Tahereh Sadat Niknejad

A new method for obtaining depth of interaction (DOI) information in PET detectors is presented in this study, based on sharing and redirection of scintillation light among multiple detectors, together with attenuation of light over the length of the crystals. The aim is to obtain continuous DOI encoding with single side readout, and at the same time without the need for one-to-one coupling between scintillators and detectors, allowing the development of a PET scanner with good spatial, energy and timing resolutions while keeping the complexity of the system low. A prototype module has been produced and characterized to test the proposed method, coupling a LYSO scintillator matrix to a commercial SiPMs array. Excellent crystal separation is obtained for all the scintillators in the array, light loss due to depolishing is found to be negligible, energy resolution is shown to be on average 12.7% FWHM. The mean DOI resolution achieved is 4.1 mm FWHM on a 15 mm long crystal and preliminary coincidence time resolution was estimated in 353 ps FWHM.

We present the experimental results obtained with TOFPET2, a readout and digitization ASIC for radiation detectors using Silicon Photomultipliers. The circuit is designed in CMOS 110 nm technology, has 64 independent channels and is optimized for time-of-flight measurement in PET or other applications. The chip has quad-buffered TDCs and charge integration ADCs in each channel. The chip tape-out was done in September 2016 and first tests started in beginning March 2017. Coincidence Time Resolution (CTR) of 164ps FWHM has been measured with 22Na point source. The energy resolution achieved for the 511keV peak is 10.5% FWHM.

We present the experimental characterization of the TOFPET2, a readout and digitization ASIC for radiation detectors using Silicon Photomultipliers. The circuit is designed in CMOS 110 nm technology, has 64 independent channels and is optimized for time-of-flight measurement in PET or other applications. The chip has quad-buffered TDCs and charge integration QDCs in each channel. The Coincidence Time Resolution (CTR) of 511 keV photon pairs from a 22Na point source measured with 2 × 2 × 3 mm3 LSO:Ce crystals co-doped with 0.2% Ca is 118 and 119 ps FWHM when using respectively the SiPMs NUVHD 40um from Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK) and the S14160-3050HS MPPC from Hamamatsu Photonics (HPK). The energy resolution obtained for the 511keV photopeak is 10.5 and 12% FWHM when using respectively the SiPMs PM3325-WB from KETEK and the QFBR-S4N44P164S from Broadcom Inc.

The CMS detector will be upgraded for the HL-LHC to include a MIP Timing Detector (MTD). The MTD will consist of barrel and endcap timing layers, BTL and ETL respectively, providing precision timing of charged particles. The BTL sensors are based on LYSO:Ce scintillation crystals coupled to SiPMs with TOFHIR2 ASICs for the front-end readout. A resolution of 30-60 ps for MIP signals at a rate of 2.5 Mhit/s per channel is expected along the HL-LHC lifetime. We present an overview of the TOFHIR2 requirements and design, simulation results and measurements with TOFHIR2 ASICs. The measurements of TOFHIR2 associated to sensor modules were performed in different test setups using internal test pulses or blue and UV laser pulses emulating the signals expected in the experiment. The measurements show a time resolution of 24 ps initially during Beginning of Operation (BoO) and 58 ps at End of Operation (EoO) conditions, matching well the BTL requirements. We also showed that the time resolution is stable up to the highest expected MIP rate. Extensive radiation tests were performed, both with x-rays and heavy ions, showing that TOFHIR2 is not affected by the radiation environment during the experiment lifetime.

We have developed a Time-of-flight high resolution and commercially viable detector module for the application in small PET scanners. A new approach to depth of interaction (DOI) encoding with low complexity for a pixelated crystal array using a single side readout and 4-to-1 coupling between scintillators and photodetectors was investigated. In this method the DOI information is estimated using the light sharing technique. The detector module is a 1.53×1.53×15 mm3 matrix of 8×8 LYSO scintillator with lateral surfaces optically depolished separated by reflective foils. The crystal array is optically coupled to 4×4 silicon photomultipliers (SiPM) array and readout by a high performance front-end ASIC with TDC capability (50 ps time binning). The results show an excellent crystal identification for all the scintillators in the matrix, a timing resolution of 530 ps, an average DOI resolution of 5.17 mm FWHM and an average energy resolution of 18.29% FWHM.

We have developed a highly integrated, fast and compact readout electronics for Silicon Photomultiplier (SiPM) based Time of Flight Positron Emission Tomography (TOF-PET) scanners. The readout is based on the use of TOP-PET Application Specific Integrated Circuit (PETsys TOFPET1 ASIC) with 64 channels, each with its amplifier, discriminator, Time to Digital Converter (TDC) and amplitude determination using Time Over Threshold (TOT). The ASIC has 25 ps r.m.s. intrinsic time resolution and fully digital output. The system is optimised for high rates, good timing, low power consumption and low cost. For validating the readout electronics, we have built a technical PET scanner, hereafter called ``demonstrator'', with 2'048 SiPM channels. The PET demonstrator has 16 compact Detector Modules (DM). Each DM has two ASICs reading 128 SiPM pixels in one-to-one coupling to 128 Lutetium Yttrium Orthosilicate (LYSO) crystals measuring 3.1 × 3.1 × 15 mm3 each. The data acquisition system for the demonstrator has two Front End Boards type D (FEB/D), each collecting the data of 1'024 channels (8 DMs), and transmitting assembled data frames through a serial link (4.8 Gbps), to a single Data Acquisition (DAQ) board plugged into the Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) bus of the data acquisition PC. Results obtained with this PET demonstrator are presented.

Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanners require high performances in term of spatial resolution and sensitivity to allow early detection of cancer masses. In small animal and organ dedicated PET scanners the Depth of Interaction (DOI) information has to be obtained to avoid parallax errors and to reconstruct high resolution images. In the whole body PET, the DOI information can be useful to correct for the time jitter of the optical photons along the main axis of the scintillator, improving the time performances. In this work we present the development of PET module designed to reach high performance as compared to the current scanners while keeping the complexity of the system reasonably low. The module presented is based on a 64 LYSO (Lutetium-yttrium oxyorthosilicate) crystals matrix and on a 4×4 MPPC (Multi Pixels Photon Counter) array as detector in a 4 to 1 coupling between the crystals and the detector and a single side readout. The lateral surfaces of the crystals are optically treated to be unpolished. The DOI and the energy resolution of the PET module are presented and a fast method to obtain the DOI calibration is discussed.

The next generation of organ specific Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanners, e.g. for breast imaging, will use partial ring geometries. We propose a component-based Maximum-Likelihood (ML) estimation of normalisation factors for 3D PET data reconstruction applicable to partial ring geometries. This method is based on the Software for Tomographic Image Reconstruction (STIR) for full ring PET and is validated for a stationary partial ring scanner. The model includes the estimation for crystal efficiencies and geometric factors. The algorithm is validated using Maximum Likelihood Estimation Method (MLEM) based 3D reconstruction in STIR using Geant4 Application for Tomographic Emission (GATE) simulation data for full and partial ring scanners and experimental data from a demonstrator with partial ring geometry. The uniformity of the reconstructed images of simulated cylindrical and NEMA-IQ phantoms in both scanner geometries and the image of a line source in the partial ring demonstrator is assessed. The results have shown that uniform images in both axial and transaxial directions are obtained after applying the estimated normalisation factors. The accuracy of the algorithm is validated by comparing the normalisation factors between the full and partial ring systems in simulation. We have shown that the estimated normalisation factors are almost identical, even though the separate components are not. This proves that the ML estimation of the 3D normalisation factors is valid and can be applied to the partial ring scanner.

The CMS Detector will be upgraded for the HL-LHC to include a MIP Timing Detector (MTD). The MTD will consist of barrel and endcap timing layers, BTL and ETL respectively, providing precision timing of charged particles. The BTL sensors are based on LYSO:Ce scintillation crystals coupled to SiPMs with TOFHIR2 ASICs for the front-end readout. A resolution of 30–40 ps for MIP signals at a rate of 2.5 Mhit/s per channel is expected at the beginning of HL-LHC operation. We present an overview of the TOFHIR2 requirements and design, simulation results and the first measurements with TOFHIR2A silicon samples.

The CMS Detector will be upgraded for the High-Luminosity LHC to include a MIP Timing Detector (MTD). The MTD will consist of barrel and endcap timing layers, BTL and ETL, respectively, providing precision timing of charged particles. The BTL sensors are based on LYSO:Ce scintillating crystals coupled to SiPMs that are read out by TOFHIR2 ASICs in the front-end system. A resolution of 30 ps for MIP signals is expected at the beginning of HL-LHC operation degrading to 60 ps at the end of operation due to the SiPMs radiation damage. Relative to the first version of the front-end ASIC, TOFHIR2X implements improved circuitry for mitigation of the SiPM dark current noise as well as a new current mode discriminator. We present an overview of the TOFHIR2 requirements and design, simulation results and the first measurements with TOFHIR2X silicon samples coupled to LYSO/SiPM prototype sensors.

A compact Detector Module for Time-Of-Flight PET integrating 128 gamma-ray detection pixels of 3.5×3.5×15 mm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sup> LYSO crystals associated to MPPC photosensors has been developed in the framework of the EndoTOFPET-US collaboration. The module has two 64-channel readout ASICs integrating signal conditioning and discrimination circuitry and high-performance TDCs for each channel, featuring 25 ps r.m.s intrinsic resolution and fully digital output (up to 640 Mb/s). The data acquisition system is based on frontend boards, each collecting the data of 1024 channels (8 Detector Modules) and transmitting assembled data frames through an electrical serial link (1.6 Gbps) or two high-speed optical links (2×6.4 Gb/s), and a single DAQ board on the PCIe bus of the acquisition PC. In this work, we present the design and preliminary results of characterization of the Detector Modules and associated DAQ system.

In this paper we present an analog circuit for the new MIP Timing Detector of the CMS experiment at CERN, featuring, for the first time, a silicon implementation of the Differential Leading Edge Discriminating technique to suppress SiPM dark noise. This technique also stabilizes the baseline, leading to a time resolution of 25 ps at beginning of life and 55 ps at end of life while dissipating less than 4 mW. The full analog front-end ASIC has 32 channels and has been designed in a CMOS 130 nm technology with a total die area of 8.5 x 5.2 mm2. The radiation tolerance of this design has been confirmed by radiation tests.

Pixelated PET systems produce higher count rates as they integrate several detecting channels per detector module. An increased data flow from the detectors posses higher needs on the bandwidth requirements. We aim to optimize the bandwidth usage efficiency by filtering on the fly the detected events with non valid energies. PET systems with a SiPM-ASIC readout scheme are being extensively used to get enhanced images on Time-Of-Flight PET scanners. These kind of digital readout systems are specially interesting for the application of on-line processing techniques given the ease of access to each detected event digital information. This study purses the analysis of on-line processing techniques on the DAQ front-end level (on-detector electronics) for pixelated PET systems with SiPM-ASIC readout. In particular, we worked with a tunable on-line energy discriminating stage. For the optimization of its hardwired internal limits we analyzed the system energy space. We explored different solutions dependent or not on the system's energy calibration. Results obtained through the different filter versions confirm the minimal resources consumption of such processing techniques implemented at DAQ front-end level. Our experiences showed how the filtering process reduces the bandwidth needs excluding from the data stream all non valid energy events and thus improving the system sensitivity under saturation conditions. Additionally, these experiments highlight how setting proper energy limits we ensure the preservation of the system performance, which maintains its original energy and time resolution. Under the light of these findings, we see a great potential on the application of on-line processing techniques for Time-Of-Flight PET at the DAQ font-end level (on-detector electronics) and so we envisaged more complex processing methods.

Pixelated PET systems produce higher count rates as they integrate several detecting channels per detector module. An increased data flow from the detectors posses higher needs on the bandwidth requirements. We aim to optimize the bandwidth usage efficiency by filtering on the fly the detected events with non valid energies. PET systems with a SiPM-ASIC readout scheme are being extensively used to get enhanced images on Time-Of-Flight PET scanners. These kind of digital readout systems are specially interesting for the application of on-line processing techniques given the ease of access to each detected event digital information. This study purses the analysis of on-line processing techniques on the DAQ front-end level (on-detector electronics) for pixelated PET systems with SiPM-ASIC readout. In particular, we worked with a tunable on-line energy discriminating stage. For the optimization of its hardwired internal limits we analyzed the system energy space. We explored different solutions dependent or not on the system's energy calibration. Results obtained through the different filter versions confirm the minimal resources consumption of such processing techniques implemented at DAQ front-end level. Our experiences showed how the filtering process reduces the bandwidth needs excluding from the data stream all non valid energy events and thus improving the system sensitivity under saturation conditions. Additionally, these experiments highlight how setting proper energy limits we ensure the preservation of the system performance, which maintains its original energy and time resolution. Under the light of these findings, we see a great potential on the application of on-line processing techniques for Time-Of-Flight PET at the DAQ font-end level (on-detector electronics) and so we envisaged more complex processing methods.