Products
We are actively taking measures to improve product quality levels.
Applications
Why Hamamatsu?
Support
Our company
Investors
Japan (EN)
Select your region or country.
FAQs | X-ray flat panel sensors
- X-ray imaging devices are known to include X-ray imaging intensifiers, CCDs, and a-Si (amorphous silicon), etc. How are these devices different from flat panel sensors?
- How large is the aperture ratio on flat panel sensors?
- During external frame rate operation, the initial image is extremely bright. Why is that?
- What peripheral equipment is needed to operate the flat panel sensor?
- What power supply is recommended for flat panel sensors?
- Is there software for driving the flat panel sensors?
- Are flat panel sensors supplied with software?
- What are the maximum values of X-ray energy and total amount of exposure allowed for flat panel sensors?
- How can I extend the service lifetime of flat panel sensors?
- What are the criteria used for lifetime test conditions?
- Do you loan out demo equipment to customers?
X-ray imaging devices are known to include X-ray imaging intensifiers, CCDs, and a-Si (amorphous silicon), etc. How are these devices different from flat panel sensors?
X-ray image intensifiers have excellent sensitivity, but they have image distortion that should be corrected in image measurement. For CCDs, it is very difficult to manufacture devices with a large effective area. This is a disadvantage for X-ray imaging of large areas because, unlike visible light, optical lenses cannot be used to focus X-rays. On the other hand, a-Si devices can be manufactured in large sizes but have extremely long decay time, which may cause the problem of image lag during high-speed operation. Flat panel sensors were developed to solve all of these problems. Incorporating CMOS technology allows fabricating devices about mid-way in size between a-Si and CCD devices and that do not have image lag. The comparison table below shows the specifications of these devices.
| X-ray imaging device | Sensitivity | Resolution | Image size | Dynamic range | Cost performance | Distortion | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| X-ray image intensifier | High | Low | Large | Very narrow | Good | High | Large camera size |
| CCD | Good | High | Small | Narrow | Low | Low | Difficult to produce devices with large area |
| a-Si | Low | Low | Very large | - | Low | Low | Long decay time & high price |
| Flat panel sensor | Good | Good | Large | Wide | High | Low | - |
How large is the aperture ratio on flat panel sensors?
Our standard process achieves a high aperture ratio of 87% in 100 × 100 µm pixel sizes.
During external frame rate operation, the initial image is extremely bright. Why is that?
This occurs because the flat panel sensor is accumulating an electrical charge before the software supplies an external trigger. So, exclude the first frame during measurement.
What peripheral equipment is needed to operate the flat panel sensor?
Although depending on the types of flat panel sensors, prepare a frame grabber board or network interface card, a signal cable, a power supply, and a PC, etc. For more details, see the datasheets.
What power supply is recommended for flat panel sensors?
We recommend using a monotonically increasing type series power supply equipped with a power transformer. If a switching power supply that generates high ripple noise is used, horizontal line noise may appear on the acquired images. Switching power supplies may also degrade the image quality when used in combination with a DC/DC converter and a LDO. Use a series power supply with low ripple noise which is within the allowable range required by the system used.
Is there software for driving the flat panel sensors?
If using an RS422/LVDS type flat panel sensor, then the National Instruments Measurement & Automation Explorer (MAX) and NI IMAQ PCI-1424 grabber card can be used to evaluate the basic functions.
Are flat panel sensors supplied with software?
No software is supplied with flat panel sensors. Customers must create software according to the application.
What are the maximum values of X-ray energy and total amount of exposure allowed for flat panel sensors?
Specifications differ depending on the types, so see the datasheets for details.
How can I extend the service lifetime of flat panel sensors?
Setting the X-ray dosage to a low level within the detectable range or turning off X-rays so that the flat panel sensor is not exposed to radiation except during image capture will extend the flat panel sensor service life. Another effective method is using a pulsed X-ray source. Also recommended is periodically acquiring dark images and shading images for image correction according to fluctuations in the ambient temperature and sensor temperature.
What are the criteria used for lifetime test conditions?
The following criteria are used to determine the life end in our lifetime test.
*Dirk increase greater than 12.5% (8192 LSB) of maximum output
*Sensitivity is 50% or less of the initial value.
*Number of defect lines is double or more the spec value.
Do you loan out demo equipment to customers?
We have a demonstration room available for customer use. We will also acquire X-ray images of samples sent to us from customers. Demo devices are also available for loan to customers. Please contact our sales office.
- Confirmation
-
It looks like you're in the . If this is not your location, please select the correct region or country below.
You're headed to Hamamatsu Photonics website for JP (English). If you want to view an other country's site, the optimized information will be provided by selecting options below.
In order to use this website comfortably, we use cookies. For cookie details please see our cookie policy.
- Cookie Policy
-
This website or its third-party tools use cookies, which are necessary to its functioning and required to achieve the purposes illustrated in this cookie policy. By closing the cookie warning banner, scrolling the page, clicking a link or continuing to browse otherwise, you agree to the use of cookies.
Hamamatsu uses cookies in order to enhance your experience on our website and ensure that our website functions.
You can visit this page at any time to learn more about cookies, get the most up to date information on how we use cookies and manage your cookie settings. We will not use cookies for any purpose other than the ones stated, but please note that we reserve the right to update our cookies.
1. What are cookies?
For modern websites to work according to visitor’s expectations, they need to collect certain basic information about visitors. To do this, a site will create small text files which are placed on visitor’s devices (computer or mobile) - these files are known as cookies when you access a website. Cookies are used in order to make websites function and work efficiently. Cookies are uniquely assigned to each visitor and can only be read by a web server in the domain that issued the cookie to the visitor. Cookies cannot be used to run programs or deliver viruses to a visitor’s device.
Cookies do various jobs which make the visitor’s experience of the internet much smoother and more interactive. For instance, cookies are used to remember the visitor’s preferences on sites they visit often, to remember language preference and to help navigate between pages more efficiently. Much, though not all, of the data collected is anonymous, though some of it is designed to detect browsing patterns and approximate geographical location to improve the visitor experience.
Certain type of cookies may require the data subject’s consent before storing them on the computer.
2. What are the different types of cookies?
This website uses two types of cookies:
- First party cookies. For our website, the first party cookies are controlled and maintained by Hamamatsu. No other parties have access to these cookies.
- Third party cookies. These cookies are implemented by organizations outside Hamamatsu. We do not have access to the data in these cookies, but we use these cookies to improve the overall website experience.
3. How do we use cookies?
This website uses cookies for following purposes:
- Certain cookies are necessary for our website to function. These are strictly necessary cookies and are required to enable website access, support navigation or provide relevant content. These cookies direct you to the correct region or country, and support security and ecommerce. Strictly necessary cookies also enforce your privacy preferences. Without these strictly necessary cookies, much of our website will not function.
- Analytics cookies are used to track website usage. This data enables us to improve our website usability, performance and website administration. In our analytics cookies, we do not store any personal identifying information.
- Functionality cookies. These are used to recognize you when you return to our website. This enables us to personalize our content for you, greet you by name and remember your preferences (for example, your choice of language or region).
- These cookies record your visit to our website, the pages you have visited and the links you have followed. We will use this information to make our website and the advertising displayed on it more relevant to your interests. We may also share this information with third parties for this purpose.
Cookies help us help you. Through the use of cookies, we learn what is important to our visitors and we develop and enhance website content and functionality to support your experience. Much of our website can be accessed if cookies are disabled, however certain website functions may not work. And, we believe your current and future visits will be enhanced if cookies are enabled.
4. Which cookies do we use?
There are two ways to manage cookie preferences.
- You can set your cookie preferences on your device or in your browser.
- You can set your cookie preferences at the website level.
If you don’t want to receive cookies, you can modify your browser so that it notifies you when cookies are sent to it or you can refuse cookies altogether. You can also delete cookies that have already been set.
If you wish to restrict or block web browser cookies which are set on your device then you can do this through your browser settings; the Help function within your browser should tell you how. Alternatively, you may wish to visit www.aboutcookies.org, which contains comprehensive information on how to do this on a wide variety of desktop browsers.
5. What are Internet tags and how do we use them with cookies?
Occasionally, we may use internet tags (also known as action tags, single-pixel GIFs, clear GIFs, invisible GIFs and 1-by-1 GIFs) at this site and may deploy these tags/cookies through a third-party advertising partner or a web analytical service partner which may be located and store the respective information (including your IP-address) in a foreign country. These tags/cookies are placed on both online advertisements that bring users to this site and on different pages of this site. We use this technology to measure the visitors' responses to our sites and the effectiveness of our advertising campaigns (including how many times a page is opened and which information is consulted) as well as to evaluate your use of this website. The third-party partner or the web analytical service partner may be able to collect data about visitors to our and other sites because of these internet tags/cookies, may compose reports regarding the website’s activity for us and may provide further services which are related to the use of the website and the internet. They may provide such information to other parties if there is a legal requirement that they do so, or if they hire the other parties to process information on their behalf.
If you would like more information about web tags and cookies associated with on-line advertising or to opt-out of third-party collection of this information, please visit the Network Advertising Initiative website http://www.networkadvertising.org.
6. Analytics and Advertisement Cookies
We use third-party cookies (such as Google Analytics) to track visitors on our website, to get reports about how visitors use the website and to inform, optimize and serve ads based on someone's past visits to our website.
You may opt-out of Google Analytics cookies by the websites provided by Google:
https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en
As provided in this Privacy Policy (Article 5), you can learn more about opt-out cookies by the website provided by Network Advertising Initiative:
http://www.networkadvertising.org
We inform you that in such case you will not be able to wholly use all functions of our website.
Close