Silicon Photomultiplier Based TOF-PET Detector
First Claim
1. A scintillation detector, comprising:
- an array of j×
k silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs), where j and k are positive integers, mounted on a substrate;
an array of m×
n scintillator crystals, where m and n are positive integers, optically coupled to said array of SiPMs, whereinat least one of j and k are greater than 1,n is greater than or equal to j, andm is greater than or equal to k;
at least a plurality of said scintillator crystals of said array being optically coupled to each other by an air gap;
said array of scintillator crystals being wrapped by an external reflector;
each of the SiPM cathode outputs being coupled to a common cathode output lead, and the anode outputs being coupled to individual anode output leads; and
SiPM signal processing circuitry, includingscintillation event timing computation circuitry receiving a common cathode output signal from said common cathode output lead, and configured to compute timing of a scintillation event incident on said scintillator crystal array from said common cathode output signal; and
scintillation event position and energy computation circuitry receiving individual anode output signals from said individual anode output leads, and configured to compute position and energy of said scintillation event incident on said scintillator crystal array from said individual anode output signals.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A scintillation block detector employs an array of optically air coupled scintillation pixels, the array being wrapped in reflector material and optically coupled to an array of silicon photomultiplier light sensors with common-cathode signal timing pickoff and individual anode signal position and energy determination. The design features afford an optimized combination of photopeak energy event sensitivity and timing, while reducing electronic circuit complexity and power requirements, and easing necessary fabrication methods. Four of these small blocks, or “miniblocks,” can be combined as optically and electrically separated quadrants of a larger single detector in order to recover detection efficiency that would otherwise be lost due to scattering between them. Events are validated for total energy by summing the contributions from the four quadrants, while the trigger is generated from either the timing signal of the quadrant with the highest energy deposition, the first timing signal derived from the four quadrant time-pickoff signals, or a statistically optimum combination of the individual quadrant event times, so as to maintain good timing for scatter events. This further reduces the number of electronic channels required per unit detector area while avoiding the timing degradation characteristic of excessively large SiPM arrays.
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Citations
24 Claims
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1. A scintillation detector, comprising:
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an array of j×
k silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs), where j and k are positive integers, mounted on a substrate;an array of m×
n scintillator crystals, where m and n are positive integers, optically coupled to said array of SiPMs, whereinat least one of j and k are greater than 1, n is greater than or equal to j, and m is greater than or equal to k; at least a plurality of said scintillator crystals of said array being optically coupled to each other by an air gap; said array of scintillator crystals being wrapped by an external reflector; each of the SiPM cathode outputs being coupled to a common cathode output lead, and the anode outputs being coupled to individual anode output leads; and SiPM signal processing circuitry, including scintillation event timing computation circuitry receiving a common cathode output signal from said common cathode output lead, and configured to compute timing of a scintillation event incident on said scintillator crystal array from said common cathode output signal; and scintillation event position and energy computation circuitry receiving individual anode output signals from said individual anode output leads, and configured to compute position and energy of said scintillation event incident on said scintillator crystal array from said individual anode output signals. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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Specification