An order-statistics-inspired, fully-digital readout approach for analog SiPM arrays

E. Venialgo, N. Lusardi, A. Geraci, K. O'Neill, S. Gnecchi, C. Jackson, S. E. Brunner, D.R. Schaart, E. Charbon

Research output: Chapter in Book/Conference proceedings/Edited volumeConference contributionScientificpeer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In this paper we present a silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) readout system based on a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), which is capable of converting any commercial 16-channel analog SiPM array into a hybrid device with fullydigital readout for application in time of flight positron emission tomography (TOF-PET). In principle this hybrid SiPM array can be implemented with several leading edge discriminators (LEDs) per channel, so that multiple timestamps can be acquired per scintillation pulse allowing to estimate the time of interaction more robustly than if a single timestamp is used. These concepts were studied experimentally in two different ways. In the first approach, we utilized discrete components in combination with an array of time-to-digital converters (TDCs) implemented and validated on the FPGA. The overall resolution of each channel was 56 ps FWHM or better, while crosstalk was undetectable. In the second approach, we utilized a four-channel high-speed acquisition board operating at 5 GSPS and emulated a multiple-LED acquisition by post-processing the digitized waveforms. We present, for the first time, experimental results obtained with the best linear unbiased estimator (BLUE) to estimate the time of interaction from the multiple timestamps.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication2016 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium, Medical Imaging Conference and Room-Temperature Semiconductor Detector Workshop, NSS/MIC/RTSD 2016
PublisherIEEE
Pages1-5
Number of pages5
Volume2017-January
ISBN (Electronic)978-1-5090-1642-6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017
Event2016 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium, Medical Imaging Conference and Room-Temperature Semiconductor Detector Workshop, NSS/MIC/RTSD 2016 - Strasbourg, France
Duration: 29 Oct 20166 Nov 2016

Conference

Conference2016 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium, Medical Imaging Conference and Room-Temperature Semiconductor Detector Workshop, NSS/MIC/RTSD 2016
Country/TerritoryFrance
CityStrasbourg
Period29/10/166/11/16

Keywords

  • Field programmable gate arrays
  • Light emitting diodes
  • Cathode ray tubes
  • Photonics
  • Time measurement
  • Detectors
  • Crosstalk

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