arXiv subjects

Emanuele Ripiccini

Publications and source records attributed to Emanuele Ripiccini.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2023

On-chip fully reconfigurable Artificial Neural Network in 16 nm FinFET for Positron Emission Tomography

Smarty is a fully-reconfigurable on-chip feed-forward artificial neural network (ANN) with ten integrated time-to-digital converters (TDCs) designed in a 16 nm FinFET CMOS technology node. The integration of TDCs together with an ANN aims to reduce system complexity and minimize data throughput requirements in positron emission tomography (PET) applications. The TDCs have an average LSB of 53.5 ps. The ANN is fully reconfigurable, the user being able to change its topology as desired within a set of constraints. The chip can execute 363 MOPS with a maximum power consumption of 1.9 mW, for an efficiency of 190 GOPS/W. The system performance was tested in a coincidence measurement setup interfacing Smarty with two groups of five 4 mm x 4 mm analog silicon photomultipliers (A-SiPMs) used as inputs for the TDCs. The ANN successfully distinguished between six different positions of a radioactive source placed between the two photodetector arrays by solely using the TDC timestamps.

eess.SY↗

arXiv2021

Sub-10 ps Minimum Ionizing Particle Detection with Geiger-Mode APDs

Major advances in silicon pixel detectors, with outstanding timing performance, have recently attracted significant attention in the community. In this work we present and discuss the use of state-of-the-art Geiger-mode APDs, also known as single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs), for the detection of minimum ionizing particles (MIPs) with best-in-class timing resolution. The SPADs were implemented in standard CMOS technology and integrated with on-chip quenching and recharge circuitry. Two devices in coincidence allowed to measure the time-of-flight of 180 GeV/c momentum pions with a coincidence time resolution of 22 ps FWHM (9.5 ps Gaussian sigma). Radiation hardness measurements, also presented here, highlight the suitability of this family of devices for a wide range of high energy physics (HEP) applications.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2019

Module concept and thermo-mechanical studies of the silicon-based TT-PET small-animal scanner

The TT-PET collaboration is developing an MRI-compatible small animal PET scanner in which the sensitive element is a monolithic silicon pixel ASIC targeting 30 ps RMS time resolution. The photon-detection technique is based on a stack of alternating layers of high-Z photon converter and 100 $\mathrm{μm}$ silicon sensors, to produce a scanner with 0.5 $\mathrm{\times}$ 0.5 $\mathrm{\times}$ 0.2 $\mathrm{mm^{3}}$ granularity for precise depth-of-interaction measurement. In this paper we present the results of simulation studies for the expected data rate, time-of-flight and spatial resolution, as well as the performance of image reconstruction with and without the use of timing information.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2018

Expected performance of the TT-PET scanner

The TT-PET collaboration is developing a small animal TOF-PET scanner based on silicon detectors featuring 30 ps RMS time resolution and intended to be inserted in an existing MRI scanner. The TT-PET scanner makes use of a stack of layers of high-Z photon-converter and 100 $\mathrm{μm}$ thick silicon sensors, to achieve a scanner with 0.5 $\mathrm{\times}$ 0.5 $\mathrm{\times}$ 0.2 $\mathrm{mm^{3}}$ granularity, with precise depth-of-interaction measurement. In this paper we present the results of the Monte Carlo studies for the expected data rate, time resolution on the TOF measurements, spatial resolution and image reconstruction with and without the use of the timing information. Most of the studies have been performed according to the international standards used to assess the performance of small-animal PET system.

physics.med-ph↗

arXiv2018

The Quest for $μ\to e γ$ and its Experimental Limiting Factors at Future High Intensity Muon Beams

The search for the Lepton Flavor Violating decay $μ\to e γ$ exploits the most intense continuous muon beams, which can currently deliver $\sim 10^8$ muons per second. In the next decade, accelerator upgrades are expected in various facilities, making it feasible to have continuous beams with an intensity of $10^9$ or even $10^{10}$ muons per second. We investigate the experimental limiting factors that will define the ultimate performances, and hence the sensitivity, in the search for $μ\to e γ$ with a continuous beam at these extremely high rates. We then consider some conceptual detector designs and evaluate the corresponding sensitivity as a function of the beam intensity.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2018

Characterization of the demonstrator of the fast silicon monolithic ASIC for the TT-PET project

The TT-PET collaboration is developing a small animal TOF-PET scanner based on monolithic silicon pixel sensors in SiGe BiCMOS technology. The demonstrator chip, a small-scale version of the final detector ASIC, consists of a 3 x 10 pixel matrix integrated with the front-end, a 50 ps binning TDC and read out logic. The chip, thinned down to 100 μm and backside metallized, was operated at a voltage of 180 V. The tests on a beam line of minimum ionizing particles show a detection efficiency greater than 99.9 % and a time resolution down to 110 ps.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2018

A monolithic ASIC demonstrator for the Thin Time-of-Flight PET scanner

Time-of-flight measurement is an important advancement in PET scanners to improve image reconstruction with a lower delivered radiation dose. This article describes the monolithic ASIC for the TT-PET project, a novel idea for a high-precision PET scanner for small animals. The chip uses a SiGe Bi-CMOS process for timing measurements, integrating a fully-depleted pixel matrix with a low-power BJT-based front-end per channel, integrated on the same 100 $μ m$ thick die. The target timing resolution is 30 ps RMS for electrons from the conversion of 511 keV photons. A novel synchronization scheme using a patent-pending TDC is used to allow the synchronization of 1.6 million channels across almost 2000 different chips at picosecond-level. A full-featured demonstrator chip with a 3x10 matrix of 500x500 $μ m^{2}$ pixels was produced to validate each block. Its design and experimental results are presented here.

physics.ins-det↗