Evaluation of intermediate - Z materials for X-ray imaging

This paper considers performances of compound intermediate-Z semiconductors for medical imaging. A model of planar pixel detector has been developed and a calculation of spatial resolution and contrast for intermediate- Z materials detectors performed, all that taking into account fluorescence that degrades image quality. There is also an illustration of improvements in image quality that these materials bring, based on comparison between spatial resolution and contrast achieved by these detectors as opposed to those made of materials currently in use for medical imaging. Finally, using the Rose model, which gives signal-to-noise ratio corresponding to a minimum detectable contrast, a minimum size of the object to be detected in the conditions of mammographic imaging with detectors made of GaAs, InP, CdTe and CsI has been determined.