Signal to Noise Ratio of silicon photomultipliers measured in the continuous wave regime

Abstract

We performed a Signal to Noise Ratio characterization, in the continuous wave regime, at different bias voltages, frequencies and temperatures, on a novel class of silicon photomultipliers fabricated in planar technology on silicon p-type substrate. Signal to Noise Ratio has been measured as the ratio of the photogenerated current, filtered and averaged by a lock-in amplifier, and the Root Mean Square deviation of the overall current flowing to the device. The measured noise takes into account the shot noise, resulting from the photocurrent and the dark current. We have also performed a comparison between our SiPMs and a photomultiplier tube in terms of Signal to Noise Ratio, as a function of the temperature of the SiPM package and at different bias voltages. Furthermore, Excess Noise Factor measurements of the SiPM, as a function of the applied bias, are shown and discussed. Our results show the outstanding performance of this novel class of SiPMs even without the need of any cooling system.

Low-invasive multisensor real-time acquisition system for the assessment of cardiorespiratory and skin conductance parameters

“…Commercial peripheral clamp electrodes were used to acquire the ECG signal. The PPG probes were instead made ad hoc to acquire the sphygmic signal using an 850nm light source and a silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) detector which presents higher gain than a normal photodiode, thus allowing to obtain a higher signal resolution [18], [21] and for this reason represents the main innovation introduced by our system. The breathing signal is acquired through a 10kΩ negative thermistor (NTC) in order to acquire a voltage signal that increases during the exhalation phase and decreases in the inhalation phase.…”

A silicon photomultiplier-based analog front-end for DC component rejection and pulse wave recording in photoplethysmographic applications

“…The SiPM is an optical device that aims to acquire optical signals and convert them to a voltage signal suitable to be managed by an analog-to-digital converter (ADC). The SiPM employed in this work is sensitive to the single photon; it consists of an array of single photon avalanche diodes (SPAD) with a very high gain (of the order of 10 6 ), much higher than that of a common photodiode and that of an Avalanche Photodiode that are in the range of 10 2 -10 3 [23], [25]. These characteristics are expected to produce significant improvements to the acquisition of PPG waveforms, as they allow to acquire signals with a reduced energy consumption and to achieve a higher AC/DC ratio, also guaranteeing high repeatability and better immunity to motion artifacts [26].…”

“…silicon photomultipliers (SiPM). These devices, due to their high intrinsic gain, allow to extend the optical acquisition sensitivity up to the single photon and to appreciate with greater details all the variations of the optical signal that affect the active surface of the device [23]. The higher resolution provided by this category of sensors allows to increase the AC/DC ratio of the signal.…”

Fiberless, Multi-Channel fNIRS-EEG System Based on Silicon Photomultipliers: Towards Sensitive and Ecological Mapping of Brain Activity and Neurovascular Coupling

“…In the last years, silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs), originally developed as single photon detectors in high energy physics [22], have been proposed for biomedical applications [23,24], including fNIRS [25][26][27][28][29][30]. SiPMs are bi-dimensional arrays of pixelated photodetectors made of SPADs each acting as a single photon counter [31].…”