A Comprehensive Study on the Timing Limits of the TOFPET2 ASIC and on Approaches for Improvements

Nadig, Vanessa; Yusopova, Malika; Radermacher, Harald; Schug, David; Weissler, Bjöern; Schulz, Volkmar; Gundacker, S.

doi:10.1109/trpms.2022.3158704

Cited by 20 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…6b). The measurement of the LYSO:Ce:Ca reference detector has an optimal CTR of (68 ± 1) ps similar to measurements presented in [32]. Measuring two 2 × 2 × 20 mm 3 BaF 2 crystals in coincidence shows a distinguishable Compton edge and photopeak, but the peak separation is significantly reduced for these longer crystals (see Fig.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 74%

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On the Prospects of BaF₂ as a Fast Scintillator for Time-of-Flight Positron Emission Tomography Systems

Herweg

Nadig

Schulz

et al. 2023

IEEE Trans. Radiat. Plasma Med. Sci.

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Future TOF-PET will be in need of ultrafast scintillation materials, with potential seen in cross-luminescence (CL). BaF2, for example, shows a sub-100ps decay time with 300 photons produced per MeV. However, it poses challenges such as medium radiation length, low photofraction, moderate light yield and vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) emission around 200 nm. Recent developments in UV-sensitive solid state photodetectors (SiPMs) have the potential to establish cross-luminescence for ultrafast TOF in PET. In this work, we aim to study BaF2, read out by these new VUV SiPMs, as a viable alternative to LYSO:Ce. In order to study the prospects of BaF2 in TOF-PET, we compare the CTR of 2 × 2 × 20 mm 3 undoped and yttrium-doped BaF2 crystals, readout by Hamamatsu S13370-3050CN SiPMs with a maximum photon detection efficiency (PDE) of 14 % at 200 nm and air coupling, to LYSO:Ce:Ca crystals of the same size. With high-frequency readout electronics, we reached 233 ps with undoped BaF2 and 213 ps with BaF2:Y, while the performance of LYSO:Ce:Ca was 125 ps (measured with HPK S14160-3050HS, PDE ∼60 % and glue coupling). Conducting measurements at different depth of interaction positions shows a pronounced impact on the CTR. Furthermore, we investigated the performance for systems of BaF2 with TOFPET2c ASIC measurements and Geant4 simulations for effective sensitivity comparisons to LYSO:Ce:Ca.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 74%

“…1) Timing performance: Measuring the 2 × 2 × 3 mm 3 LYSO:Ce:Ca crystals, readout by Broadcom SiPMs, on the ASIC setup results in a CTR of (125 ± 6) ps, which is in accord with the measurements in [32]. The results of BaF 2 show that a photopeak is visible in the energy spectra (see Fig.…”

Section: B Performance Tests For System Applicabilitysupporting

confidence: 74%

On the Prospects of BaF₂ as a Fast Scintillator for Time-of-Flight Positron Emission Tomography Systems

Herweg

Nadig

Schulz

et al. 2023

IEEE Trans. Radiat. Plasma Med. Sci.

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“…As with the reported BGO values, these CTRs are consistent with values reported from measurements with high power, high frequency readout chains using the same crystal element size and SiPM. CTR for 20 mm length LYSO:Ce crystals was reported as 132 ± 2 ps in Nadig et al (2022) . In comparison, the test circuit shown in figure 1(a) matched this performance at 5 mW of total power consumption.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Low power implementation of high frequency SiPM readout for Cherenkov and scintillation detectors in TOF-PET

Cates

Choong

2022

Phys. Med. Biol.

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State-of-the-art (SoA) electronic readout for silicon photomultiplier (SiPM)-based scintillation detectors that demonstrate experimental limits in achievable coincidence time resolution (CTR) leverage low noise, high frequency signal processing to facilitate a single photon time response that is near the limit of the SiPMs architecture. This readout strategy can optimally exploit fast luminescence and prompt photon populations, and promising measurements show detector concepts employing this readout can greatly advance PET detector CTR, relative to SoA in clinical systems (~200 ps FWHM). However, the technique employs power hungry components which make the electronics chain impractical for channel-dense TOF-PET detectors. We have developed and tested a low noise and high frequency readout circuit which is performant at low power and consists of discrete elements with small footprints, making it feasible for integration into TOF-PET detector prototypes. A 3x3 mm2 Broadcom SiPM with this readout chain exhibited sub-100 ps single photon time resolution (SPTR) at 10 mW of power consumption, with a minor performance degradation to 120±2 ps FWHM at 5 mW. CTR measurements with 3x3x20 mm3 LYSO and fast LGSO scintillators demonstrated 127±3 ps and 113±2 ps FWHM at nominal power dissipation and 133±2 ps and 121±3 ps CTR at 5 mW. BGO crystals 3x3x20 mm3 in size show 271±5 ps FWHM CTR (1174±14 ps FWTM) at optimal power dissipation and 289±8 ps (1296±33 ps FWTM) at 5 mW. The compact and low power readout topology that achieves this performance thereby offers a platform to greatly advance PET system CTR and also opportunities to provide high performance TOF-PET at reduced material cost.

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“…Hence, highly integrated front-end designs in the form of ASICs are required. It has been shown that current system-applicable solutions available on the market show a non-negligible contribution of the front-end on the measured CTR [9]. For PET, several ASIC solutions have been developed over the past two decades, amongst others: NINO [10], TOFPET2 [11], STIC [12], and FlexTOT [13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Study experimental time resolution limits of recent ASICs at Weeroc with different SiPMs and scintillators

Saleem,

Ahmad,

Cizel

et al. 2023

J. Inst.

Self Cite

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Medical applications, such as Positron Emission Tomography (PET), and space applications, such as Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR), are in need of highly specialized ASICs. Weeroc, in collaboration with different partners, is highly involved in developing a new generation of front-end ASICs. In the context of a joined LIDAR project among Weeroc, CNES, and Airbus, Weeroc is working on the development of Liroc, an ASIC for space LIDAR application. Weeroc is also working on advancing ASICs for medical applications with Radioroc under development and intended to be used for PET applications. This study experimentally evaluates the time resolution limits of these ASICs in different configurations, with some of the most recent silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) technologies available on the market, coupled to different scintillation crystals. The best single-photon time resolution (SPTR) was achieved using FBK NUV-HD SiPMs with an FWHM of 90 ps with Liroc and 73 ps with Radioroc. Furthermore, the coincidence time resolution (CTR) of Radioroc was studied with different crystal sizes. Using a large LYSO:Ce,Ca crystal of (3 × 3 × 20 mm3) with Broadcom Near UltraViolet-Metal in Trench (NUV-MT) yields a CTR of 127 ps (FWHM). The best CTR of Radioroc was determined to 83 ps (FWHM) with Broadcom NUV-MT SiPMs coupled to LYSO:Ce,Ca (2 × 2 × 3 mm3)) from Taiwan Applied Crystal (TAC).

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A Comprehensive Study on the Timing Limits of the TOFPET2 ASIC and on Approaches for Improvements

Cited by 20 publications

References 19 publications

On the Prospects of BaF₂ as a Fast Scintillator for Time-of-Flight Positron Emission Tomography Systems

On the Prospects of BaF₂ as a Fast Scintillator for Time-of-Flight Positron Emission Tomography Systems

Low power implementation of high frequency SiPM readout for Cherenkov and scintillation detectors in TOF-PET

Study experimental time resolution limits of recent ASICs at Weeroc with different SiPMs and scintillators

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A Comprehensive Study on the Timing Limits of the TOFPET2 ASIC and on Approaches for Improvements

Cited by 20 publications

References 19 publications

On the Prospects of BaF2 as a Fast Scintillator for Time-of-Flight Positron Emission Tomography Systems

On the Prospects of BaF2 as a Fast Scintillator for Time-of-Flight Positron Emission Tomography Systems

Low power implementation of high frequency SiPM readout for Cherenkov and scintillation detectors in TOF-PET

Study experimental time resolution limits of recent ASICs at Weeroc with different SiPMs and scintillators

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On the Prospects of BaF₂ as a Fast Scintillator for Time-of-Flight Positron Emission Tomography Systems

On the Prospects of BaF₂ as a Fast Scintillator for Time-of-Flight Positron Emission Tomography Systems