Patent ID: 8822938

Claim:
An x-ray detector comprising: a pixelated array of x-ray scintillator elements; and a pixelated array of photodiodes, each x-ray scintillator element being assigned to a single photodiode, each photodiode corresponding to a single pixel, wherein each photodiode includes a photosensitive receiving surface, the photodiode being subdivided into at least two different sized sub-photodiodes by appropriately doping a semiconductor material forming the pixilated array of photodiodes with respect to the photosensitive receiving surface, each sub-photodiode being smaller than the photodiode and the photosensitive receiving surface of the photodiode corresponding to a receiving surface of the corresponding x-ray scintillator element, each photodiode including at least one electric switch configured to couple the sub-photodiodes of the photodiode such that at least one of the sub-photodiodes is connectable to an evaluation circuit, and the x-ray detector being configured to provide a dual spatial resolution for x-ray projections, wherein by connecting only one sub-photodiode of each photodiode to the evaluation circuit, the x-ray detector is arranged for acquiring x-ray projections in a high spatial resolution mode, the only one sub-photodiode being a smallest sub-photodiode in each photodiode with respect to the photosensitive receiving surface of the photodiode, the only one sub-photodiode contributing to signal generation and imaging in the high spatial resolution mode, and by connecting all the sub-photodiodes to the evaluation circuit, the x-ray detector is arranged for acquiring x-ray projections in a low spatial resolution mode, all the sub-photodiodes contribute to signal generation and imaging in the low spatial resolution mode.