The Voxel Imaging PET (VIP) Pathfinder project intends to show the advantages of using pixelated solid-state technology for nuclear medicine applications. Its aim is to show that using pixelated solid-state technology with a large number of signal channels for nuclear medicine detectors will improve both the energy and position resolution of the measurements with high efficiency compared to state-of-the-art crystal PET detectors. Additionally, because of the orientation of the sensors within the design, the signals are not affected by a strong magnetic field, thus making it possible to be used for hybrid PET/MRI imaging systems. Though the VIP project is focusing on PET scanners, the concept can be extended to be used for PEM scanners and Compton gamma cameras.

A dedicated application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) is designed and produced by the VIP project. Also, a proof of concept experimental set-up will be constructed and evaluated, to confirm the predicted performance.

VIP project is being funded by FP7-ERC-AG. It has started in July 2010 for a period of 48 months.