Position-sensitive avalanche photodiodes for gamma-ray imaging

In this paper, we report on the investigation of silicon avalanche photodiodes (APDs) for high-energy photon imaging applications. This includes a new APD design that provides X-ray and /spl gamma/-ray imaging with significant reduction in electronic readout requirements. This new APD design, referred to as position-sensitive avalanche photodiode (PSAPD), involves charge sharing amongst the electrodes that enable determination of position of interaction. PSAPDs with 14 /spl times/ 14 mm/sup 2/ area have been fabricated using planar processing. The performance of these devices has been evaluated for energy resolution, timing resolution (4 ns full-width at half-maximum), and spatial resolution (/spl sim/300 /spl mu/m intrinsic spatial resolution). The potential of these APDs in high-energy physics and medical imaging is addressed.