Silicon photomultiplier

Silicon photomultipliers, often called "SiPM" in the literature, are semiconductor single photon sensitive devices built from an avalanche photodiode (APD) array on common Silicon substrate. The idea behind this device is the detection in sequentially connected Silicon avalanche photodiodes (APDs). The dimension of each single APD can vary from 20 to 100 micrometres, and their density can be up to 1000 per square millimeter. Every APD operates in Geiger mode and is decoupled from the others by a polysilicon quenching resistor. Although the device works in digital mode, the SiPM is an analog device because all the microcells are read in parallel making it possible to generate signals with a dynamic range from a single photon to 1000 photons per square millimeter. The supply voltage (Vb) depends on APD technology used, and varies from a minimum of about 25 V up to 70 V, thus being 30 to 60 times lower than the voltage required by a traditional photomultiplier tubes (PMTs). SiPM has been invented in Russia (Moscow Eng.Phys. Institute, MePhI) by Dolgoshein et al. [1 - 4] . This design idea was then used by SensL, Photonique, Hamamatsu, Voxtel Inc., STMicroelectronics and other companies (see the list of SiPM Manufacturers below).

Typically specs for a SiPM:
# Total quantum efficiency is about 20%, being similar to a traditional PMT
# Gain (G) is also similar to a PMT being approx. 10⁶.
# G vs Vb curve is linear and not exponential like a PMT
# Time response is optimized to give a photon arrival time resolution of about 100 ps for single photoelectron
# Signal decay time is inversly proportional to square root of photoelectrons number within an excitation event
# Behaviour is practically independent on external magnetic fields, in contrary to vacuum PMTs
# Small dimensions permits extremely compact, light and robust mechanical design

References

* P. Buzhan, B. Dologoshein et al. , 2001 [http://www.slac.stanford.edu/pubs/icfa/fall01/paper3/paper3b.html]
* P. Buzhan et al., Nucl. Instrum. Methods A504, 48 (2003);
* Z. Sadygov et al., Nucl. Instrum. Methods A504, 301 (2003);
* V. Golovin and V. Saveliev, Nucl. Instrum. Methods A518, 560 (2004).

External links

SiPM Manufacturers:
*SENSL [http://www.sensl.com/Products/02Photon_Counting_And_Timing_Systems--PCDMini_High_Performance_Photon_Counting_Device.html]
*Photonique [http://www.photonique.ch/Products_SSPM_main.html#1.0SSPMs]
*Hamamatsu [http://sales.hamamatsu.com/assets/pdf/catsandguides/mppc_kapd0002e02.pdf Hamamatsu SiPM Catalog]
*Voxtel [http://www.voxtel-inc.com/index.php/products/?PHPSESSID=0280991e36950c07e031f4f730783fb1 Voxtel Homepage]
*CPTA Co Ltd. [http://www.cpta-apd.ru/eng/index.html CPTA Homepage]
*Amplification Technologies [http://www.amplificationtechnologies.com/products.htm]
*STMicroelectronics SiPM Consortium presentation [http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/0705/0705.0672v1.pdf]