Evaluation Of The PETsys TOFPET2 ASIC In Multi-Channel Coincidence Experiments

TL;DR

This study evaluates the TOFPET2 ASIC's multi-channel timing performance in PET systems, demonstrating promising coincidence time resolutions and analyzing the impact of configuration parameters across different SiPM and scintillator setups.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis of the TOFPET2 ASIC's performance with various configurations and SiPM types, extending previous studies with detailed multi-channel results.

Findings

Achieved CRTs as low as 219.9 ps with Hamamatsu SiPMs.

Achieved CRTs as low as 216.1 ps with Broadcom SiPMs.

Identified the trigger delay and integrator gain as key performance factors.

Abstract

Aiming to measure the difference in arrival times of two coincident gamma-photons with an accuracy in the order of 200 ps, time-of-flight positron emission tomography systems commonly employ silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) and high-resolution digitization electronics, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs). This work evaluates the performance of the TOFPET2 ASIC, released by PETsys Electronics S.A. in 2017, dependent on its configuration parameters in multi-channel coincidence measurements. SiPM arrays fabricated by different vendors (KETEK, SensL, Hamamatsu, Broadcom) were tested in combination with the ASIC. Scintillator arrays featuring different reflector designs and different configurations of the TOFPET2 ASIC software parameters were evaluated. The benchtop setup used is provided with the TOFPET2 ASIC evaluation kit by PETsys Electronics S.A.. Compared to existing studies featuring the TOFPET2 ASIC, multi-channel performance results dependent on a larger set of ASIC configuration parameters were obtained that have not been reported to this extend so far. The ASIC shows promising CRTs down to 219.9 ps in combination with two Hamamatsu S14161-3050-HS-08 SiPM arrays (128 channels read out, energy resolution 13.08 %) and 216.1 ps in combination with two Broadcom AFBR-S4N44P643S SiPM arrays (32 channels read out, energy resolution 9.46 %). The length of the trigger delay of the dark count suppression scheme has an impact on the ASIC performance. The integrator gain configuration has been investigated and allows an improvement of the energy resolution. Measuring up to the time-of-flight performance of state-of-the-art positron emission tomography (ToF-PET) systems while providing a uniform and stable readout for multiple channels at the same time, the TOFPET2 ASIC is treated as promising candidate for the integration in future ToF-PET systems.