Development of a prototype of time-over-threshold based small animal PET scanner

A time-over-threshold (ToT)-based positron emission tomography (TODPET) scanner was designed and fabricated. The PET scanner consisted of eight block detectors, each of which is composed of a 12×12 array of 2×2×10 mm3 Pr:LuAG crystals individually coupled with a 12×12 UV-enhanced avalanche photodiode (APD) array. The APDs were individually read out using a custom-designed time-over-threshold application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) and field-programmable gate array (FPGA) readout system. The PET scanner has an energy resolution of 10% and a time resolution of 4.2 ns. A spatial resolution of 1.17 mm (FWHM) was demonstrated in the initial results.