification andmitigation strategies of technical challenges that arise, and completion of a wide range of electrical and physicaltests to gauge X-ray sensitivity and image quality. In Phase II RMD will optimize the processes, fabricate X-rayimaging detectors on KA Imaging CMOS ROICs and fully characterize a complete detector system. The result ofthis research will be a new digital radiography detector with comparable or better image quality and significantlylower patient dose than currently used detectors.
Public Health Relevance Statement: Research & Related Other Project Information - Project Narrative This project is to develop a new construction of dental imaging technology that can provide both high resolution and high efficiency, the latter being important to reducing radiation dose from routine x-ray examinations. The innovative sensor will also be applicable to medical disciplines such as mammography and micro computed tomography.
Project Terms: <21+ years old><0-11 years old>|
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