Application of Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon(a-Si : H) Radiation Detectors in Nuclear Medicine

A new gamma camera using a-Si : H photodetectors has been designed for the imaging of heart and other small organs. In this new design the photomultiplier tubes and the position sensing circuitry are replaced by 2-D array of a-Si : H p-i-n pixel photode tectors and readout circuitry which are built on a substrate. Without the photomultiplier tubes this camera is light weight, hence can be made portable. To predict the characteristics and the performance of this new gamma camera we did Monte Carlo simulations. In the simulations 128${\times}$128 imaging array of various pixel sixes were used. $\^$99m/Tc(140keV)and $\^$201/Tl(70keV) were used as radiation sources. From the simulations we could obtain the resolution of the camera and ther overall system, and the blurring effects due to scattering in the phantom. Using the Wiener filter for image processing, restoration of the blurred image could be achieved. Simulation results of a-Si : H based gamma camera were compared with those of a conwentional gamma camera.