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A time-based single transmission-line readout with position multiplexing

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Abstract

We developed a time-based single-transmission-line readout method for time-of-flight positron emission tomography (PET) detectors. The 2D position of a silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) array was encoded in the upper and lower widths of a specially prepared L-shaped tag pulse followed by the original scintillation signal. A PET detector setup was configured using a 4 × 4 array of LSO crystals optically coupled one-to-one to a 4 × 4 SiPM array. Two pulse width modulator circuits were employed per SiPM anode signal channel and a total of 32 width-modulated digital pulses were summed and merged with a delayed common-cathode signal. The final output was analyzed using timestamps crossing two-level threshold voltages. All 16 crystals were clearly separated on a positioning map. The average energy and coincidence time resolutions were 15.0 ± 1.1% and 288.7 ± 29.3 ps after proper correction process, respectively. A 3D position decoding capability was also shown by the remarkable discrimination performance in a phoswich PET detector setup (LSO and LGSO), resulting from well-preserved scintillation signals. The proposed method enables a time-based single-channel readout with 3D gamma ray interaction position decoding capability without compromising on detector performance. This method provides gamma ray energy and arrival time information as well as 2D and depthwise interaction positions of the phoswich detectors through one channel readout. Thus, channels can be reduced by at least 4–5 times compared to typically employed charge-sharing-based position multiplexing method; this significantly reduces the burden of data acquisition on the PET system.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Korea Medical Device Development Fund grant funded by the Korea government (the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Ministry of Health & Welfare, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety) (Project Number: KMDF_PR_20200901_0028, 9991007087) and grants from the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Korean Ministry of Science and ICT (Grant No. 2020M2D9A1093989).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Interdisciplinary Program in Bioengineering, Seoul National University College of Engineering, Seoul, 03080, South Korea

    Minseok Yi & Jae Sung Lee

  2. Department of Nuclear Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Daehak-ro, 101, Jongno-gu, Seoul, 03080, South Korea

    Minseok Yi & Jae Sung Lee

  3. Integrated Major in Innovative Medical Science, Seoul National Graduate School, Seoul, South Korea

    Minseok Yi & Jae Sung Lee

  4. Interdisciplinary Institute of Radiation Medicine, Medical Research Center, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea

    Jae Sung Lee

  5. Brightonix Imaging Inc., Seoul, 04782, South Korea

    Jae Sung Lee

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  1. Minseok Yi
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Correspondence to Jae Sung Lee.

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Yi, M., Lee, J.S. A time-based single transmission-line readout with position multiplexing. Biomed. Eng. Lett. 12, 85–95 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13534-022-00215-1

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