Multi-channel programmable power supply with temperature compensation for silicon sensors.
TL;DR: A low-cost, multi-channel programmable power supply was designed that simultaneously provides the bias voltage to 16 SiPMs and has the capability of gain stabilization of devices with non-linear thermal response.
Abstract: Silicon Photo-Multipliers (SiPMs) are increasingly becoming popular for discrete photon counting applications due to the wealth of advantages they offer over conventional photo-detectors such as photo-multiplier tubes and hybrid photo-diodes. SiPMs are used in variety of applications ranging from high energy physics and nuclear physics experiments to medical diagnostics. The gain of a SiPM is directly proportional to the difference between applied and breakdown voltage of the device. However, the breakdown voltage depends critically on the ambient temperature and has a large temperature co-efficient in the range of 40-60 mV/°C resulting in a typical gain variation of 3%-5%/°C [Dinu et al., in IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium, Medical Imaging Conference and 17th Room Temperature Semiconductor Detector Workshop (IEEE, 2010), p. 215]. We plan to use the SiPM as a replacement for PMT in the cosmic ray experiment (GRAPES-3) at Ooty [Gupta et al., Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res., Sect. A 540, 311 (2005)]. There the SiPMs will be operated in an outdoor environment subjected to temperature variation of about 15 °C over a day. A gain variation of more than 50% was observed for such large variations in the temperature. To stabilize the gain of the SiPM under such operating conditions, a low-cost, multi-channel programmable power supply (0-90 V) was designed that simultaneously provides the bias voltage to 16 SiPMs. The programmable power supply (PPS) was designed to automatically adjust the operating voltage for each channel with a built-in closed loop temperature feedback mechanism. The PPS provides bias voltage with a precision of 6 mV and measures the load current with a precision of 1 nA. Using this PPS, a gain stability of 0.5% for SiPM (Hamamatsu, S10931-050P) has been demonstrated over a wide temperature range of 15 °C. The design methodology of the PPS system, its validation, and the results of the tests carried out on the SiPM is presented in this article. The proposed design also has the capability of gain stabilization of devices with non-linear thermal response.
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5 citations
21 May 2019-Nuclear Instruments & Methods in Physics Research Section A-accelerators Spectrometers Detectors and Associated Equipment
TL;DR: In this paper, a SiPM-based CsI(Tl) spectrometer and gain stabilization designs were proposed to settle the spectrum drifts under rapid temperature variations, which can be significantly constrained with the proposed gain stabilization.
Abstract: A spectrometer employing a silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) based scintillation detector has spectrum drift issues under temperature variations. Although some temperature-dependent compensation methods are reported, spectrum distortions under rapid temperature fluctuations have received little attention. We have developed a SiPM-based CsI(Tl) spectrometer and proposed gain stabilization designs to settle this problem. A temperature sensor was coupled to the SiPM in the detector and wrapped with a thermal insulation foam material to acquire the temperature of the SiPM. Meanwhile, a temperature correction module was applied in the field-programmable gate array (FPGA) within a custom multichannel analyzer (MCA). The effectiveness of the temperature correction module in the FPGA and a specialized detector design were studied and verified under slow and rapid temperature variations. The results prove that the spectrum drifts of the SiPM-based CsI(Tl) spectrometer under rapid temperature variations can be significantly constrained with the proposed gain stabilization designs.
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References
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21 May 2003-Nuclear Instruments & Methods in Physics Research Section A-accelerators Spectrometers Detectors and Associated Equipment
TL;DR: The Silicon Photomultiplier (SiPM) is a semiconductor device consisting of many photon microcounters (10 3 mm 2 ) positioned on a common Si substrate as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The Silicon Photomultiplier (SiPM) is a semiconductor device consisting of many photon microcounters (10 3 mm 2 ) positioned on a common Si substrate. SiPM operates in a limited Geiger mode and has single photoelectron gain (10 6 ) and photon detection efficiency (20%) similar to vacuum PMT. Main SiPM features are described and a number of examples of its possible applications are demonstrated, such as scintillator fiber readout, scintillator tiles+WLS readout, imaging Cherenkov counter timing. These SiPM applications are based on experimental test data and SiPM performance is compared with other photodetectors (PMT, APD, HPD, VLPC). r 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
607 citations
TL;DR: Semiconductor photodiodes were developed in the early 'Forties approximately at the time when the photomultiplier tube became a commercial product (RCA 1939) as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Semiconductor photodiodes were developed in the early `Forties approximately at the time when the photomultiplier tube became a commercial product (RCA 1939) Only in recent years, with the invention of the Geiger-mode avalanche photodiodes, have the semiconductor photo detectors reached sensitivity comparable to that of photomultiplier tubes The evolution started in the `Sixties with the p-i-n (PIN) photodiode, a very successful device, which is still used in many detectors for high energy physics and a large number of other applications like radiation detection and medical imaging The next step was the development of the avalanche photodiode (APD) leading to a substantial reduction of noise but not yet achieving single photon response The weakest light flashes that can be detected by the PIN diode need to contain several hundreds of photons An improvement of the sensitivity by 2 orders of magnitude was achieved by the development of the avalanche photodiode, a device with internal gain At the end of the millennium, the semiconductor detectors evolved with the Geiger-mode avalanche photodiode into highly sensitive devices, which have an internal gain comparable to the gain of photomultiplier tubes and a response to single photons A review of the semiconductor photo detector design and development, the properties and problems, some applications and a speculative outlook on the future evolution will be presented
385 citations
TL;DR: A small-animal PET system using SiPMs and lutetium gadolinium oxyorthosilicate (LGSO) crystals is developed and shown to be feasible, which yielded reasonable PET performance in phantom and animal studies.
Abstract: Silicon photomultiplier (SiPM; also called a Geiger-mode avalanche photodiode) is a promising semiconductor photosensor in PET and PET/MRI because it is intrinsically MRI-compatible and has internal gain and timing properties comparable to those of a photomultiplier tube. In this study, we have developed a small-animal PET system using SiPMs and lutetium gadolinium oxyorthosilicate (LGSO) crystals and performed physical evaluation and animal imaging studies to show the feasibility of this system. Methods: The SiPM PET system consists of 8 detectors, each of which comprises 2 × 6 SiPMs and 4 × 13 LGSO crystals. Each crystal has dimensions of 1.5 × 1.5 × 7 mm. The crystal face-to-face diameter and axial field of view are 6.0 cm and 6.5 mm, respectively. Bias voltage is applied to each SiPM using a finely controlled voltage supply because the gain of the SiPM strongly depends on the supply voltage. The physical characteristics were studied by measuring energy resolution, sensitivity, and spatial resolution. Various mouse and rat images were obtained to study the feasibility of the SiPM PET system in in vivo animal studies. Reconstructed PET images using a maximum-likelihood expectation maximization algorithm were coregistered with animal CT images. Results: All individual LGSO crystals within the detectors were clearly distinguishable in flood images obtained by irradiating the detector using a 22Na point source. The energy resolution for individual crystals was 25.8% ± 2.6% on average for 511-keV photopeaks. The spatial resolution measured with the 22Na point source in a warm background was 1.0 mm (2 mm off-center) and 1.4 mm (16 mm off-center) when the maximum-likelihood expectation maximization algorithm was applied. A myocardial 18F-FDG study in mice and a skeletal 18F study in rats demonstrated the fine spatial resolution of the scanner. The feasibility of the SiPM PET system was also confirmed in the tumor images of mice using 18F-FDG and 68Ga-RGD and in the brain images of rats using 18F-FDG. Conclusion: These results indicate that it is possible to develop a PET system using a promising semiconductor photosensor, which yielded reasonable PET performance in phantom and animal studies.
101 citations
TL;DR: The first G-APD Cherenkov Telescope (FACT) is the first in-operation test of the performance of silicon photo detectors as discussed by the authors, for more than two years it is operated on La Palma, Canary Islands (Spain), for the purpose of longterm monitoring of astrophysical sources.
Abstract: The First G-APD Cherenkov Telescope (FACT) is the first in-operation test of the performance of silicon photo detectors in Cherenkov Astronomy. For more than two years it is operated on La Palma, Canary Islands (Spain), for the purpose of long-term monitoring of astrophysical sources. For this, the performance of the photo detectors is crucial and therefore has been studied in great detail. Special care has been taken for their temperature and voltage dependence implementing a correction method to keep their properties stable. Several measurements have been carried out to monitor the performance. The measurements and their results are shown, demonstrating the stability of the gain below the percent level. The resulting stability of the whole system is discussed, nicely demonstrating that silicon photo detectors are perfectly suited for the usage in Cherenkov telescopes, especially for long-term monitoring purpose.
87 citations
TL;DR: The first G-APD Cherenkov Telescope (FACT) is the first in-operation test of the performance of silicon photo detectors as mentioned in this paper, for more than two years it is operated on La Palma, Canary Islands (Spain), for the purpose of longterm monitoring of astrophysical sources.
Abstract: The First G-APD Cherenkov Telescope (FACT) is the first in-operation test of the performance of silicon photo detectors in Cherenkov Astronomy. For more than two years it is operated on La Palma, Canary Islands (Spain), for the purpose of long-term monitoring of astrophysical sources. For this, the performance of the photo detectors is crucial and therefore has been studied in great detail. Special care has been taken for their temperature and voltage dependence implementing a correction method to keep their properties stable. Several measurements have been carried out to monitor the performance. The measurements and their results are shown, demonstrating the stability of the gain below the percent level. The resulting stability of the whole system is discussed, nicely demonstrating that silicon photo detectors are perfectly suited for the usage in Cherenkov telescopes, especially for long-term monitoring purpose.
69 citations