Technology Commercialization Opportunity

Amorphous Silicon Array for Medical Imaging

Amorphous (non-crystalline) silicon is currently used for solar cells and fax heads. Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory scientists are developing a new technology for charged particle and x-ray detection using amorphous silicon. It can be used in a series of products, including medical imaging. The technology is based on two-dimensional arrays made from amorphous silicon that contains hydrogen. These arrays, which can be fabricated with an area of up to 12 square inches, provide about one million sensors. When a thin phosphor sheet is deposited on the silicon array, the x-rays are converted into visible light. This light is detected by the array. It is then read out in real time as a digital electronic image using thin film transistors made of the same amorphous silicon material. The image is then manipulated, depending on the application, transferred, and stored electronically.

In medical imaging, this device can provide for real-time electronic imaging in digital radiography (x-rays) and serve as a detector in computerized tomography (CAT scans). One application in medical radiation therapy is related to cancer treatment. Sophisticated techniques exist to pinpoint a tumor and to calculate how to treat it by gamma ray beams: having an imaging device which constantly monitors the beam and projects it on a screen is much superior to current "snapshot" recordings on a series of still x-ray films.

Potential Commercial Uses

• Medical imaging: real-time electronic imaging in digital radiography (x-rays) and serve as a detector in computerized tomography (CAT scans)
  
• Detection of environmental hazards like radon gas
  
• Digital electronics replace conventional film and shorten time for:
  • Protein structure studies
  • DNA sequencing studies
  • Routine medical x-rays

Benefits of Technology

• Image can be transmitted instantaneously over phone lines
  
• No loss of resolution in copies
  
• Uses existing, proven technologies
  
• Good spatial resolution
  
• Inexpensive
  
• Compact

Options for Commercialization

Companies are currently being sought to license the manufacture of products based on this technology. US Patents #4,785,186, #5,164,809, #5,117,114

For Further Information Contact:

Technology Transfer Department
E.O. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
MS 90-1070
Berkeley, CA 94720
(510) 486-6467 FAX: (510) 486-6457

http://www.lbl.gov/Tech-Transfer/techs/lbnl684.html

Key Words:

Charged Particle, X-ray Detection, Medical Imaging