title: Performance comparison of Si-PM-based block detectors with different pixel sizes for an ultrahigh-resolution small-animal PET system.
abstract: The silicon photomultiplier (Si-PM) is a promising photodetector for a high-resolution PET scanner due to its small size, high gain and lower sensitivity to magnetic fields. There are several commercially available Si-PM arrays with different pixel sizes and fill factors, and these parameters can affect the performance of a PET block detector read out by these devices. We compared the performance of block detectors using 4 × 4 Si-PM arrays with 25 µm (Hamamatsu S11064-025P) and 50 µm (S11064-050P) pixels combined with the same 15 × 15 matrix LGSO block made of 0.7 × 0.7 × 6 mm(3) scintillator pixels. Evaluated characteristics include photopeak linearity, energy resolution and positioning performance. Although the photopeak linearity and energy resolution are slightly better for the Si-PM with 25 µm pixels, the position performance measured by the separation of the position histogram is significantly better for the Si-PM with 50 µm pixels. We conclude that using the Si-PM with 50 µm pixels will provide a better solution for the development of ultrahigh-resolution PET systems.
authors.affiliation: Kobe City College of Technology, Kobe, Japan. s-yama@kobe-kosen.ac.jp
authors.forename: Seiichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Watabe
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hatazawa
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D049628:Body Size; D016014:Linear Models; D017785:Photons; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000295:instrumentation*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012825:Silicon
chemical_list: D012825:Silicon