An evaluation of so
lid-state photomultip
lier (SSPM) has been conducted for Positron Emission Tomography (PET) app
lications. The single-channel PET detector has been measured for its performance with respect to
linearity of
light detection, energy resolution, coincidence timing resolution, and depth-of-interaction detection capabi
lity. The SSPMs used have a 1×1 mm
2 active detection area. At nominal bias, it has a peak sensitivity around 470 nm, typical single photon detection efficiency around 20%, gain about 600,000, dark current 25 μA, and excess noise factor <1.3. A trans-impedance preamp
lifier was used to read the signal under operating conditions consisted with a balanced energy and timing performance for the PET app
lication. In this initial study, there was a geometry mismatch between the SSPM and LSO crystal with a 2×2 mm
2 cross-sectional area, where the
light loss could reach 75%. Measured energy and coincidence timing resolutions are 23%and 1.8 ns, respectively, all within the SSPM
linear region of photon detection up to
![not, vert, similar](http://www.sciencedirect.com/scidirimg/entities/223c.gif)
250 photoelectrons. The depth-of-interaction (DOI) resolution was measured with two SSPMs detecting
lights at both ends of a 1.8×2×20 mm
3 LSO crystal, using a conventional electronic col
limation method to loca
lize the DOI positions. The measured DOI resolution was 4.5 (+/−0.3) mm, sufficient to develop a PET detector for the measurement of 3D interaction locations. These pre
liminary measurements have demonstrated the feasibi
lity of using SSPMs for PET app
lications.