New Toray Technology Enhances the Brightness of X-Ray Scintillator Panels Enabling Reduction of Radiation Doses to Boost Patient Care

Toray Industries, Inc.

Tokyo, Japan, April 21, 2020 – Toray Industries, Inc., announced today that it has developed a wavelength conversion technology using phosphors that enhance the brightness of X-ray scintillator panels 1 by roughly 30%. This technology can more clearly discern lung diseases and the other illnesses while reducing radiation doses in medical X-ray system. The company will commercialize this technology soon.

Medical X-ray system detectors are generally comprised of scintillator panels that convert X-rays to visible light, and photosensor panels that then convert this light into digital images. Scintillator panels have a phosphor layer with several hundred microns of thickness that absorb X-rays and emit light. The phosphor layer is composed of CsI 2 or GOS3. Unlike CsI, GOS does not need long-time deposition process, thus making the manufacturing processes simple and low-cost. GOS is also very stable and durable under X-ray conditions, but the issue has consistently been that GOS is less bright than CsI.

For many years, Toray has been developing the wavelength conversion technology necessary for display materials. By improving and innovating this technology, we can now enhance the brightness of the GOS scintillator panel. The key to this technology is our unique compounding technique that mixes in a "second phosphor".The second phosphor allows absorption of short wavelength light between 350 to roughly 400 nanometers, in which the photosensor has low sensitivity in the emission spectrum of GOS, to be converted to long wavelength light nearly 550 nanometers, in which the photosensor has high sensitivity. Using this technology, the phosphor layer "GOS-α" keeps the advantages of GOS (such as low-cost, high stability, and high durability GOS) while enhancing the brightness by about 30% over conventional scintillator panels of similar thickness.

Toray has been mass-producing X-ray scintillator panels using regular GOS for general medical radiographic applications since 2016. Toray aims to further expand the X-ray scintillator panel business with products adopting the new "GOS-α" phosphor layer, by significantly increasing the range of applications and uses that panels currently offer. Additionally, new technology will be combined with a pixelated scintillator4 by applying Toray's proprietary technology to enable image sharpening.

Toray will keep striving to develop revolutionary materials that transform societies in keeping with its commitment to innovative ideas, technologies, and products that deliver valuable results.