Performance of dSiPM for PET applications

Digital silicon photomultipliers (dSiPM) are solid-state single-photon sensitive devices made of arrays of Geiger-mode avalanche photodiodes (SPAD), in which each SPAD is integrated with CMOS logic circuitry. The integrated CMOS logic provides trigger, precise timestamp, programmable control logic and digital readout for every SPAD. These properties make dSiPM a promising photosensor to be used for Positron Emission Tomography (PET); for both clinical and preclinical applications. In our research we investigate the use of dSiPM for developing a new generation of PET detectors.

Our current interest is focused on evaluating the use of the dSiPM for preclinical PET imaging. Through the combination of the dSiPM with thin monolithic scintillation crystals and 3D events positioning algorithms we achieved compact PET detectors with a sub-millimeter spatial resolution suitable for high-resolution preclinical PET imaging systems. Basing on these detectors we have developed so far two prototypes of compact, high-resolution PET scanner dedicated for mice and rats imaging.

Researcher: Radoslaw Marcinkowski