Patent ID: 8476571

Claim:
A silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) comprising: a plurality of photon detection cell clusters each comprising a plurality of avalanche photodiodes, wherein the outputs of each of the avalanche photodiodes within each of the plurality of photon detection cell clusters are summed together and applied to a cell cluster output; a plurality of cluster readout circuits, wherein each of the plurality of cluster readout circuits is connected to one of a plurality of cell cluster outputs to receive and convert an analog cell cluster output signal to a multi-bit digital signal; and a SiPM pixel reader circuit connected to a plurality of said cluster readout circuits and configured to generate an overall photo detector output by processing digital cell cluster signals received from the plurality of cluster readout circuits; wherein each photon detection cell cluster of the plurality of photon detection cell clusters includes at least a plurality of avalanche photodiodes connected in parallel.