We present the architecture and electro-optical characterization of a time-resolved single photon detector specifically designed for particle trackers based on plastic scintillating fibers. The sensor has been developed within the MONDO (MOnitor for Neutron Dose in hadrOntherapy) project, which aims at investigating the effects of secondary generated neutrons in particle therapy. The experiment poses significant challenges on the tracker readout chip to reconstruct the energy released by the neutron in the fibers and the absolute time at which the interaction took place. Moreover, the readout chip must be fully autonomous in the acquisition of the events, which are sparse in time and, due to the nature of the fibers, fast and weak. A first prototype of photon detector based on single-photon avalanche diodes has been designed and manufactured in a 150 nm 1P6M CMOS standard technology. The photon detector comprises a 16×8 array of pixels of 125×250 μm 2 area. Each pixel has photon counting and photon timestamping capabilities, and is fully autonomous in the acquisition process. A novel, integrated triggering mechanism copes with the poor signal-to-noise ratio available at the photon detector by means of a distributed architecture. The chip represents a unique tool for the readout of plastic scintillating fibers and, with respect to similar implementations in the literature, it has the highest level of integration in a relatively small pixel area while maintaining a high sensitivity.
Design and Electro-optical Characterization of a Novel, Fully Digital CMOS SPAD Array for Ultra-fast Neutron Tracking in Particle Therapy
L. Gasparini;Y. Zou;E. Manuzzato;L. Parmesan;M. Perenzoni;
2019-01-01
Abstract
We present the architecture and electro-optical characterization of a time-resolved single photon detector specifically designed for particle trackers based on plastic scintillating fibers. The sensor has been developed within the MONDO (MOnitor for Neutron Dose in hadrOntherapy) project, which aims at investigating the effects of secondary generated neutrons in particle therapy. The experiment poses significant challenges on the tracker readout chip to reconstruct the energy released by the neutron in the fibers and the absolute time at which the interaction took place. Moreover, the readout chip must be fully autonomous in the acquisition of the events, which are sparse in time and, due to the nature of the fibers, fast and weak. A first prototype of photon detector based on single-photon avalanche diodes has been designed and manufactured in a 150 nm 1P6M CMOS standard technology. The photon detector comprises a 16×8 array of pixels of 125×250 μm 2 area. Each pixel has photon counting and photon timestamping capabilities, and is fully autonomous in the acquisition process. A novel, integrated triggering mechanism copes with the poor signal-to-noise ratio available at the photon detector by means of a distributed architecture. The chip represents a unique tool for the readout of plastic scintillating fibers and, with respect to similar implementations in the literature, it has the highest level of integration in a relatively small pixel area while maintaining a high sensitivity.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
