Timing and Energy Resolution of new near-UV SiPMs coupled to LaBr3:Ce for TOF-PET

• Published in: IEEE transactions on nuclear science 2014-10, Vol.61 (5), p.2426-2432
• Main Authors: Schmall, Jeffrey P, Wiener, Rony I, Surti, Suleman, Ferri, Alessandro, Gola, Alberto, Tarolli, Alessandro, Piemonte, Claudio, Karp, Joel S
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0018-9499
• DOI: 10.1109/TNS.2014.2346579

The high light output and fast decay time of LaBr3:Ce scintillation detectors leads to excellent timing performance. To realize the potential of timing resolution with LaBr3:Ce we have investigated the performance with SiPMs, which enable 1-to-1 coupling to individual crystals, and which have been optimized for the near-ultraviolet (NUV) scintillation light emission of LaBr3:Ce. Coincidence timing resolution (CTR) of 100 ps was measured for a 4×4×5 mm3 LaBr3:30%Ce crystal directly coupled to a large-area 4×4 mm2 NUV-SiPM. Results show very little dependence on temperature, in the range of -20° to 20°C, and bias voltage, from 2 V to 5 V over breakdown. Optimal performance was achieved at an over-voltage (OV) range of 3 V - 5 V, at which high gain and high photon detection efficiency are achieved. Though saturation was evident at 511 keV, an energy resolution of 6.8% was measured after correcting for non-linearity. We also measured a CTR of 110 ps for a 4×4×5mm3 LaBr3:5%Ce crystal and 245 ps for a 4×4×30 mm3 LaBr3:5%Ce crystal using the NUV-SIPM. The poorer timing measurement for the 30-mm long crystal is due mainly to a systematic shift in the time pick-off as a function of the depth-of-interaction. The excellent temperature stability, fast rise time, high gain, and low noise of the NUV-SiPM make it a practical and highly appealing photodetector for the readout of a LaBr3:Ce TOF-PET detector.