GaN-Based Readout Circuit System for Reliable Prompt Gamma Imaging in Proton Therapy

Prompt gamma imaging is one of the emerging techniques used in proton therapy for in-vivo range verification. Prompt gamma signals are generated during therapy due to the nuclear interaction between beam particles and nuclei of the tissue that is detected and processed in order to obtain the position and energy of the event so that the benefits of Bragg’s peak can be fully utilized. This work aims to develop a gallium nitride (GaN)-based readout system for position-sensitive detectors. An operational amplifier is the module most used in such a system to process the detector signal, and a GaN-based operational amplifier (OPA) is designed and simulated in LTSpice. The designed circuit had an open-loop gain of 70 dB and a unity gain frequency of 34 MHz. The slew rate of OPA was 20 V/μs and common mode rejection ratio was 84.2 dB. A simulation model of the readout circuit system using the GaN-based operational amplifier was also designed, and the result showed that the system can successfully process the prompt gamma signals. Due to the radiation hardness of GaN devices, the readout circuit system is expected to be more reliable than its silicon counterpart.