Dec 11 2014
Zecotek Photonics Inc., a developer of leading-edge photonics technologies for medical, industrial and scientific markets, today announced that the Japanese Patent Office has issued a patent for its Micro-channel Avalanche Photodiode (MAPD) silicon photomultiplier.
The Company continues to secure important intellectual property related to key elements of a high performance positron emission tomography (PET) medical scanner, high energy physics (CERN), and retrofit industrial imaging sectors. Strengthening its worldwide patent portfolio specific to imaging technology and associated components remains a high priority.
"Our MAPD silicon photomultipliers are now patented in Japan, the United States, Russia, South Korea, Singapore and China, with patents pending in other countries," said Dr. A.F. Zerrouk, Chairman, President, and CEO of Zecotek Photonics Inc. "We will continue to secure intellectual property for those components, such as the MAPDs and LFS scintillation crystals, used in next generation PET medical scanners and high energy physics."
The MAPD silicon photomultipliers are manufactured under contract by the National NanoFab Center in South Korea. Zecotek is scheduled to show case the high timing resolution, low dark counts, low over voltage and high photo-detection-efficiency of MAPD arrays in April 2015. The MAPD array is a match to the cost competitive, high performance LFS array for integrated detection solutions. Zecotek is working with major OEMs to prepare for the adoption of its MAPD array as the industry moves toward introducing Time of Flight PET medical scanners as a transition from photomultiplier tubes. In addition, the MAPD's ability to exhibit very high linearity and very high radiation hardness makes it the prime candidate for CERN's extreme energies in the new generations of the Large Hadron Collider.
Zecotek's patented MAPD-3N is a design upgrade of the previously announced MAPD. It offers significant performance-cost advantages over competing photomultiplier tubes (PMT) and other solid-state, silicon based photo-detectors. Its good recovery time, unique radiation hardness and display of the highest possible linearity make it a prime component for the improved detector designs required in the next crucial phase of high energy experiments at CERN. Its low manufacturing cost, excellent timing resolution and Photon Detection Efficiency are key characteristics for the new configurations of high resolution PET (Positron Emission Tomography) scanners.
The MAPD-3N is supplied to customers through Zecotek Imaging Systems Pte. Ltd., Singapore, a wholly owned subsidiary of Zecotek Photonics Inc.