Mini SiPM Driver Board
Minimalistic board that allows you to quickly and easily utilize a silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) within your other projects. Supports a range of input voltages, has a digital (TTL) pulse output for the registered counts and a direct output for the SiPM pulses for easy expansion.
With its small size of only 10 x 2.5 cm this board features everything you need to get running with a simple scintillation counter. The SiPM power supply is built for any SiPM using 28 - 34 Volts. The output signal is fed into a comparator that outputs TTL pulses for every detected gamma-ray.
The Mini SiD is a stripped down and much smaller version of the Open Gamma Detector. It can be used with any input voltage from 3.2 - 5.5 Volts. The outputs include a raw pulse pin and a single TTL out that can be used for time-over-threshold applications!
By connecting the TTL "INT" pin to an interrupt pin of a microcontroller, you instantly have yourself a simple, but very powerful scintillation counter. A scintillation counter is a much more powerful alternative to a geiger counter and using a SiPM you don't even need a high voltage. It's as easy as that! Of course, you can always use the raw pulses from the "SIG" pin and connect it to a MCA to do some gamma spectroscopy.
Example project: Scintillation Counter
A great project utilizing the Mini SiD is building a scintillation counter, which can be much more powerful than a geiger counter while being safer to use, because of the relatively low voltages.
One great example build has been done by RD-Gamma, who built one such device using a russian scintillator and a Broadcom AFBR SiPM.
You can read more about this here: https://rd-gammaspectra.xyz/?p=255
More Info:
The Mini SiD is a stripped down and much smaller version of the Open Gamma Detector. It can be used with any input voltage from 3.2 - 5.5 Volts. The outputs include a raw pulse pin and a single TTL out that can be used for time-over-threshold applications!
By connecting the TTL "INT" pin to an interrupt pin of a microcontroller, you instantly have yourself a simple, but very powerful scintillation counter. A scintillation counter is a much more powerful alternative to a geiger counter and using a SiPM you don't even need a high voltage. It's as easy as that! Of course, you can always use the raw pulses from the "SIG" pin and connect it to a MCA to do some gamma spectroscopy.
Example project: Scintillation Counter
A great project utilizing the Mini SiD is building a scintillation counter, which can be much more powerful than a geiger counter while being safer to use, because of the relatively low voltages.
One great example build has been done by RD-Gamma, who built one such device using a russian scintillator and a Broadcom AFBR SiPM.
You can read more about this here: https://rd-gammaspectra.xyz/?p=255
More Info:
Discussie (2 opmerking(en))
Content Director, Elektor 2 jaar geleden
Thanks for the post. What would be a few real-world applications for the project? For instance, do you use this in a lab (physics research) or in the field?
Antwoord
NuclearPhoenix 2 jaar geleden
Hi, this project is more of a building block to enable others to use silicon photomultipliers more easily. For gamma spectroscopy and radiation detection in general, these are a more modern alternative to the conventional photomultiplier tubes that are large, fragile and most importantly require a high voltage.
You can use the board to drive these SiPMs and continue processing the signals with another system in a lab for example.
You can also use the digital output as a counter to measure radiation intensity directly. This is the concept of a scintillation counter which is much more powerful than the popular geiger counter. As I demonstrated, you can very quickly set something like this up. In short, scintillation counters are similar to geiger counters in how you use them, but are more sensitive to gamma radiation and do not require any high voltages (30 vs 400 Volts).
Nothing would stop you from building a small device around this concept and use it in the field. In fact, a colleague has already built something like that: https://rd-gammaspectra.xyz/?p=255
You can use the board to drive these SiPMs and continue processing the signals with another system in a lab for example.
You can also use the digital output as a counter to measure radiation intensity directly. This is the concept of a scintillation counter which is much more powerful than the popular geiger counter. As I demonstrated, you can very quickly set something like this up. In short, scintillation counters are similar to geiger counters in how you use them, but are more sensitive to gamma radiation and do not require any high voltages (30 vs 400 Volts).
Nothing would stop you from building a small device around this concept and use it in the field. In fact, a colleague has already built something like that: https://rd-gammaspectra.xyz/?p=255
Antwoord
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Updates van de auteur
NuclearPhoenix 1 jaar geleden
This new board version is mostly a board layout and design update, but there are also a number of other changes that improve on the previous version.
Here are some images of the new PCB. This time I chose black with ENIG to align with the latest Open Gamma Detector revision:
Changelog:
These changes should make the device even more useful while still holding true to the form factor and remaining cheap to build due to the single sided components and part selection. Also, the new silk screen and PCB layout in general are _a lot_ cleaner now. On top of that, the decrease in power consumption is also very nice to have. Let me know what you think!
Check it out on GitHub: https://github.com/OpenGammaProject/Mini-SiD
I also post updates about all of my different projects on my own website now, check it out: https://nuclearphoenix.xyz/2024/03/01/mini-sid-update
mini-sid2.png (43kb)
NuclearPhoenix 1 jaar geleden
At 6x6mm, the board is slightly larger than a 4x4mm LYSO scintillator face, but it really couldn't be much smaller and it should work reasonably well regardless.
Overall, the layout of all boards is now tidier and, above all, the important connections are all a lot more clear better marked. I also reduced the distance between the individual SiPMs a little in the 2x2 array. The circuit is otherwise identical.
Here are the latest PCBs!
microfc6mm.png (130kb)
tiny3mm.png (31kb)
tiny6mm.png (30kb)
NuclearPhoenix 1 jaar geleden
https://certification.oshwa.org/at000007.html
NuclearPhoenix 1 jaar geleden
https://certification.oshwa.org/at000007.html
NuclearPhoenix 1 jaar geleden
If you want to use it, just connect your power to the "VCC" pad, ground to "GND" and then the SiPM anodes to the Mini SiD. You can check the set voltage at the "C" pad on the PCB. If you don't want to use the extra circuitry, you can just solder your power straight to the "C" pad and not bother with the other circuitry. However, you'll still have to solder the low-pass filters for each SiPM, otherwise they won't work.
You can find all the files here: https://github.com/OpenGammaProject/MicroFC-SiPM-Array-Board
Let me know what you think!
sipm2-20231124183543.png (77kb)
NuclearPhoenix 1 jaar geleden
This is what the new PCB looks like, I still need to get the OSHWA certification for this again, so the files are not completely final, altough everything's functional. The
Changes in this revision:
I think these changes are a great way to expand upon the last version that already worked well enough to be usable. It also marks a great point to say this project is more or less completed. It's usable, it works great and IMO there is not much that can be changed anymore without some fundamental changes. So thanks to everyone for your support and posting your interest and suggestions. Feel free to continue doing so!
There will be one update when the OSHWA certifies the hardware again, so expect that in the next couple of days.
pcb-front-20231123125917.png (46kb)
NuclearPhoenix 1 jaar geleden
These problems will be fixed with a slight change in parts and more optimized circuitry. I'm going to do one final updated revision of the board with these changes and maybe some other slight improvements that come to my mind. I'll update you once the work is done and the hardware is ready, so stay tuned!
On another note, the Mini SiD is sold out on Tindie, so thank you all for your interest in this project and the support. You can still get some of the Tiny MicroFC breakout boards if you want, the sale is still on until the end of september.
Cheers!
NuclearPhoenix 1 jaar geleden
https://www.tindie.com/stores/nuclearphoenix/
NuclearPhoenix 1 jaar geleden
Link to the store page: https://www.tindie.com/products/31304/
Thanks to all the feedback and demand from you guys for the SiPM carrier boards. It's been long overdue to add these to Tindie so that you can get the PCBs together with the detector electronics.
NuclearPhoenix 1 jaar geleden
NuclearPhoenix 1 jaar geleden
Here is a new and updated revision of the MicroFC SiPM carrier board: It now has some extra circuitry for temperature gain compensation! The overall size of the PCB and the solder pads have not changed at all and the bias filtering is also still on there. In addition to that, you can also use it without any of the additional electronics on it too. Don't need temperature compensation or any of the filtering? Just leave out all the components on the back side and solder directly to the anode and cathode pads for the SiPM.
If you do want to use the compensation circuit, a new BOM, Gerber file and schematic have been uploaded to GitHub. Kitspace should update too in the next couple of days (hopefully). Here is a link to the repo: https://github.com/OpenGammaProject/MicroFC-SiPM-Carrier-Board
It works completely passively without any sort of user intervention. It's based on an NTC thermistor that sits on the back side of the PCB, which is a big plus for temperature accuracy since it's on the same board as the SiPM. It's also low-power enough so that there is no unnecessary self-heating of the PCB. Just be sure to increase the SiPM PSU voltage a little bit as the compensation circuit initially drops a couple of 100mV to increase the temperature range without any need for readjustment. And ideally, you'd want to set the correct voltage at around normal ambient temperature for the correct tracking range (e.g. ~29.5V @ 25C).
Most of the research and testing has been done by Sebastian D'Hyon, so big thanks to him.
Finally, attached are some screenshots on what the new board looks like.
Cheers!
sipm1-20230726202223.png (47kb)
NuclearPhoenix 1 jaar geleden
It's a mini SiD connected to a microcontroller that works like a voltage controlled oscillator with a buzzer! It'll change it's output tone frequency with the measured activity. There is a really cool video on GitHub (link above), that I can't really show you here, where he demonstrates the device packaged in a tube with a 3D printed handle. The samples he has collected here are pretty impressive, especially since he's got no problem detecting the rocks already from a couple of meters away.
NuclearPhoenix 1 jaar geleden
Link to the new GitHub repo:
https://github.com/OpenGammaProject/Tiny-MicroFC-Carrier-Board
Kitspace should be up soon, too!
sipm1-20230612220507.png (10kb)
NuclearPhoenix 2 jaar geleden
I'm also trying to do more showcasing and some tutorial videos on Youtube at the moment, so stay tuned. I'm pretty new to all of this video stuff as you can probably see, but it's pretty exciting to learn :)
https://www.youtube.com/@NuclearPhoenixOfficial
NuclearPhoenix 2 jaar geleden
NuclearPhoenix 2 jaar geleden
You can even build yourself a (very) simple gamma camera. Well, considering it's only 4 pixels, it won't be too helpful, but it surely can be an interesting experiment. I'll probably do some testing in this regard and keep you updated.
The Mini SiD is ideal for this kind of use case since you need four different signal channels -- one for each SiPM. You can cut off the excess space on the PCB and make everything pretty compact. If all the digital outputs of the Mini SiDs go into different microcontroller interrupts, you can count pulses on each individual SiPM and do coincidence measurements. That'll greatly reduce total system noise for a single scintillator crystal!
All the hardware files can be found on GitHub: https://github.com/OpenGammaProject/MicroFC-SiPM-Array-Board
sipm1.png (17kb)