Claudio Piemonte

• Electronics Engineer
• Principal Investigator at Fondazione Bruno Kessler

This paper presents a novel approach using multiple linear regression to process transient signals from silicon photomultipliers. The method provides excellent noise suppression and pulse detection in scenarios with a high pulse count rate and superimposed pulses. Insights into its implementation and benchmark results are presented. We also show ho...

In this paper we present the performance of a new SiPM that is sensitive to blue light and features narrow metal-filled trenches placed in the area around the single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) that allow an almost complete suppression the internal optical crosstalk. In particular, we show the benefits of this technological upgrade in terms of...

We present a spectroscopic system constituted by a Silicon Drift Detector (SDD) coupled to a CMOS charge sensitive preamplifier, named SIRIO, specifically designed to reach ultimate low noise levels. The SDD, with an active area of 13 mm , has been manufactured by optimizing the production processes in order to reduce the anode current, successfull...

We present the first application of polysiloxane-based scintillators as active medium in a shashlik sampling calorimeter. These results were obtained from a testbeam campaign of a ∼6×6×45 cm3 (13 X0 depth) prototype. A Wavelength Shifting fiber array of 36 elements runs perpendicularly to the stack of iron (15 mm) and polysiloxane scintillator (15...

We present the first application of polysiloxane-based scintillators as active medium in a shashlik sampling calorimeter. These results were obtained from a testbeam campaign of a $\sim$6$\times$6$\times$45 cm$^3$ (13 $X_0$ depth) prototype. A Wavelength Shifting fiber array of 36 elements runs perpendicularly to the stack of iron (15 mm) and polys...

The scintillator bismuth germanate (BGO) has attractive properties for positron emission tomography (PET) systems such as high stopping power, high photo-fraction, and relatively low cost. However, its moderate scintillation light yield and slow rise and decay time compared to lutetium (yttrium) oxyorthosilicate (L(Y)SO) results in a degradation of...

The ENUBET ERC project (2016–2021) is studying a narrow band neutrino beam where lepton production can be monitored at single particle level. For this purpose, the decay tunnel is instrumented with longitudinally segmented calorimeters. Three different specialized calorimeters have been designed and tested, two of which based on the shashlik calori...

The narrow band beam of ENUBET is the first implementation of the "monitored neutrino beam" technique proposed in 2015. ENUBET has been designed to monitor lepton production in the decay tunnel of neutrino beams and to provide a 1% measurement of the neutrino flux at source. In particular, the three body semi-leptonic decay of kaons monitored by la...

The ENUBET ERC project (2016-2021) is studying a narrow band neutrino beam where lepton production can be monitored at single particle level in an instrumented decay tunnel. This would allow to measure $\nu_{\mu}$ and $\nu_{e}$ cross sections with a precision improved by about one order of magnitude compared to present results. In this proceeding w...

Silicon Photomultipliers with cell-pitch ranging from 12 μm to 20 μm were tested against neutron irradiation at moderate fluences to study their performance for calorimetric applications. The photosensors were developed by FBK employing the RGB-HD technology. We performed irradiation tests up to 2 × 10 ¹¹ n/cm ² (1 MeV eq.) at the INFN-LNL Irradiat...

Silicon Photomultipliers with cell-pitch ranging from 12 $\mu$m to 20 $\mu$m were tested against neutron irradiation at moderate fluences to study their performance for calorimetric applications. The photosensors were developed by FBK employing the RGB-HD technology. We performed irradiation tests up to $2 \times 10^{11}$ n/cm$^2$ (1 MeV eq.) at th...

The current generation of short baseline neutrino experiments is approaching intrinsic source limitations in the knowledge of flux, initial neutrino energy and flavor. A dedicated facility based on conventional accelerator techniques and existing infrastructures designed to overcome these impediments would have a remarkable impact on the entire fie...

Different applications require different customizations of silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) technology. We present a review on the latest SiPM technologies developed at Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK, Trento), characterized by a peak detection efficiency in the near-UV and customized according to the needs of different applications. Original near-UV s...

We summarize in this paper the detector R&D performed in the framework of the ERC ENUBET Project. We discuss in particular the latest results on longitudinally segmented shashlik calorimeters and the first HEP application of polysiloxane-based scintillators.

We summarize in this paper the detector R&D performed in the framework of the ERC ENUBET Project. We discuss in particular the latest results on longitudinally segmented shashlik calorimeters and the first HEP application of polysiloxane-based scintillators.

In this paper, we give an overview of the main properties and technological implementation of densely packed Single-photon Avalanche Diode arrays, which are commonly known as Silicon Photomultipliers, or SiPMs. These detectors feature high internal gain, single-photon sensitivity, a high Photon Detection Efficiency, proportional response to weak an...

A custom design cryostat was constructed to study the temperature dependence of relative light yield and non-proportionality trends of scintillators between −182 °C and ＋152 °C. CsI:Tl crystal response to γ-rays and X-rays was investigated between 14 keV and 662 keV. Scintillation light was detected by a SiPM device, which was installed on a copper...

Within the vast panorama of multimodal systems for clinical diagnosis, PET/MRI has been receiving significant attention. In parallel, new technological solutions have been paving the way to simultaneous SPECT/MRI systems, whose development has been so far delayed due to the challenging compatibility between MRI, gamma-ray detectors and collimators....

The next generation of neutrino experiments requires measurements of absolute neutrino cross sections at the GeV scale with high precision (~1%) presently limited by the uncertainties on neutrino flux. Monitoring the lepton production in the decay tunnel of neutrino beams is the most straightforward way to measure the neutrino flux at source. The E...

The detection module of the ARDESIA spectrometer, a SDD-based, multichannel X-ray detector is presented. The detector design and experimental characterization are discussed. ARDESIA has been optimized for synchrotron radiation applications that require high-rate (>1Mcps/channel) and high-resolution (better than 200 eV at 6 keV) X-ray detection. The...

This work presents a new PET detector concept for compact preclinical hybrid simultaneous MR-PET. The detector concept is based on Linearly-Graded SiPM produced with FBK RGB-HD technology. One 7.75mm x 7.75mm large sensor chip is coupled with optical grease to a black coated 8mm x 8mm large and 3 mm thick monolithic LYSO crystal. The readout is obt...

This work presents a new PET detector concept for compact preclinical hybrid MR-PET. The detector concept is based on Linearly- Graded SiPM produced with current FBK RGB-HD technology. One 7.75mm x 7.75mm large sensor chip is coupled with optical grease to a black coated 8mm x 8mm large and 3 mm thick monolithic LYSO crystal. The readout is obtaine...

The ENUBET facility is a proposed narrow band neutrino beam where lepton production is monitored at single particle level in the instrumented decay tunnel. This facility addresses simultaneously the two most important challenges for the next generation of cross section experiments: a superior control of the flux and flavor composition at source and...

We present a new compact photonic quantum random number generator (QRNG) based on an emitter (source of entropy) and a single-photon detector integrated in the same silicon chip. Not only they are integrated one close to the other, but also they are fabricated with the same fabrication process. The emitter is a small silicon photomultiplier (SiPM),...

A small-sized photonic quantum random number generator, easy to be implemented in small electronic devices for secure data encryption and other applications, is highly demanding nowadays. Here, we propose a compact configuration with Silicon nanocrystals large area light emitting device (LED) coupled to a Silicon photomultiplier to generate random...

The goal of this study was to exploit the excellent spatial resolution characteristics of a position-sensitive silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) and develop a high-resolution depth-of-interaction (DOI) encoding positron emission tomography (PET) detector module. The detector consists of a 30 × 30 array of 0.445 × 0.445 × 20 mm3 polished LYSO crystals...

An iron- plastic-scintillator shashlik calorimeter with a 4.3 $X_0$ longitudinal segmentation was tested in November 2016 at the CERN East Area facility with charged particles up to 5 GeV. The performance of this detector in terms of electron energy resolution, linearity, response to muons and hadron showers are presented in this paper and compared...

An iron- plastic-scintillator shashlik calorimeter with a 4.3 $X_0$ longitudinal segmentation was tested in November 2016 at the CERN East Area facility with charged particles up to 5 GeV. The performance of this detector in terms of electron energy resolution, linearity, response to muons and hadron showers are presented in this paper and compared...

A clinical SPECT insert for a commercial MRI scanner has been developed within the INSERT project, allowing simultaneous SPECT/MRI studies of the human brain. Here we present preliminary experimental results. The reconstructed resolution was 6-11 mm and the sensitivity 280-440 s-1/MBq. The INSERT is the first clinical SPECT prototype for simultaneo...

Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK) (Trento, Italy) has recently introduced High Density (HD) and Ultra High-Density (UHD) SiPMs, featuring very small micro-cell pitch. The high cell density is a very important factor to improve the linearity of the SiPM in high-dynamic-range applications, such as the scintillation light readout in high-energy gamma-ray...

A future compact and modular X and gamma-ray spectrometer (XGS) has been designed and a series of prototypes have been developed and tested. The experiment envisages the use of CsI scintillator bars read out at both ends by single-cell 25 mm2 Silicon Drift Detectors. Digital algorithms are used to discriminate between events absorbed in the Silicon...

There is increasing clinical use of combined positron emission tomography and MRI, but to date there has been no clinical system developed capable of simultaneous single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and MRI. There has been development of preclinical systems, but there are several challenges faced by researchers who are developing a c...

Segmented silicon sensors with internal gain, the so called Ultra-FAST Silicon Detectors (UFSD), have been produced at FBK for the first time. UFSD are based on the concept of Low-Gain Avalanche Detectors (LGAD), which are silicon detectors with an internal, low multiplication mechanism (gain ~ 10). This production houses two main type of devices:...

We present a gamma detection module optimized for very high resolution PET applications, able to resolve arrays of scintillating crystals with sub-millimeter pitch. The detector is composed of a single ceramic substrate (LTCC): it hosts four flip-chip mounted PETA5 ASICs on the bottom side and an array of SiPM sensors on the top surface, fabricated...

This work presents a study of the factors contributing to the Photo-Detection Efficiency of Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs): Quantum Efficiency, Triggering Probability and Fill Factor. Two different SiPM High-Density technologies are tested, NUV-HD, based on n-on-p junction, and RGB-HD, based on p-on-n junction, developed at FBK, Trento. The quant...

Consolidated techniques used for space-borne X-ray and gamma-ray instruments are based on the use of scintillators coupled to Silicon photo-detectors. This technology associated with modern very low noise read-out electronics allows the design of innovative architectures able to reduce drastically the system complexity and power consumption, also w...

Bismuth germanate (BGO) was a very attractive scintillator in early-generation positron emission tomography (PET) scanners. However, the major disadvantages of BGO are lower light yield and longer rise and decay time compared to currently popular scintillators such as LSO and LYSO. This results in poorer coincidence timing resolution and it has gen...

The treatment of many neoplastic diseases requires the use of radiotherapy, which consists in the irradiation of the tumor, identified as the target volume, with ionizing radiations generated both by administered radiopharmaceuticals or by linear particle accelerators (LINACs). The radiotherapy beam delivered to the patient must be regularly checke...

In this work, a compact set-up and three different methods to measure the Photo-Detection Efficiency (PDE) of Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs) and Single-Photon Avalanche Diodes (SPADs) are presented. The methods, based on either continuous or pulsed light illumination, are discussed in detail and compared in terms of measurement precision and time...

Time of flight (TOF) in positron emission tomography (PET) has experienced a revival of interest after its first introduction in the eighties. This is due to a significant progress in solid state photodetectors (SiPMs) and newly developed scintillators (LSO and its derivatives). Latest developments at Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK) lead to the NUV-...

eXTP is a science mission designed to study the state of matter under extreme conditions of density, gravity and magnetism. Primary targets include isolated and binary neutron stars, strong magnetic field systems like magnetars, and stellar-mass and supermassive black holes. The mission carries a unique and unprecedented suite of state-of-the-art s...

A prototype of an Internal Reflection Cherenkov, equipped with a SiO2 (fused silica) radiator bar optically connected to a cylindrical mirror, was tested at CERN SPS in March 2015 with a beam of relativistic ions obtained from fragmentation of primary argon nuclei at energies 13, 19 and 30GeV/n. The detector, designed to identify cosmic nuclei, fea...

We present a very compact γ-detection module primarily designed for PET applications. On a total area of about 30×30mm2, 144 SiPM photodetectors coupled to scintillator crystals are read out individually with fast timing ASICs. The core of the module is a LTCC ceramic substrate with internal water channels for efficient and stable liquid cooling. T...

A future compact and modular X and gamma-ray spectrometer (XGS) has been designed and a series of proto- types have been developed and tested. The experiment envisages the use of CsI scintillator bars read out at both ends by single-cell 25 mm² Silicon Drift Detectors. Digital algorithms are used to discriminate between events absorbed in the Silic...

A scintillation gamma-ray detector, composed of a commercial 0.5" thick, 0.5" diameter LaBr3(Ce) crystal coupled to a 7-cell hexagonal Silicon Drift Detector has been developed and tested. The characterization with X-rays and gamma rays is presented and discussed also within the context of the optical properties of the readout system. A final compa...

The last decades have witnessed substantial efforts in the development of several detector technologies for X-ray fluorescence (XRF) applications. In spite of the increasing trend towards performing, cost-effective and reliable XRF systems, detectors for soft X-ray spectroscopy still remain a challenge, requiring further study, engineering and cust...

The improvement of the coincidence resolving time (CRT) is one of the key factors for the next generation of positron emission tomography (PET) scanners. Silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) are strong candidates to substitute photo multipliers tubes because of their compactness, ruggedness and insensitivity to magnetic fields. In order to achieve the...

In this paper, we present the full characterization of a new high-density (HD) cell silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) technology for ultraviolet (UV) and blue light detection, named near UV HD SiPM. Thanks to an optimized border region around each cell, we were able to develop devices having a very high detection efficiency and, at the same time, a hi...

We present a spectroscopic system constituted by a Silicon Drift Detector (SDD) coupled to a CMOS charge sensitive preamplifier, named SIRIO, specifically designed to reach ultimate low noise levels. The SDD, with an active area of 13 mm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> , has bee...

The XAFS beamline at Elettra Synchrotron in Trieste combines X-ray absorption spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction to provide chemically specific structural information of materials. It operates in the energy range 2.4-27 keV by using a silicon double reflection Bragg monochromator. The fluorescence measurement is performed in place of the absorption...

A prototype of a Focused Internal Reflection Cherenkov, equipped with 16 arrays of NUV-SiPM, was tested at CERN SPS in March 2015 with beams of relativistic ions at 13, 19 and 30GeV/n obtained from fragmentation of an Ar primary beam. The detector, designed to identify cosmic nuclei, features a Fused Silica radiator bar optically connected to a cyl...

The performance of a position-sensitive silicon photomultiplier (PS-SiPM), a linearly graded silicon photomultiplier (LG-SiPM), was evaluated for use as a high resolution small-animal PET detector. This SiPM utilizes a combined resistive /capacitive current divider and a double quenching resistor in every SiPM microcell for position estimation. In...

In the present work we briefly describe the architecture of a photo-detection module, designed in the framework of the INSERT (INtegrated SPECT/MRI for Enhanced Stratification in Radio-chemoTherapy) project, supported by the European Community. We focus on two main elements of the module: the SiPM photo-detector unit and the multi-channel ASIC. The...

This work describes the development of a gamma detector based on silicon drift detectors (SDDs) to read out large LaBr3:Ce scintillators for gamma-ray astronomy applications, within an activity supported by the European Space Agency (ESA). SDDs, characterized by high quantum efficiency and low electronic noise, when coupled with a scintillator are...

Abstract This work deals with the development of new Silicon Drift Detectors (SDDs) and readout electronics for the upgrade of the SIDDHARTA experiment. The detector is based on a SDDs array organized in a 4×2 format with each SDD square shaped with 64 mm2 (8×8) active area. The total active area of the array is therefore 32×16 mm2 while the total...

The Italian Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) is involved in the development of a demonstrator for a SiPM-based camera for the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) experiment, with a pixel size of 6$\times$6 mm$^2$. The camera houses about two thousands electronics channels and is both light and compact. In this framework, a R&D program for the develo...

In this paper we studied one of the aspects potentially limiting the single-photon time-resolution (SPTR) of the silicon photomultiplier (SiPM): the transit time spread (TTS). We illuminated the SiPM in different positions with a fast-pulsed laser collimated to a circular spot of 0.2 mm-diameter and acquired bi-dimensional maps of the avalanche-sig...

We characterized and analyzed an important feature of silicon photomultipliers: the single-photon time resolution (SPTR). We characterized the SPTR of new RGB (Red–Green–Blue) type Silicon Photomultipliers and SPADs produced at FBK (Trento, Italy), studying its main limiting factors. We compared time resolution of 1×1 mm² and 3×3 mm² SiPMs and a si...

We characterized and analyzed an important feature of silicon photomultipliers: the single-photon time resolution (SPTR). We characterized the SPTR of new RGB (Red–Green–Blue) type Silicon Photomultipliers and SPADs produced at FBK (Trento, Italy), studying its main limiting factors. We compared time resolution of 1×1 mm² and 3×3 mm² SiPMs and a si...

In this paper, we present the characteristics and performances of new silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs), produced at FBK, for the near-ultraviolet (NUV) light detection, with reduced afterpulsing and delayed optical crosstalk. To study these components of the correlated noise, we manufactured SiPMs on silicon wafers featuring different substrate min...

The coincidence time resolution (CTR) becomes a key parameter of 511keV gamma detection in time of flight positron emission tomography (TOF-PET). This is because additional information obtained through timing leads to a better noise suppression and therefore a better signal to noise ratio in the reconstructed image. In this paper we present the res...

We present the first results of timing and energy resolution of two newly developed tiles based on FBK RGB-HD SiPMs. The first tile has dimensions of 32×32 mm 2 and is composed of 8×8 SiPMs, with a regular pitch of 4 mm and a cell size of 25×25 μm 2. Although manufactured with a standard bond wire technology, the tile achieves a fill factor at the...

We introduce a double-sided variant of low gain avalanche detector, suitable for pixel arrays without dead-area in between the different read-out elements. TCAD simulations were used to validate the device concept and predict its performance. Different design options and selected simulation results are presented, along with the proposed fabrication...

This work deals with the development of Silicon Drift Detectors (SDDs) of different sizes and low noise CMOS read-out preamplifiers in view of their use in nuclear physics experiments, like the SIDDHARTA upgrade supported by Italian INFN. In this work we report about the recent SDDs and CMOS preamplifiers development, with particular emphasis on X-...

Silicon radiation sensors fabricated with micromachining technologies offer a number of advantages compared to their planar counterparts, making them appealing for an increasing number of applications. This paper provides an overview of the most interesting developments in this field by Fondazione Bruno Kessler in collaboration with the University...

Silicon radiation sensors fabricated with micromachining technologies offer a number of advantages compared to their planar counterparts, making them appealing for an increasing number of applications. This paper provides an overview of the most interesting developments in this field by Fondazione Bruno Kessler in collaboration with the University...

The aim of this work is to present the main technological developments carried out at FBK for micro machined radiation sensors used in High Energy Physics (HEP) experiments. We report on the main technological issues to integrate silicon etching (wet and dry) techniques in the fabrication flow for silicon detector and we show some examples of innov...

Silicon radiation sensors fabricated with micromachining technologies offer a number of advantages compared to their planar counterparts, making them appealing for an increasing number of applications. This paper provides an overview of the most interesting developments in this field by Fondazione Bruno Kessler in collaboration with the University...

The aim of this work is to present the main technological developments carried out at FBK for micro machined radiation sensors used in High Energy Physics (HEP) experiments. We report on the main technological issues to integrate silicon etching (wet and dry) techniques in the fabrication flow for silicon detector and we show some examples of innov...

In this work we present the results of the experimental characterization of Silicon Drift Detectors (SDDs) readout by CUBE preamplifiers for X-ray spectroscopy measurements. One specific goal of the work was to characterize SDDs of different sizes cooled at low temperature in view of their use in the upgrade of the SIDDHARTA nuclear physics experim...

The need for decentralized clinical tests together with the concept of time and cost saving are pushing the development of portable, miniaturized, compact biosensors with diagnostic and prognostic purpose. Here, we propose an innovative detection system based on a Single Photon Avalanche Diode (SPAD) with high sensitivity and low noise, crucial fea...

A system constituted by a Silicon Drift Detector (SDD), fabricated with an innovative technology for minimizing the anode current, and a new CMOS charge sensitive preamplifier (CSA), designed for ultimate low noise performance, has been realized and experimentally characterized. The SDD is hexagonal with an active area of 13 mm 2. The current densi...