Investigating μSiPMs to overcome the limits of BGO in ToF-PET
Fast timing in ToF-PET improves the signal-to-noise ratio for better patient comfort through either a lower dose or a shorter scan time. Recent clinical PET scanners using lutetium-based crystals, like LYSO, reach a coincidence time resolution (CTR) of around 200 ps. Their CTR is mainly limited by the scintillation process. Thus, crystals with a significant emission of Cherenkov light, most prominently BGO, are being investigated as an alternative. BGO cannot reach its full potential due to a too low bandwidth of the electronics and too low time resolution of the photosensors. We investigate the segmentation of the photosensor into an array of individually-read-out μSiPMs to allow a better use of the Cherenkov photon’s prompt time information through an effectively higher bandwidth. In this work, we simulated the optical photon production with Geant4 and applied a signal model with a leading-edge threshold to determine timestamps and calculate the CTR from the first μ SiPM timestamp. Detectors with either 3 mm or 20 mm BGO or LYSO crystals were examined with varying photosensor segmentations. Segmenting the photosensor resulted in a significant improvement of the CTR for BGO crystals of both lengths, reducing it to 29±15ps (FWHM) for 3 mm and 80±21ps (FWHM) for 20 mm. BGO benefits from the segmentation due to its higher Cherenkov-to-scintillation ratio, while the same does not apply to LYSO with its lower Cherenkov and higher scintillation light yield. Adding noise factors, we validated the simulation of a full SiPM with measurements. For the 20 mm BGO crystal, we found that the CTR of the highest segmentation deteriorated slightly, but stayed in the range of 100 ps. For a more realistic model, further simulations with more noise factors are planned. Finally, first measurements with test structures will be used to verify our simulation results.
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
2024-10-26
979‐8‐3503‐8815‐2
IEEE conference record (Nuclear Science Symposium & Medical Imaging Conference)
2577‐0829
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REVIEWED
EPFL
| Event name | Event acronym | Event place | Event date |
Tampa, Florida | 2024-10-26 - 2024-11-02 | ||