Amorphous silicon image sensors for x-ray detection in NDT

Acquiring radiographic images in a digital format offers significant advantages over film. Besides eliminating the need for chemical processing, a digital image can be easily stored for more convenient retrieval, transmitted to remote locations for interpretation, and image processed to provide enhanced interpretation and greater latitude in exposure. Amorphous silicon image sensors, developed by dpiX, a Xerox Company, offer an improved method of acquiring digital x-ray images. Amorphous silicon image sensor technology provides the opportunity to have large format size similar to x-ray film, high resolution, and a compact package for ease of use in NDT applications. This technology can also be used to replace x-ray image intensifier tubes to provide real-time fluoroscopic imaging for capturing time related events such as x-ray examination of objects on a conveyor belt. This paper presents a description of amorphous silicon image sensor technology and provides examples of the performance that can be achieved using a system that has an 8 x 10 inch x-ray image acquisition area and 127 micron pixels for 4 lp/mm resolution