Basic Principles of Digital

Radiography
 Digital Radiography
• It is any image acquisition process that
produces an electronic image that can be
viewed and manipulated on a computer.
• This means both computed radiography
and digital radiography
• In radiology, the term was first used in
1970’s for CT.
Digital Radiography
 Digital Image Characteristics
• A digital image is a matrix of picture
elements or pixels.
– A matrix is a box of cells with numeric value
arranged in rows and columns.
– The numeric value represents the level of
brightness or intensity at that location in the
image.
– An image is formed by a matrix of pixels. The
size of the matrix is described by the number
of pixels in the rows and columns
Digital image Characteristic
 Picture Elements or Pixels
• Each pixel in the matrix is capable of representing
a wide range of shades of gray from white to
black.
• Pixel Pitch - distance between center of one pixel
and the center of an adjacent pixel.
• Bit depth
– the number of bits per pixel that determines the shade
of the pixel
– bit depth is expressed as 2 to the power of n
– Most digital radiography systems use an 8, 10, or 12
bit depth
• The level of gray will be a determining factor in the
overall quality of the image.
 Picture Elements or Pixels
Pixel Pitch

Pixel
 Pixel Pitch

10 5 mm
mm

30 60
px px

60
30 px
px
 Matrix
• A square arrangement of numbers of
columns and rows
• In Digital Imaging, it corresponds to
discrete values.
• Each box within the matrix corresponds to
– A specific location in the image
– A specific area of the patient’s tissue.
 Field of View
• It describes how much of the patient is
imaged in the matrix.
• The larger the FOV, the greater the
amount of body part is included in the
image
• The matrix size and the FOV are
independent.
– Changes in either the FOV or the matrix size
will change the pixel size.
 Relationship of FOV, Matrix size
and Pixel Size
• If the FOV increases and the matrix size
remains the same, the pixel size
increases.
– FOV and pixel size is directly proportional to
each other
• If the FOV remains the same and the
matrix size changes, the pixel size
changes
– Matrix size and pixel size is inversely
proportional to each other.
 Matrix size and Imaging Plate
• CR equipment vary in the method of
sampling IPs of different sizes.
• If the spatial resolution is fixed, the image
matrix size is simply proportional to the IP
size.
• If the matrix size is fixed, changing the
size of the IP would affect the spatial
resolution of the digital image.
 Detective Quantum Efficiency
• It is a measure of how efficient a digital
detector can convert the X-rays collected
from the patient into a useful image.
• The DQE for CR is much better than for
film-screen systems.
• The DQE for a perfect digital detector is 1
or 100%
 Exposure Index
• The exposure index is a measure of the
amount of exposure on the image
receptor.
• In screen film radiography it is clear if the
image receptor is too bright or too dark.
• In digital radiography the image brightness
can be altered.
 Spatial Resolution
• The ability of the imaging system to allow
two adjacent structures to be visualized as
being separate or distinctness of an image
to the image.
• Spatial frequency
– It describes the spatial resolution of the image
and is expressed in line pairs/mm
– It does not refer to the size of the image but to
the line pair
 Spatial Resolution
• Modular Transfer function
– Measures the ability of the system to preserve
signal contrast.
– Ideal expression of digital detector image
resolution
– Higher MTF values with Higher Spatial
Frequencies will show better spatial resolution
– Higher MTF values with Low Spatial
Frequency will show better contrast resolution.
 Spatial Resolution
• Digital imaging
– described as the ability of an imaging system
to accurately display objects in two
dimensions.
• In film/screen imaging the crystal size and
thickness of the phosphor layer determine
resolution; in digital imaging pixel size will
determine resolution.
 Contrast Resolution
• It is the ability to distinguish shades of
gray from black to white.
• All digital imaging systems have a greater
contrast resolution than screen film
radiography.
• The principal descriptor for contrast
resolution is called the dynamic range
 Dynamic Range
• It refers the number of gray shades that an
imaging system can produce.
• It refers to the range of exposure intensities
an image receptor can accurately detect.
• The dynamic range of digital imaging system
is identified by the bit capacity of each pixel.
• Digital IR has a large exposure latitude (wider
dynamic range)
• Typical digital systems will respond to
exposures as low as 100 µR and as high as
100mR
 Signal to Noise Ratio
• It is a method of describing the strength of
the radiation exposure compared with the
amount of noise apparent in a digital
image.
• Increasing the SNR improves the quality of
the digital image.
 Digital Receptors

DR

Direct Indirect

Non Scintillation
TFT CCD
Layer
 Digital Receptors
• Flat Panel Detectors
– solid-state IRs that are constructed with layers
in order to receive the x-ray photons and
convert them to electrical charges for storage
and readout
– Signal storage, signal readout, and digitizing
electronics are integrated into the flat panel
device
– TFT array is divided into square detector
elements (DEL), each having a capacitor to
store electrical charges and a switching
transistor for readout
 Digital Receptors
• Flat Panel Detectors
– Flat panel systems are highly dose-efficient
and provide quicker access to images
compared with CR and film-screen.
– spatial resolution of flat panel receptors is
generally superior to the spatial resolution of
CR.
• A system that uses a smaller DEL size has
improved spatial resolution.
Indirect: Thin Flat Panel

Scintillation Layer

Photodiode

Thin Flat Panel Transistor

 Indirect: Thin Flat Panel
• Scintillation Layer
• This is the layer wherein x-rays are converted into a
small burst of light energy.
• It is either made from CsI or Gd
• Photodiode Layer
– It converts the incoming light photons into
electric charge.
– Made up of Amorphous Silicon
 Indirect: Thin Flat Panel
• TFT layer
– Its is comprised of an array or matrix of digital
elements (DEL)
– Each DEL is comprised of a capture element
or pixel detector which is the active element
within each DEL
Indirect Capture: Thin Film
Transistor
Storage Capacitor

Switch
 Fill Factor
• The ability of each DEL to produce a high
spatial resolution is designated as the
percentage of active pixel area within each
DEL
• It is expressed as Fill factor= Sensing area of
the pixel /Area of the pixel
• The fill factor affects both the spatial
resolution and contrast resolution
• Fill factor, Spatial resolution and contrast
resolution has a direct relationship.
 Charged Couple Device
• It was developed in the 1970’s as a highly
sensitive device for military use.
• It is the oldest indirect conversion
radiography system to acquire a digital
image.
• It is a silicon-based semiconductor
• CCD has three principal advantages.
– Sensitivity
– Dynamic Range
– Size
 Charged Couple Device
• Most chips range from 1 to 2 cm with pixel
sizes of 100um x 100 um
• The image has to be matched to the size
of the CCD, which implies that the image
must be reduced in size.
• CCD technology uses lenses of fiberoptics
so that the image would match the
receptor size.
 Charge Couple Device
• X-ray interacts with the scintillation
material w/ scintillation material and the
signal is transmitted by lenses or
fiberoptics to the charged couple device.
• During transmission process the lenses
reduces the size of the projected visible
light image to one or more capacitor that
convert light to electric signal.
 Structure and Function
• A CCD is made up of a photosensitive
receptor and electronic substrate material
in a silicon chip.
• The chip is made up of poly silicon layer, a
silicon dioxide and a silicon substrate.
 Structure and Function
• Detector Elements contains three
electrodes that holds electrons in an
electric potential well.
• These DELs are formed by voltage gates
that at read out are opened and closed like
gates to allow flow of electrons.
 Structure and Function
• In collecting the charge on the silicon
chips, there is a need to change the
voltage sign on the electrodes within each
DEL
• This is commonly known as the bucket
brigade scheme
• There are issues in using CCD that it can
cause the blooming effect.
Charge Couple Device

Scintillation

Sensor Chip
 Complementary Metal Oxide
Semiconductors
• This was developed by NASA
• It is highly efficient and takes up less fill
spaces than charged couple device
• It is a semiconductor that conducts
electricity in some conditions but not
others.
– It is a good medium for the control of electrical
current
• Semiconductor materials do not conduct electricity
well on their own .
– Impurities and dopants , added to increase conductivity.
 Complementary Metal Oxide
Semiconductors
• Typical semiconductor materials are:
– Antimony, arsenic, boron, carbon, germanium,
silicon, sulfur
– Silicon is the most common semiconductors in
integrated circuits
• Common dopants of silicon
– Gallium arsenide, indium antimonide and
oxides of most metals.
 Complementary Metal Oxide
Semiconductors
• When the semiconductors are doped they
become a full-scale conductor with extra
electrons becoming negative charge or
positive charge carriers.
• CMOS image sensors convert light to
electrons that are stored in the capacitor
located at each pixel.
• During readout, the charge is sent across the
chip and read at one corner of the array.
• An ADC turns the pixel value into a digital
value.
Non-Scintillation

Semiconductor

Thin Film Transistor

 Non Scintillation
• Semiconductor
– Amorphous Selenium
• It is the both the capture element and coupling
element
• the thickness of the amorphous selenium is
relatively high approximately 200 um thick and
sandwiched between charged electrons.
• An electrical field is applied across the selenium
layer to limit lateral diffusion of electrons as they
migrate toward the thin-film transistor array. By this
means, excellent spatial resolution is maintained