Autoradiography with silicon strip detectors

A digital autoradiography system based on double sided silicon strip detectors (1.6x1.6 mm(2) active surface with 100 mu m pitch) has been developed and successfully tested with beta-emitting tracers. It is shown here that the system is able to perform imaging of organic material with specific sensitivity as small as 0.002nCi/mm(2), and to record activity measurements with good linearity in the range 0.002-20 nCi/mm(2). Autoradiographic images of clusters of mammary cells marked with ortho-(P-32)phosphate, obtained with an exposure time of about 10 min are presented.