CMOS digital intra-oral sensor for x-ray radiography

In this paper, we present a CMOS digital intra-oral sensor for x-ray radiography. The sensor system consists of a custom CMOS imager, custom scintillator/fiber optics plate, camera timing and digital control electronics, and direct USB communication. The CMOS imager contains 1700 x 1346 pixels. The pixel size is 19.5um x 19.5um. The imager was fabricated with a 0.18um CMOS imaging process. The sensor and CMOS imager design features chamfered corners for patient comfort. All camera functions were integrated within the sensor housing and a standard USB cable was used to directly connect the intra-oral sensor to the host computer. The sensor demonstrated wide dynamic range from 5uGy to 1300uGy and high image quality with a SNR of greater than 160 at 400uGy dose. The sensor has a spatial resolution more than 20 lp/mm.