SensL B-Series and C-Series silicon photomultipliers for time-of-flight positron emission tomography

Abstract

Silicon photomultipliers from SensL are designed for high performance, uniformity and low cost. They demonstrate peak photon detection efficiency of 41% at 420nm, which is matched to the output spectrum of cerium doped lutetium orthosilicate. Coincidence resolving time of less than 220ps is demonstrated. New process improvements have lead to the development of C-Series SiPM which reduces the dark noise by over an order of magnitude. In this paper we will show characterization test results which include photon detection efficiency, dark count rate, crosstalk probability, afterpulse probability and coincidence resolving time comparing B-Series to the newest pre-production C-Series. Additionally we will discuss the effect of silicon photomultiplier microcell size on coincidence resolving time allowing the optimal microcell size choice to be made for time of flight positron emission tomography systems.