Scanning a Silicon Photomultiplier with a Laser Beam

Abstract

The Silicon Photomultiplier (SiPM) is a novel semiconducting photodetector which can detect single photons. It consists of many microcells (pixels) operating in the so-called Geiger mode. At present, there are two principal designs among such devices: surface pixel and deeply buried pixel (microwell) structures. The cellular structure decreases the device’s effective photosensitive area, expressed in terms of the geometrical fill factor. It is very important to take it into account when developing new constructions with high pixel densities that are necessary for increasing the dynamic range. It is believed that the fill factor of deep microwell SiPMs is close to unity. In this work, the technique and results of studying the zonal response of different SiPMs by scanning (moving) with micron laser spot are presented. It is shown that the geometrical fill factor of the deep microwell SiPM is less than 100% when detecting the red light (λ = 632 nm).