Siemens Aktiengesellschaft

Ipl Intellectual Property Licensing Limited

Oy Ajat Limited

Kimmo Puhakka

Ian Benson

Iain Benson

Konstantinos E Spartiotis

Embodiments of the invention are concerned with semiconductor circuit substrates for use in a radiation detection device, said radiation detection device comprising a detector substrate having a plurality of detector cells arranged to generate charge in response to incident radiation, each of said detector cells including at least one detector cell contact for coupling charge from said detector cell to said semiconductor circuit substrate. More particularly, in embodiments of the invention the semiconductor circuit substrate comprises: a plurality of cell circuit contacts, each of which is configured to receive charge from a corresponding detector cell contact, cell circuitry associated with said plurality of cell circuit contacts; one or more conductive pathways arranged to carry at least one of control, readout and power supply signals to and/or from said cell circuitry; and one or more signal pathways extending through said semiconductor circuit substrate, said one or more signal pathways being electrically coupled to said conductive pathways so as to provide an external signal interface for said cell circuitry. Embodiments in accordance with the present invention thus provide a means of routing signals through the semiconductor circuit substrate to an electrical contact on a surface of the semiconductor circuit substrate. The electrical contact on the surface of the circuit substrate can then be directly coupled to a corresponding electrical contact on a mount.

Circuit substrate and method

Embodiments of the invention are concerned with a method of manufacturing a radiation detector having one or more conductive contacts on a semiconductor substrate, and comprise the steps of: applying a first conductive layer to a first surface of the semiconductor substrate; applying a second conductive layer to form a plurality of contiguous layers of conductive materials, said plurality of contiguous layers including said first conductive layer; and selectively removing parts of said plurality of contiguous layers so as to form said conductive contacts, the conductive contacts defining one or more radiation detector cells in the semiconductor substrate.

Formation of contacts on semiconductor substrates

An x-ray and gamma-ray radiation energy imaging device has its semiconductor detector substrate and semiconductor readout/processing substrate both mounted on opposite sides of, and electrically communicating through, an intermediate substrate. The substrates are all substantially planar with the top plan perimeter of the semiconductor readout/processing substrate falling within the top plan shadow perimeter of the corresponding semiconductor detector substrate with which it electrically communicates. Additionally, all of the readout/processing circuitry contacts of the semiconductor readout/processing substrate are disposed on the surface of the semiconductor readout/processing substrate that electrically communicates with the intermediate substrate. Substantially all electrical communication to and from the semiconductor readout/processing substrate is routed through the intermediate substrate. The intermediate substrate is a printed circuit board or similar construct. The electrical contacts between the semiconductor substrates and the intermediate substrate are accomplished using bump-bonds, conductive adhesive bonds, conductive adhesive films or a combination thereof. One or two dimensional planar arrays of semiconductor readout/processing substrates and corresponding semiconductor detector substrates can be mounted on a single intermediate substrate using 'tiling' techniques known in the art to form a mosaic radiation imaging device of increased active imaging area and reduced/minimized imaging dead area.

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Espoo, Finland

Kimmo Puhakka