Pratte Jean-François, Nolet Frédéric, Parent Samuel, Vachon Frédéric, Roy Nicolas, Rossignol Tommy, Deslandes Keven, Dautet Henri, Fontaine Réjean, Charlebois Serge A
Interdisciplinary Institute for Technological Innovation and Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC J1K 2R1, Canada.
Sensors (Basel). 2021 Jan 16;21(2):598. doi: 10.3390/s21020598.
Analog and digital SiPMs have revolutionized the field of radiation instrumentation by replacing both avalanche photodiodes and photomultiplier tubes in many applications. However, multiple applications require greater performance than the current SiPMs are capable of, for example timing resolution for time-of-flight positron emission tomography and time-of-flight computed tomography, and mitigation of the large output capacitance of SiPM array for large-scale time projection chambers for liquid argon and liquid xenon experiments. In this contribution, the case will be made that 3D photon-to-digital converters, also known as 3D digital SiPMs, have a potentially superior performance over analog and 2D digital SiPMs. A review of 3D photon-to-digital converters is presented along with various applications where they can make a difference, such as time-of-flight medical imaging systems and low-background experiments in noble liquids. Finally, a review of the key design choices that must be made to obtain an optimized 3D photon-to-digital converter for radiation instrumentation, more specifically the single-photon avalanche diode array, the CMOS technology, the quenching circuit, the time-to-digital converter, the digital signal processing and the system level integration, are discussed in detail.
模拟和数字硅光电倍增管（SiPM）通过在许多应用中取代雪崩光电二极管和光电倍增管，彻底改变了辐射检测仪器领域。然而，多种应用需要比当前SiPM所能提供的更高性能，例如用于飞行时间正电子发射断层扫描和飞行时间计算机断层扫描的时间分辨率，以及减轻用于液氩和液氙实验的大规模时间投影室的SiPM阵列的大输出电容。在本论文中，将阐述三维光子到数字转换器（也称为3D数字SiPM）相比模拟和二维数字SiPM具有潜在的优越性能。本文将对3D光子到数字转换器进行综述，并介绍它们能发挥作用的各种应用，如飞行时间医学成像系统和稀有液体中的低本底实验。最后，将详细讨论为获得用于辐射检测仪器的优化3D光子到数字转换器必须做出的关键设计选择，更具体地说是单光子雪崩二极管阵列、CMOS技术、猝灭电路、时间数字转换器、数字信号处理和系统级集成。
