Story
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
Specifications
Here are some of the most important key facts:
- Compact design: Total size 100 x 25 mm. 50 x 25 mm area for electronics and additional 50 x 25 mm to mount a small scintillator.
- Input voltage: 3.1 V - 5.5 V.
- Low-voltage device: No HV needed like with a photomultiplier tube.
- SiPM voltage range from 27.5 V to 33.8 V.
- Low power consumption: <4 mA @ 5 V in standard operation.
- Adjustable gain for the SiPM pulses, also affects pulse decay time and therefore dead time.
- TTL output for counting pulses or time-over-threshold applications.
- Additional raw pulse output if you want to manipulate the signal or use it for spectroscopy.
- Dead time only limited by the speed of the scintillator and the gain. Typically only a few microseconds.
- Only needs an additional cheap microcontroller to, for example, build a simple scintillation counter.
