<title>Recent developments in a CdTe-based x-ray detector for digital radiography</title>

The performance of a new CdTe based x-ray detector devoted to digital radiography are presented. The detectors consist of a 6 cm² CdTe 2D-array connected to CMOS readout circuit by indium bumps. The final image has 400 X 600 pixels with a 50 micron pitch. This solid-state detector presents the advantages of direct conversion, i.e. high stopping power with high spatial resolution and a significantly higher signal than commercially available scintillator/photodetector systems. The experimental results show excellent linearity, spatial resolution and detective quantum efficiency. The MTF was measured by the angled-slit method: 20 to 30 percent at 10 1p/mm depending on the incident x-ray energy. The measured DQE is about 0.8 at 40 KeV and 100 (mu) Gray dose. Our simulation shows that these experimental results do not reach the theoretical limit. Further improvements are in progress. The first industrial application will be dental radiography due to the small size and the excellent performances. We also tested the detector with x-rays form 20 KeV to 1.25 MeV. Of course the CdTe thickness should then be adapted to the incident x-ray energy.