Large Area Silicon Avalanche Photodiodes: Photomultiplier Tube Alternate

Abstract

ABSTRACTSilicon avalanche photodiodes have recently been shown to be a potential replacement for vacuum tube photomultipliers in many nuclear scintillation detector applications. The large active area, low noise, and ease of use of these solid-state photomultipliers makes them ideally suited to scintillation detector applications where overall size and ruggedness are a major concern. Historically, avalanche photodiodes have been limited for use in this capacity by small active areas, low internal gains, and poor optical sensitivity at the wavelengths at which most solid scintillator materials emit. Recent advances as the result of research aimed directly at the solution to these problems however, have successfully demonstrated one inch active area silicon avalanche photodiodes which produce a FWHM resolution of 9.5% for Cs137 at room temperature when coupled to a 1″ × 1″ NaI(Tl) scintillation crystal. Improvements to both material quality and device structure have advanced the state-of-the-art to make silicon avalanche photodiodes a viable alternative in scintillation gamma spectroscopy as well as for large area optical, beta, and low energy x-ray detectors.