Initial results on SiPMs performance for use in medical imaging

Abstract

Silicon photomultiplier (SiPMs) detectors are attractive candidates for replacing position sensitive photomultipliers in nuclear imaging. They are compact, they provide high gain with low bias voltage and show better response. The development of dedicated imaging prototypes based on SiPMs possesses several design challenges, since it is necessary to optimize scintillator and SiPM coupling, as well as signal amplification and digitization. In this work, we have investigated the performance of three SiPM modules constructed by SensL coupled on three scintillators (CsI:Tl, BGO, LYSO:Ce), which are used in SPECT and PET imaging. Irradiation was carried out using different sources, which covered a wide range of energies from 88 to 1275 keV. The parameters measured were output pulses' width and height, energy resolution and linearity as a function of bias voltage and sources energy.