Amplifier, radiation detector, and radiation detector control method

1. An amplifier provided in a photon-counting radiation detector, the amplifier comprising:

an inverting amplification unit that inverts and amplifies an input signal to generate an inverted amplified output a feedback transistor that connects an input unit and an output unit of the inverting amplification unit to each other; and

a pulse measurement unit that generates an output signal corresponding to a number of pulses of the inverted amplified output, wherein

the pulse measurement unit is capable of supplying the output signal toward the feedback transistor,

in a case where the pulse measurement unit supplies the output signal toward the feedback transistor,

the pulse measurement unit is connected to a gate of a second transistor,

the second transistor is connected to a gate of the feedback transistor through a third transistor,

at a point in time before the inverting amplification unit oscillates, the second transistor and the third transistor are switched on and a gate voltage of the feedback transistor increases according to a second voltage signal supplied to the second transistor,

at a point in time when the gate voltage of the feedback transistor reaches an oscillation start value, the inverting amplification unit starts to oscillate,

at a point in time after the inverting amplification unit starts to oscillate, the gate voltage of the feedback transistor is held at a first value larger than the oscillation start value by switching off the second transistor as the oscillation of the inverting amplification unit continues, and

at a point in time after the gate voltage of the feedback transistor is held at the first value, the gate voltage of the feedback transistor is held at a second value smaller than the oscillation start value by extracting electric charge from the feedback transistor in accordance with a change in a third voltage signal supplied to the third transistor.

2. The amplifier according to claim 1 , further comprising a capacitor, wherein

one terminal of the capacitor is connected to the feedback transistor through the third transistor,

a fourth voltage signal is supplied to another terminal of the capacitor, and

at the point in time after the gate voltage of the feedback transistor is held at the first value, the gate voltage of the feedback transistor is held at a third value smaller than the oscillation start value by extracting electric charge from the feedback transistor in accordance with a change in the fourth voltage signal.

3. A radiation detector comprising:

the amplifier according to claim 1 ; and

a sensor element that generates the input signal according to a dose of radiation incident on the sensor element.

4. The radiation detector according to claim 3 , wherein the radiation detector includes:

a plurality of amplifiers each of which is the amplifier; and

one or more voltage sweep units that output the second voltage signal increasing the gate voltage of the feedback transistor at the point in time before the inverting amplification unit oscillates, and

two or more amplifiers of the plurality of the amplifiers share one of the one or more voltage sweep units with each other.

5. The radiation detector according to claim 4 , wherein all of the plurality of the amplifiers share the one voltage sweep unit with one another.

6. A radiation detector control method for controlling the radiation detector according to claim 3 , the method comprising:

a first step of operating the radiation detector in a first mode of counting a number of photons of the radiation to detect the radiation by switching a supply destination of the output signal from the pulse measurement unit toward the feedback transistor; and

a second step of operating the radiation detector in a second mode of regulating a feedback resistance value of the inverting amplification unit by switching the supply destination of the output signal from the pulse measurement unit to the outside of the amplifier.

7. The radiation detector control method according to claim 6 , wherein

the second step includes:

a step of decreasing the feedback resistance value so that the inverting amplification unit is shifted from a state where the inverting amplification unit does not oscillate to a state in which the inverting amplification unit does oscillate;

a step of detecting that the inverting amplification unit oscillates by using the pulse measurement unit;

a step of holding the feedback resistance value at a first feedback resistance value at which the oscillation of the inverting amplification unit continues; and

a step of increasing the feedback resistance value from the first feedback resistance value to a second feedback resistance value at which the oscillation of the inverting amplification unit does not occur and holding the second feedback resistance value.