Siemens Healthineers opens a new photon-counting sensor manufacturing facility

A clearer medical image can begin long before a patient enters a scanner. In Forchheim, Germany, Siemens Healthineers has opened a new facility dedicated to producing one of the smallest and most critical components behind a new generation of CT imaging. The Photon-Counting Sensor Fab, officially opened on September 11, is the only facility of its kind in Europe. The €100 million facility manufactures cadmium telluride (CdTe) semiconductor sensors used in photon-counting CT scanners, a technology designed to produce sharper images while potentially reducing radiation dose.

Covering approximately 9,500 square metres, the facility brings the entire sensor manufacturing process together, from growing the semiconductor crystals to producing precisely engineered sensor structures. The process is remarkably intricate: cadmium and tellurium are bonded at temperatures of around 1,100°C, and it takes approximately ten weeks for the material to develop into a single crystal. These crystals are then cut and polished with submillimetre precision before being processed in a cleanroom.

The investment also reflects the growing demand for photon-counting CT technology. Siemens Healthineers says its existing sensor facility in Japan is approaching capacity, prompting the company to establish a second manufacturing site at the centre of its CT development activities in Germany. The new facility is expected to create more than 100 jobs. Even the building itself has been designed with sustainability in mind. It has achieved LEED Platinum certification, uses production heat to warm the facility and generates renewable electricity through a 170 kWp rooftop photovoltaic system.

Sometimes, the biggest advances in healthcare begin with something almost invisible. In this case, it starts with a crystal.

Sourced from the article originally published in the SIEMENS Healthineers Press page.