Toward Sub-100 ps TOF-PET Systems Employing the FastIC ASIC With Analog SiPMs

Time of Flight positron emission tomography (TOF-PET) scanners demand electronics that are power-efficient, low-noise, cost-effective, and possess a large bandwidth. Recent developments have demonstrated sub-100 ps time resolution with elevated power consumption per channel, rendering this unfeasible to build a scanner. In this work, we evaluate the performance for the TOF-PET of the FastIC front-end using different scintillators and silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs). FastIC is an eight-channel application specific integrated circuit developed in CMOS 65 nm capable of measuring the energy and the arrival time of a detected pulse with 12 mW per channel. Using Hamamatsu SiPMs (S13360-3050PE) coupled to LSO:Ce:0.2%Ca crystals of
$2\times 2\times $
3 mm
³
and LYSO:Ce:0.2%Ca of
$3.13\times 3.13\times $
20 mm
³
, we measured a coincidence time resolution (CTR) of (
$95~\pm ~3$
) and
$156~\pm ~4$
) ps full width half maximum (FWHM), respectively. With Fondazione Bruno Kessler NUV-HD LF2 M0 SiPMs coupled to the same crystals, we obtained a CTR of (
$76~\pm ~2$
) and (
$127~\pm ~3$
) ps FWHM. We employed FastIC with a TlCl pure Cherenkov emitter, demonstrating time resolutions comparable to those achieved with the high-power-consuming electronics. These findings shows that the FastIC represents a cost-effective alternative that can significantly enhance the time resolution of the current TOF-PET systems while maintaining low power consumption.