SiPM applications in positron emission tomography: toward ultimate PET time-of-flight resolution

The development of PET/MRI multimodality, requiring magnetic field immunity of the photodetectors associated with an increased demand for time-of-flight capabilities with a strong impact on effective PET sensitivity and image quality, has pushed the medical imaging community to progressively replace photomultipliers, traditionally used in PET scanners, by solid-state photodetectors, avalanche diodes (APD) and silicon photomultipliers (SiPM). Recent years have seen spectacular progresses in the performances of SiPMs, in terms of photodetection efficiency (PDE), noise and cross talk reduction, timing performance, etc., not mentioning their availability in a large variety of dimensions and packages, as single photodetectors, but also linear arrays and matrices of different sizes. As a result of this, SiPMs are progressively becoming the photodetectors of choice for a new generation of time-of-flight PET scanners (TOF-PET)

Automated summary

The development of PET/MRI multimodality has led to an increased demand for photodetectors with magnetic field immunity and time-of-flight capabilities, prompting the gradual replacement of traditional photomultipliers in PET scanners with solid-state photodetectors, avalanche diodes (APD), and silicon photomultipliers (SiPM). Recent years have seen significant progress in the performance of SiPMs, making them the preferred choice for a new generation of time-of-flight PET scanners (TOF-PET) due to their improved photodetection efficiency, reduced noise and cross talk, timing performance, and availability in various dimensions and packages.