Changing the X-ray imaging landscape with printable detectors

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Innovate UK
Innovate UK
Innovate UK
Innovate UK
Innovate UK

£3,480,615

Jan. 1, 2023

June 30, 2024

**Silveray** (SilverRay Ltd) is a start-up company whose primary goal is to exploit the technology developed in large-area high-sensitivity broadband X-ray detectors to disrupt the current state-of-the-art in X-ray imaging, and associated applications. This proprietary technology has been demonstrated to be 2-3 orders of magnitude higher in its sensitivity than the conventional detectors, while being able to operate at low voltage, and with excellent conformability to non-flat surfaces. The sensitivity of the detector material to specific X-ray energies of technology interest improves from approximately 100 times to over 1000 times per volume thickness of the state-of-art detector with increasing X-ray energy.

The active detector material that has been patent-protected consists of an 'X-ray sensitive ink' containing an interpenetrating network of organic material and inorganic nanoparticles. The 'X-ray sensitive ink' can be used to coat films over any substrate, removing existing constraints for developing flexible detectors. Thus far, small area detectors (area < 1 cm2) have been developed and proven, with scale-up to larger sizes now ongoing within the company thanks to an InnovateUK SMART grant and a first round of VC funding.

The next challenge is to roll-out this technology for a diverse range of applications spanning from non-destructive testing (NDT) of industrial products to defence (border and portable security), in-line quality inspection of food & pharmaceutical products (including beverages, grocery products, active component quantities/quality in pills), and medical (including dental and cancer treatment to achieve better patient outcomes).

The **vision** for the company is to produce a market-validated printable high-performance direct conversion X-ray detector for applications across multiple disciplines. Challenges lie in developing a manufacturing process for producing a uniform mixture and depositing it in a thick film across the device, to ensure consistency in performance across the detector (pixel-to-pixel). Characterisation work within the project will give the company a better understanding on how to optimise the X-ray sensitive ink and its fabrication processes across large area detector planes necessary for each of the applications.

The outcome of this project will be in facilitating the company's growth by providing exploitable routes to optimise the technology. The active and scalable nanoparticle-based layer of the direct-detector material will deliver high performance X-ray imagers with the required response times, higher sensitivity, with lower radiation dose, and be produced at considerably lower cost. This will ultimately lead to the development of a product range of higher specification marketable detectors across many sectors.