Energy estimation technique utilizing timing information for TOF-PET application

This paper proposes an energy estimation technique utilizing only timing information from a Multi-channel Digital a SiPM (MD-SiPM) and presents a statistical analysis of the proposed approach for TOF PET applications with a LYSO scintillator. By utilizing only timing information for estimating energy of gamma photons, circuitry in the MD-SiPM is minimized so as to increase fill-factor and the dead time is reduced dramatically. The statistical analysis of the proposed estimation techniques show that the expected error of the estimate and its uncertainty are a function of the number of primary photons triggering the detector cells that, in turn, is a function of the energy of the gamma photon. The maximum uncertainty (FWHM) acquired by the random simulation is 345 photons in the range of 60-2000 primary photons by utilizing multiple photon timestamps arriving within only 4 nanosecond after the detection of the first photon.