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Amplified Biased SiPM Detector Module
SKU: SIPM-01
In stock

Plug-and-play photon counting detector based on a solid state silicon photomultiplier (SiPM), integrated into a compact module with user selectable bias and amplification.  Rechargeable battery powered and conveniently packaged in an industry-standard 2" diameter, 1" long lens tube.

$540.00 $540.00
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  • onsemi MICROFC-30035 silicon photomultiplier detector
  • Integrated bias source with eight preset values from 24–29 V
  • Built-in low noise RF amplifier with 17 dB gain at 1 GHz
  • Ambient light safe
  • USB rechargeable: 10 hr continuous operation
  • Standard lens tube package with 2.035"-40 thread, 1" deep


  • Single photon detection
  • Pulse characterization
  • Time-of-flight measurements

The heart of the module is a silicon photomultiplier (SiPM), which has detection characteristics similar to a conventional photomultiplier tube (PMT).  Advantages include low bias voltage (<30 V), robustness, and compact size.  The SiPM consists of an array of 4774 avalanche photodiodes, each with its own quench resistor and a capacitively-coupled “fast output.”  The fast outputs are combined and AC-coupled to a low noise, wideband inverting amplifier driving a 50 Ω load.   

Bias voltage is generated on-board by an ultralow noise (<100 µVpp) switching regulator.  The user-selectable bias is in steps of approximately 0.7 V from below the breakdown threshold to the maximum operating voltage for the detector.  Dark current and gain vary with bias voltage; this tradeoff is application specific.

Contact us to discuss custom solutions, pricing and lead-time. Example customizations include:


  • Detector size (e.g., MICROFC 1 mm2 or 36 mm2)
  • onsemi fast or slow output selection
  • Buttable arrays (e.g., position-sensitive quadrant detector)

Specifications

Breakdown voltage24.2–24.7 V
Rise time0.6 ns
Pulse width2 ns
Dark counts < 860 kHz @ 21° C
Wavelength300-950 nm
Peak sensitivity420 nm
Sensitive area3 mm x 3 mm
Gain (Vbr = +2.5V)3 x 106 e- / photon
Signal pulse polarityNegative
Bandwidth50 MHz - 3.3 GHz
Maximum output-2.5 V into 50Ω
Signal connectorSMA
Lens tube thread2.035”-40
Linearity threshold15 nW
Battery charge time2 hr
Battery lifetime10 hr (dark)
Operating Temp5-30° C
ChargerMicro-USB

Download Datasheet
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High S/N Photon Counting

Example time series showing individual, quantized events.  The user-selected bias voltage is 27.5 V; the data are sampled at 1 GS/s. The amplifier noise is 90 µs rms and the peak signal-to-noise for a single event is 20 (200 MHz bandwidth).

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Photons Obey Poisson Statistics

Histogram of events from time history in the adjacent figure for low light level (3.9 x105 s-1). The red line is an exponential distribution for a pure Poisson process showing no excess noise or systematic errors. See our tutorial on photon statistics for theoretical background.

Time of Flight with a Silicon Photomultiplier and Nanosecond Pulsed Laser

In this video, we'll introduce two of our products with nanosecond time resolution: a silicon photomultiplier (Eikonal SIPM-01) and a pulsed laser diode (Eikonal NLD-01). Exploiting the nanosecond resolution, we'll set up a simple time of flight experiment to measure the speed of light on a table top.