Silicon photomultipliers development at STMicroelectronics

Abstract

Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs) are fabricated in two different configurations: p-on-n and n-on-p junctions. More particularly p-on-n SiPMs turn out to be more suitable in nuclear medical imaging applications like Positron Emission Tomography (PET), due to their higher sensitivity in blue wavelength range where common PET scintillators have their emission spectrum. Here we report on the preliminary results of the electro-optical characterization performed on the first STMicroelectronics p-on-n SiPMs with standard (45%) and enhanced (62%) fill factor. The performances of these devices are compared with standard n-on-p technology. The inversion of the junction results in a remarkable improvement of PDE in blue wavelength range. Moreover all the tested devices show very good single photoelectron resolution also for high overvoltage values confirming the excellent single photon detection capability of SiPM technology. In this work a comprehensive SiPM model integrating the electrical and statistical behavior of the device is also presented. We used a Monte Carlo model for statistical and a SPICE circuit model for the electrical behavior description of the SiPM.