Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
1830825 | Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment | 2007 | 4 Pages |
Clear-PEM is a Positron Emission Mammography (PEM) prototype being developed in the framework of the Crystal Clear Collaboration at CERN. This device is a dedicated PET camera for mammography, based on LYSO:Ce scintillator crystals, Avalanche PhotoDiodes (APD) and a fast, low-noise electronics readout system, designed to examine both the breast and the axillary lymph node areas, and aiming at the detection of tumors down to 2 mm in diameter.The prototype has two planar detector heads, each composed of 96 detector modules. The Clear-PEM detector module is composed of a matrix of 32 identical 2×2×20 mm3 LYSO:Ce crystals read at both ends by Hamamatsu S8550 APD arrays (4×8) for Depth-of-Interaction (DoI) capability.The APD arrays were characterized by the measurement of gain and dark current as a function of bias voltage, under controlled temperature conditions. Two independent setups were used. The full set of 398 APD arrays followed a well-defined quality control (QC) protocol, aiming at the rejection of arrays not complying within defined specifications.From a total of 398 arrays, only 2 (0.5%) were rejected, reassuring the trust in these detectors for prototype assembly and future developments.