Impact on the spatial resolution performance of a monolithic crystal PET detector due to different sensor parameters

The performance characteristics of a monolithic crystal PET detector utilizing a novel sensor on the entrance surface (SES) design is reported. To facilitate this design, we propose to utilize a 2D silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) array device. SiPMs are a form of Geiger-Muller mode avalanche photodiodes (GMAPD) that can provide signal gain similar to a photomultiplier tube (PMT). Since these devices are still under active development, their performance parameters are changing. Using a multi-step simulation process, we investigated how different SiPM parameters affect the performance of a monolithic crystal PET detector. These parameters include gain variability between different channels; gain instability; and dark count noise. The detector simulated was a 49.6 mm by 49.6 mm by 15 mm LYSO crystal detector readout by a 16 by 16 array of 2.8 mm by 2.8 mm SiPM elements. To reduce the number of signal channels that need to be collected, the detector utilizes row-column summing. A statistics based positioning method is used for event positioning and depth of interaction (DOI) decoding. Of the variables investigated, the dark count noise had the largest impact on the intrinsic spatial resolution. Gain differences of 5-10% between detector calibration and detector testing had a modest impact on the intrinsic spatial resolution performance and led to a slight bias in positioning. There was no measurable difference with a gain variability of up to 25% between the individual SiPM channels. Based upon these results we are planning to cool our detectors below room temperature to reduce dark count noise and to actively control the temperature of the SiPMs to reduce drifts in gain over time.