Silicon Photomultipliers
SensL (now under ON Semiconductor)
CORK, Ireland, Oct. 3, 2011 — SensL is announcing the SL family of silicon photomultipliers. The second-generation SL family of low-light detectors features a four-times-higher signal-to-noise ratio than the company’s previous generation products, and it provides output uniformity of ±10%. The detectors require only 30 V for operation, reducing system complexity and cost. Select versions of the SL product family are offered with better than 1% breakdown voltage uniformity.
The photomultipliers are produced in a standard CMOS process, enabling new applications in medical imaging, hazard and threat detection, biophotonics and lidar.
The MicroSL 1- and 3-mm detectors offer different photosensitive active areas optimized for dynamic range and detection efficiency, and the ArraySL 13.4- and 46-mm-square detectors are designed for large-area photomultiplier tube replacement.
Silicon photomultipliers are replacing tubes and PIN diodes because the CMOS technology offers benefits in terms of operating voltage, robustness, compact size, and insensitivity to ambient light and magnetic fields.
The MicroSL detectors are suitable for coupling to scintillator crystals to detect photons generated by the various forms of radiation used in medical imaging, hazard and threat detection and high-energy physics. They also are used in instruments such as flow cytometers. The company says that the signal-to-noise ratio is better than that of vacuum tube devices. The detectors are available in a number of industry-standard packages, and some include an integrated Peltier cooler that reduces the detector temperature to −20 °C.
The ArraySL family is designed for large-area photomultiplier tube replacement in applications where a linear or 2-D array is required. The nonmagnetic packaging and small edge clearances are suitable for building larger arrays for use in the high-magnetic-field environment of positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance imaging scanners.
https://www.photonics.com/Buyers_Guide/SensL_now_under_ON_Semiconductor/c13402
Photonics.com
Oct 2011