MI-3 Plus

CMOS有源像素传感器（APS）以其卓越的性能、灵活性和与采集和处理要求的紧密集成，正在彻底改变成像的许多方面。他们的进步在很大程度上是由于主流CMOS技术的进步。业界专注于为数码相机和移动电话等大众市场开发CMOS成像仪。在MI-3内部，我们汇集了足够的技术专业知识和用户，将APS技术用于广泛的科学领域。这个名为MI-3 Plus的项目将推进这项技术的一个方面，即实现抗辐射、约12平方厘米的晶圆级成像仪，专门为科学和临床应用而设计。在此过程中，我们直接解决了EPSRC硅技术大挑战（2008）中提出的挑战之一-用于医疗应用和爆炸物和武器成像的大型成像阵列。这种大型成像仪将能够处理超过10 MRad的累积辐射剂量，尺寸约为12 cm x 12 cm，并包含可编程的帧内重置和分帧，以应对许多医学/科学应用中发现的图像强度的广泛动态。这将有可能平铺这些成像仪，具有最小的键合间隙，以生产躯干宽的无透镜系统，用于放射照相等。成像仪和配套采集系统将在多个关键应用领域进行试验，即：*使用实验室和同步加速器源的骨/乳房x线摄影*实验室和同步加速器源的结构晶体学*高分辨率和歧视性行李筛查*数字乳房x线摄影，*放射治疗（x射线和质子）的辐射-非常大面积传感器CMOS技术的更一般的能力可以在医学，生命科学等的微型分析仪器中得到利用-所谓的芯片上的实验室概念。这是EPSRC大挑战的另一个主题。通过我们的APS器件的选择性蚀刻，我们将展示使用这种新方法在高灵敏度和高分辨率下非常高效成像的优势。总的来说，将严格与现有方法进行比较；最终的系统将向各自的用户社区和相关的商业系统提供商进行广泛演示。

CMOS Active Pixel Sensors (APS) are revolutionising many aspects of imaging with their superior performance, flexibility and close integration with the acquisition and processing requirements. Their progress is, in no small part, due to advances in mainstream CMOS technology. Industry is focussed on developing CMOS imagers for the mass markets such as digital cameras and mobile phones. Within MI-3, we brought together sufficient technology expertise and users to exploit APS technology for a broad range of science. This project, MI-3 Plus, will take forward one aspect of this technology - namely, the realisation of radiation-hard, wafer-scale imagers, approximately 12 cm square, specially designed for scientific and clinical use. In doing so, we directly address one of the challenges set out in the EPSRC Grand Challenges in Silicon Technology (2008) - Large imaging arrays for use in medical applications and imaging of explosives and weapons. Such large imagers will be able to cope with an accumulated radiation dose in excess of 10 MRad, be approximately 12 cm x 12 cm and incorporate programmable intra-frame resets and binning to cope with the wide dynamics of image intensity found in many medical/scientific applications. It would be possible to tile these imagers, with a minimum bonding gap, to produce torso-wide lensless systems for radiography, etc. The imagers, and the supporting acquisition systems, will be trialled in number of key application areas, namely:* Bone/breast radiography using laboratory and synchrotron sources * Structural crystallography on laboratory and synchrotron sources* High resolution and discriminatory baggage screening * Digital mammography, in particular tomosynthesis (3D imaging) * Radiation-hard very large area sensors for radiotherapy (x-ray and proton) The more general capabilities of CMOS technology can be exploited in miniature analytical instruments for medicine, life sciences, etc - the so-called Lab-on-a-chip concept. This is another topic that forms one of the EPSRC Grand Challenges. Through selective etching of our APS devices we will demonstrate the advantages of very efficient imaging - at high sensitivity and resolution - using this new approach.Overall, comparisons with existing methods will be rigorously undertaken; and the resulting systems will be widely demonstrated to their respective user communities and associated commercial system providers.