Time resolution improvement of Schottky CdTe PET detectors using digital signal processing

We present the results of our study on the timing performance of Schottky CdTe PET detectors using the technique of digital signal processing. The coincidence signals between a CdTe detector (15×15×1 mm3) and a fast liquid scintillator detector were digitized by a fast digital oscilloscope and analyzed. In the analysis, digital versions of the elements of timing circuits, including pulse shaper and time discriminator, were created and a digital implementation of the Amplitude and Rise-time Compensation (ARC) mode of timing was performed. Owing to a very fine adjustment of the parameters of timing measurement, a good time resolution of less than 9.9 ns (FWHM) at an energy threshold of 150 keV was achieved. In the next step, a new method of time pickoff for improvement of timing resolution without loss in the detection efficiency of CdTe detectors was examined. In the method, signals from a CdTe detector are grouped by their rise-times and different procedures of time pickoff are applied to the signals of each group. Then, the time pickoffs are synchronized by compensating the fixed time offset, caused by the different time pickoff procedures. This method leads to an improved time resolution of ∼7.2 ns (FWHM) at an energy threshold of as low as 150 keV. The methods presented in this work are computationally fast enough to be used for online processing of data in an actual PET system.