NearlR Photon-counting Camera for Optical Tomography

描述（由申请人提供）： 早期检测和常规临床筛查是预防癌症死亡的第一道防线，2000年美国有551，833人死于癌症。在肿瘤的医学成像方面已经取得了重大进展;然而，这些技术中的许多太昂贵而不能用于常规筛查。扩散光学断层扫描（DOT）有望为常规的非侵入性癌症筛查提供一种低成本的方法。不幸的是，没有适当的成像技术的高频调制技术所采用的DOT严重限制了空间分辨率和约束的诊断价值的DOT。 该计划解决了这些限制，通过开发一个完全集成的，近IR数码相机芯片，这是一个专用集成电路（ASIC），计数光子使用盖革雪崩光电二极管。这种全数字CMOS（互补对称金属氧化物半导体）成像技术满足了提供高分辨率DOT图像的苛刻要求。在第一阶段，我们将探索适当的制造架构的ASIC和制造原型像素元件，沿着的关键电路元件需要支持像素元件。我们将测试原型设备，并将其测量性能与初始设计规格进行比较。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Early detection and routine clinical screening represent the first line of defense for preventing fatalities from cancer, a disease, which claimed 551,833, lives in the U.S. during the year 2000. Significant advances have been made in the medical imaging of tumors; however, many of these techniques are too expensive to be implemented for routine screening. Diffuse optical tomography (DOT) promises to provide a low-cost method for routine, non-invasive cancer screening. Unfortunately, the absence of appropriate imaging technologies for the high-frequency modulation techniques employed by DOT severely limits the spatial resolution and constrains the diagnostic value of DOT. This program resolves these limitations by developing a fully integrated, nearlR digital camera chip, which is an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), that counts photons using Geiger avalanche photodiodes. This all-digital, CMOS (complementary-symmetry metal-oxide-semiconductor) imaging technology fulfills the demanding requirements for providing high-resolution DOT images. In Phase I, we will explore appropriate fabrication architectures for the ASIC and fabricate prototype pixel elements, along with the critical circuit components needed to support the pixel element. We will test the prototype devices and compare their measured performance to the initial design specifications.