Comparison of the performance of the photon counting hybrid pixel camera XPAD3 versus the CCD camera DALSA XR-4 for cone-beam micro-CT
Résumé
Hybrid pixel detectors represent a new generation
of digital X-ray camera working in a photon counting mode that
can replace conventional charge integration in 2D detectors. We
compare cone-beam CT using either the hybrid pixel camera
XP AD3 or the CCD camera DALSA XR-4 within the newly
developed micro-CT irradiation setup PIXSCAN within a range
of total integrated doses from 30 to 900 mGy. Detector stability,
image uniformity, spatial resolution, noise power spectrum, and
detectability at low contrast were studied for both cameras. The
results we obtained confirmed the absence of dark current for the
hybrid pixel photon counting camera XP AD3, although the two
detectors are virtually equivalent in standard conditions. The
linearity of the CT value is demonstrated for both cameras, but
the achieved contrast and spatial resolution are noticeably better
with the hybrid pixel camera than with the CCD camera