M.Sc. degree
Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II (Italy), 2016

Elisabetta Nocerino

Supervisor: Prof. Giancarlo Barbarino

The Semiconductor Multiplication System for Photoelectrons in a Vacuum Silicon Photomultiplier Tube (VSiPMT) and Related Front End Electronics

Keywords:

• Materials for solid-state detectors
• Hybrid detectors
• Photon detectors for UV, visible and IR photons (solid-state) (PIN diodes, APDs, Si-PMTs, G-APDs, CCDs, EBCCDs, EMCCDs etc)
• Solid state detectors

Abstract:

This thesis is focused on the study and characterization of various SiPM families in the wider context of the development of new scientific instrumentation for future missions of exploration and observation of the universe: the VSiPMT, an original design for an innovative light detector invented at our institution to enlarge indirectly the SiPM sensitive surface and to overcome PMTs limits. It consists of two parts:
1) Motivations and Background:this part contains the current detector's technology state of art and the motivations behind the necessity of new instrumentations for Astroparticle Physics, notions about Semiconductor Physics, the theoretical background behind the SiPM's operation priciple and a description of the VSiPMT.
2) Measurements and Data Analysis: this part contains a detailed description of all the measurements made for the characterization of the SiPMs and their results, the temperature issue and the proposed solution, a full characterization of the VSiPMT prototype manufactured by Hamamatsu Photonics, a world leader company in photodetector manufacturing.