Method of signal detection from silicon photomultipliers using fully differential Charge to Time Converter and fast shaper

The paper presents an implementation of fully differential readout method for Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPM). Front-end electronics consists of a fast and slow path. The former creates the trigger signal while the latter produces a pulse of width proportional to the input charge. The fast shaper generates unipolar pulse and utilizes the pole-zero cancelation circuit. The peaking time for single photoelectron is equal to 3.6 ns and the FWHM is 3.8 ns. The pulse width of the Charge to Time Converter (QTC) depends on the number of photons entering the SiPM at the moment of measurement. The QTC response is nonlinear but it allows us to work with signals in a wide dynamic range. The proposed readout method is effective in measurements of random signals where frequent events tend to pile-up. Thermal generation and afterpulses have a strong influence on the width of pulses from QTC. The proposed method enables us to distinguish those overlapping signals and get the reliable information on the number of detected photons.