Silicon Photomultipliers

We offer Broadcom’s Industrial Fiber Optic Division (IFPD) Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs), made using leading edge wafer manufacturing and surface mount packaging.

SiPMs are rapidly replacing conventional vacuum photomultiplier tubes (PMTs), silicon avalanche photodiodes (APDs) and silicon photodiodes in a wide range of high speed and low light sensing applications due to a combination of exciting features: -

•Low operating voltage - less than 30V

•Tightly controlled breakdown voltage - ±300mV

•Low temperature dependence of breakdown voltage - 22mV/°C

•High Gain & SNR

•Immunity to magnetic fields

•MRI compatible packaging

•Small size whilst mechanically and optically robust with no damage from high-light levels

•Multi-channel arrays can be made with fine pitch resolutions not possible in vacuum PMTs

In summary, Broadcom’s SiPMs combine the benefits of vacuum PMTs (high photon detection efficiency, gain and signal-to-noise) with those of APDs (robustness, miniaturised design, low operation voltage, cost-effective and magnetic insensitivity) to produce an outstanding low level light sensor with exceptional performance at low cost.

For more information on Silicon Photomultipliers talk to AP Technologies Ltd