Introduction

The SiPM-1000 packs enormous capabilities into a very small form factor. In its smallest version, it is barely larger than a US Nickel (20mm). Yest it delivers power to an SiPM array, has a gain-stabilized amplifier, uses its embedded 32-bit microcontroller SoC for acquiring histograms, and computes count rates and alarms.

This is the Swiss Army Knife equivalent of an MCA.

It measures the radioactivity of samples, automatically subtracts the background and reports the accuracy of the measurement.

It can raise an alarm if a sample truly is more radio-active than expected.

It can act like a portal monitor, where it records passing vehicles or persons and raises an alarm if something unusual is found. Of course, it tracks slowly changing radiation backgrounds to avoid false alarms.

Construction principle

The detector assemblies have been designed to accommodate crystals from different manufacturers and to allow a replacement of the crystal, either for an upgrade or for a repair. Replacing a crystal is simple enough to be performed in the field, with minimal requirements for tools and training.

The scintillator-crystal itself is hermetically sealed in a thin aluminum housing with a glass window. The encapsulated crystal is mounted inside a removable aluminum cup, which also includes padding to provide a spring load pushing the scintillator against the SiPM and the optical coupling component.

Replacing the crystal only requires to undo 4 screws and remove the cup. Swap out the crystal and screw the cup back into place. Done.

SiPM-1000 Assembly

A user can easily replace the encapsulated scintillator crystal with another of their own choice.

Brief Specifications

• Ideal for NaI and slower scintillators
• Histogram: Sample and background at 1K×32-bit, or one bank at 2K×32-bit.
• Accurate count rate measurements
• Background-subtracted spectra with statistical error analysis
• Portal monitor background tracking and alarming refreshes 10 times per second
• SiPM supply: 37V/5mA DC/10mA surge
• Uses 2N3904 as external temperature sensor.
• USB 1.2 interface compatible with USB 2.0
• Serial UART interface up to 3MBd (300kB/s)
• On-board software is secure against reverse engineering.
• Open source application programmer's interface; Python API; MCA Data Server
• wxPython-based graphics user interface for Windows and Linux; Software

PCB Variant C

Smallest size; 29.9×26mm bounding rectangle

PCB Variant D

Sized for 38mm diameter detectors and larger; PCB is 36mm in diameter. Includes 50Ω line driver for trigger out and a power supply for a Peltier cooler.

Capabilities

SiPM-1000 Capabilities
Capability	Description
Analog	The input of the SiPM-1000 is DC-coupled to the SiPM-anode. Input pulses are processed via a track and hold amplifier and measured with a 12-bit ADC. The operating voltage can be adjusted for optimum energy resolution. A digital compression can be used to map the energies into a narrower MCA as desired, with eg 512 bins, 256 bins or fewer.
Gain stabilization	The SiPM-1000 uses either built-in or user-programmable look up tables vs temperature to adjust the SiPM operating voltage as a function of temperature. Alternatively, the device can stabilize on the average energy deposited in a given region of interest.
Histogram size Two banks: 1K × 32-bit; or One bank 2K × 32-bit	The MCA histogram memory is about 8KB. There are two banks, one for sample counting and one for background counting. Both include 16 entries for statistical data and a 1024 by 32-bit histogram. There is a histo_2k mode in which the two banks are combined into one large bank, providing a 2K × 32-bit histogram.
Counter and histogram	The SiPM-1000 can count pulses and acquire histograms in either of two active banks, one for samples to be measured and one for storing a background measurement. The device reports count rates and statistical 2-σ errors. Users can choose to see total counts or counts restricted to one region of interest.
Net Counter	The SiPM-1000 reports the difference between sample and background count rate together with the combined statistical 2-σ errors.
Analysis	The SiPM-1000 reports the probability that the measured sample count rate is compatible with the background count rate.
Dynamic alarming	The SiPM-1000 can analyze and report count rates in time slices of 100ms, ie at a rate of 10/s. The device automatically tracks slowly changing backgrounds and will alarm on a passing source. Its digital output can be used to drive an audio or visual alarm.
Near loss-less counting	The SiPM-1000 implements a read-and-clear command, in which the microcontroller clears the counters right after copying data to the output buffer – for nearly loss-less reading of count rates.
Two-bank mode	In two-bank mode, the device has an active and an inactive data acquisition bank. When the host reads MCA data, the device automatically selects the inactive bank and clears it when the read is complete.
Communication	The SiPM-1000 implements a USB-2.0 compatible USB 1.2 interface.
Security	Software deployed on the SiPM-1000 can not be read back. Gain-stabilization parameters and lookup tables can be protected by the developer against read back by programming a lock bit.

Gain stabilization

The SiPM-1000 can use a 20-point lookup table that describes the desired operating voltage vs temperature behavior. The embedded processor applies this to counteract the SiPM vs temperature gain drift. Typically, the lookup table starts at lut_tmin=-30°C and increments in lut_dt=5°C steps up to 65°C. However, the developer can configure that to meet their requirements. And the developer can program lookup tables of their own choice into the non-volatile memory of the SiPM-1000. If they wish, the developer can protect the lookup tables against read back.

Count rate measurements

The SiPM-1000 provides independent count rate and histogram measurement in two banks, and this is supported by different operating modes. Count rates can be reported as a histogram total, or be restricted to events falling into a programmable region of interest.

When used in read_and_clear mode, the user reads the sample histogram bank frequently and the bank is cleared at the end of each read. The client simply issues a sequence of read commands.

When used in two-bank mode, the banks switch between being active and inactive. A read is directed towards the inactive bank, and that bank is cleared at the end of the read. The user then switches the active and inactive banks at the desired time, leading to loss-less counting and histogram acquisition.

In addition, there is built-in software to compare a sample count rate against the background count rate and compute the statistical probability that the sample counts are caused by the same activity as the established background rate. The developer can set an alarm threshold and let the trigger output of the SiPM-1000 indicate an alarm when the sample is decidedly more radioactive than the background.

Time-slice operation

There are dynamic situations, where a radioactive source can be measured only for a brief moment. Examples are a vehicle passing through a radiation portal monitor, or a person with a backpack detector walking past a stationary source.

The time-slice operation supports these cases. The built-in software tracks slow changes in the environmental background. An alarm is created when during a summation time (L) of typically 4 seconds, the accumulated counts are significantly more than what is expected from the background. The alarm threshold is defined as the probability that the measured counts (N) during a period L, could have been caused by the established background rate over the same period (B).A threshold of 1.0e-4 means that we alarm when P(Counts ≥ N|BCK) < 1.0e-4.

For example, assume a summation time of 4 seconds and a background rate of 500cps for BCK=2000. Now assume that we count 2224 events in a particular 4s-period. The probability of the established background to cause 2224 counts or more in 4s is P(Counts ≥ 2224|BCK=2000) = 2.86e-7. This smaller than the alarm threshold of 1.0e-4, and the embedded program will generate an alarm.

If the alarm condition is permanent, the software resets all the logic after a period of H time slices and starts counting again. It now will accept the suddenly higher level of radioactivity as the new normal background.

Finally, a 'wait' parameter tells the system to wait a number of time slices after turn-on or reset before being ready to alarm. This is necessary so that the background will be known with sufficient accuracy.

All told, the time-slice firmware provides an unprecedented, and highly configurable, but fully autonomous alarming system for portal monitors. This is ideal for very low-cost mass-produced pedestrian monitors, hand-held sweepers and similar applications.

Performance

The SiPM-1000 provides high-quality spectra with a very low energy trigger threshold.

Here we show energy spectra for certain MCA + detector combination.

We emphasize the low-energy behavior by showing a zoom-in on the lower 100keV.

Unless otherwise noted, spectra were acquired with 2keV/bin for a useful energy range of 1600keV.

SiPM: 3.24cm²; NaI(Tl): 50×50mm; Premium

Typical energy resolution @ 12kcps.

The lower 100keV part of the Cs-137 spectrum, showing the effective trigger threshold of around 8keV.

SiPM: 3.24cm²; NaI(Tl): 38×38mm; Standard

Typical energy resolution @ 11kcps.

The lower 100keV part of the Cs-137 spectrum, showing the effective trigger threshold of around 6keV.

High Temperature

Small, 38mm×38mm NaI-detectors are ideal for lightweight portable and hand-held instrumentation.

With a thermal relaxation time of 5 minutes they can be subject to temperature shocks with a minimum of insulation – eg in winter from a warm vehicle into the cold outside.

For SiPM-based detectors high-temperature performance is always a concern.

Here we show a detector with a standard-quality 38mm NaI performing at 25°C and at 60°C. Note that 60°C is too hot to touch.

As can be seen, the detector still performs well, without the need for power-hungry Peltier cooling.

SiPM: 3.24cm²; NaI(Tl): 38×38mm; Standard

Typical energy resolution @ 25°C and 12kcps.

Energy resolution for the same detector @ 60°C and 12kcps.

Portal Monitor Feature

The MCA-1000 (PMT-1000 and SiPM-1000) has a built-in portal monitor capability.

It can evaluate count rates 10 times per second and issue an alarm when the count rate exceeds the background rate.

The unit continuously monitors the count rate and updates the measured background count rate to keep up with slow changes in the environment due to rain, wind and dust. For a portable system the background may slowly change with the terrain without causing an alarm.

The SiPM-1000 performs a statistical analysis every 100ms and alarms if the alarm probability exceeds a programmed threshold of typically 1:10k to 1:1000k (1k=1000)

It is possible to set a region of interest (ROI) to narrow the attention to a certain kind of radiation.

The panels on the right show the result of a walk by of 3.8µCi (140kBq) near a 50mm NaI(Tl) detector.

In one measurement we used a narrow ROI just around the Cs-137 full-energy peak, in the other we used a wide ROI covering 30keV to 1600keV.

In both cases the MCA-1000 responds immediately with an alarm.

In blue we show he number of counts per 100ms time slice. In purple we show the alarm pulse, which was programmed to last at least 10 seconds.

A more detailed description can be found in the user's manual .

Alarm computed by the MCA-1000

Plot of Number of events per 100ms time slice and the resulting alarm over time.

Plot of Number of events per 100ms time slice and the resulting alarm over time. This is for the narrow region of interest and the count rate is much lower.

Downloads and Pricing

Prices may change without prior notice.

For best results, we encourage customers to use our assemblies of MCA and SiPM carrier board.

For first time customers, we reserve the right to only sell the combination of MCA, SiPM carrier board and mounted in the housing.

First time customers are encouraged to buy the first system with one of our crystals so that we can present a known good unit and guarantee its performance prior to sale.

• Flyer: English, 简体中文
• User's manual
• Connector pin outs
• MCA Selection Guide
• Self-extracting Windows driver installer: Version 3.0
• Software and documentation for all MCA wxMCA.zip
• On-line software documentation