Royal Philips Electronics has developed a digital silicon photomultiplier technology by scaling it from a single-pixel sensor to a fully integrated 64-pixel sensor with a sensing surface of over 10-square centimeters, with potential new applications in areas such as medical imaging and nuclear physics.

The company said its new digital silicon photomultiplier technology is capable of counting single photons (the basic quantum units of light) and detecting their arrival time with an accuracy of approximately 60 picoseconds. Applications where the scalability of the technology could be of major benefit include PET imaging and analytical instrumentation for the life science industry. However, the technology has potential to be used in applications, such as high energy particle detectors and safety and security systems, said Philips.