Silicon photomultipliers

Abstract

The silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) and the multi-pixel photon counter (MPPC) are recently developed semiconductor photon detectors. They can be applied to both photon counting measurements and analog measurements like scintillation detection. In this tutorial, the operation principles and characteristics of highly sensitive semiconductor photodetectors such as the avalanche photodiode (APD), the single photon avalanche diode (SPAD) and the SiPM (MPPC) are described. Some application fields of the SiPM (MPPC) are also outlined.