SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR IMPROVED COLLIMATION SENSITIVITY

A detector assembly 100 is provided that includes a semiconductor detector 110, a pinhole collimator 130, and a processing unit 150. The semiconductor detector 110 has a first surface 112 and a second surface 114 opposed to each other. The first surface includes pixels, and the second surface includes a cathode electrode. The pinhole collimator 130 includes an array of pinhole openings corresponding to the pixels. Each pinhole opening is associated with a single pixel of the semiconductor detector, and the area of each pinhole opening is smaller than a corresponding area of the corresponding pixel. The processing unit 150 is operably coupled to the semiconductor detector 110 and configured to identify detected events within virtual sub-pixels distributed along a length and width of the semiconductor detector 110. Each pixel includes a plurality of corresponding virtual sub-pixels (as interpreted by the processing unit), wherein absorbed photons are counted as events in a corresponding virtual sub-pixel.