title: Comparison of large-area position-sensitive solid-state photomultipliers for small animal PET.
abstract: This paper evaluates the performance of two large-area position-sensitive solid-state photomultipliers (PS-SSPM) for use in small animal PET detector designs. Both PS-SSPM device designs are 1 cm² in area, the first being a 2 × 2 tiled array of 5 mm × 5 mm PS-SSPMs and the second being a 10 mm × 10 mm continuous PS-SSPM. Signal-to-noise measurements were performed to investigate the optimal operating parameters for each device and to compare the performance of the two PS-SSPM designs. A maximum signal-to-noise ratio of 29.3 was measured for the 5 mm PS-SSPM array and 15.1 for the 10 mm PS-SSPM, both measurements were made at 0 °C and at the optimal bias voltage. The best energy resolution measured with an array of 1.3 mm polished LSO crystals was 16% for the 5 mm PS-SSPM array and 18% for the 10 mm PS-SSPM. The timing properties of both devices were similar, with a best timing resolution (in coincidence with an LSO/PMT detector) of 6.8 ns (range 6.8-8.9 ns) and 7.1 ns (range 7.1-9.6 ns) for the 5 mm PS-SSPM and 10 mm PS-SSPM respectively. The 2 × 2 array of 5 mm PS-SSPMs was able to visually resolve the elements in an 0.5 × 0.5 × 20 mm LYSO scintillator array (unpolished, diffuse reflector) with an average peak-to-valley ratio in the flood histograms of ∼11 indicating clear separation of the crystals. Advantages and drawbacks of PET detector designs using PS-SSPM photodetectors are addressed and comparisons to other small-animal PET detector designs using position-sensitive avalanche photodiodes are made.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of California-Davis, One Shields Avenue, CA 95616, USA. jpschmall@ucdavis.edu
authors.forename: Jeffrey P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Schmall
authors.forename: Junwei
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Du
authors.forename: Yongfeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Purushottam A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Dokhale
authors.forename: Mickel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: McClish
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Christian
authors.forename: Kanai S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Shah
authors.forename: Simon R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Cherry
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D008027:Light; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000295:instrumentation*; D059629:Signal-To-Noise Ratio; D013997:Time Factors