Modeling charge collection in silicon pixel detectors for proton therapy applications

Alexander Schilling; Max Aehle; Johan Alme; Gergely Gábor Barnaföldi; Gábor Bíró; Tea Bodova; Vyacheslav Borshchov; Anthony van den Brink; Viljar Eikeland; Gregory Feofilov; Christoph Garth; Nicolas R. Gauger; Ola Grøttvik; Håvard Helstrup; Sergey Igolkin; Jacob G. Johansen; Ralf Keidel; Chinorat Kobdaj; Tobias Kortus; Viktor Leonhardt; Shruti Mehendale; Raju Ningappa Mulawade; Odd Harald Odland; George O’Neill; Gábor Papp; Thomas Peitzmann; Helge Egil Seime Pettersen; Pierluigi Piersimoni; Maksym Protsenko; Max Rauch; Attiq Ur Rehman; Matthias Richter; Dieter Röhrich; Joshua Santana; Joao Seco; Arnon Songmoolnak; Ákos Sudár; Ganesh Tambave; Ihor Tymchuk; Kjetil Ullaland; Monika Varga-Kofarago; Boris Wagner; Ren Zheng Xiao; Shiming Yang

doi:10.1088/2057-1976/adbf9c

Modeling charge collection in silicon pixel detectors for proton therapy applications

Alexander Schilling^*, Max Aehle, Johan Alme, Gergely Gábor Barnaföldi, Gábor Bíró, Tea Bodova, Vyacheslav Borshchov, Anthony van den Brink, Viljar Eikeland, Gregory Feofilov, Christoph Garth, Nicolas R. Gauger, Ola Grøttvik, Håvard Helstrup, Sergey Igolkin, Jacob G. Johansen, Ralf Keidel, Chinorat Kobdaj, Tobias Kortus, Viktor LeonhardtShruti Mehendale, Raju Ningappa Mulawade, Odd Harald Odland, George O’Neill, Gábor Papp, Thomas Peitzmann, Helge Egil Seime Pettersen, Pierluigi Piersimoni, Maksym Protsenko, Max Rauch, Attiq Ur Rehman, Matthias Richter, Dieter Röhrich, Joshua Santana, Joao Seco, Arnon Songmoolnak, Ákos Sudár, Ganesh Tambave, Ihor Tymchuk, Kjetil Ullaland, Monika Varga-Kofarago, Boris Wagner, Ren Zheng Xiao, Shiming Yang

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review

Abstract

Objective. Monolithic active pixel sensors are used for charged particle tracking in many applications, from medical physics to astrophysics. The Bergen pCT collaboration designed a sampling calorimeter for proton computed tomography, based entirely on the ALICE PIxel DEtector (ALPIDE). The same telescope can be used for in-situ range verification in particle therapy. An accurate charge diffusion model is required to convert the deposited energy from Monte Carlo simulations to a cluster of pixels, and to estimate the deposited energy, given an experimentally observed cluster. Approach. We optimize the parameters of different charge diffusion models to experimental data for both proton computed tomography and proton range verification, collected at the Danish Centre for Particle Therapy. We then evaluate the performance of downstream tasks to investigate the impact of charge diffusion modeling. Main results. We find that it is beneficial to optimize application-specific models, with a power law working best for proton computed tomography, and a model based on a 2D Cauchy-Lorentz distribution giving better agreement for range verification. We further highlight the importance of evaluating the downstream tasks with multiple approaches to obtain a range of expected performance metrics for the application. Significance. This work demonstrates the influence of the charge diffusion model on downstream tasks, and recommends a new model for proton range verification with an ALPIDE-based pixel telescope.

Original language	English
Article number	035005
Journal	Biomedical Physics and Engineering Express
Volume	11
Issue	3
ISSN	2057-1976
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1088/2057-1976/adbf9c
Publication status	Published - May 2025

Keywords

charge diffusion
monolithic active pixel sensor
proton computed tomography
proton therapy
range verification

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Schilling, A., Aehle, M., Alme, J., Barnaföldi, G. G., Bíró, G., Bodova, T., Borshchov, V., Brink, A. V. D., Eikeland, V., Feofilov, G., Garth, C., Gauger, N. R., Grøttvik, O., Helstrup, H., Igolkin, S., Johansen, J. G., Keidel, R., Kobdaj, C., Kortus, T., ... Yang, S. (2025). Modeling charge collection in silicon pixel detectors for proton therapy applications. Biomedical Physics and Engineering Express, 11(3), Article 035005. https://doi.org/10.1088/2057-1976/adbf9c

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title = "Modeling charge collection in silicon pixel detectors for proton therapy applications",

abstract = "Objective. Monolithic active pixel sensors are used for charged particle tracking in many applications, from medical physics to astrophysics. The Bergen pCT collaboration designed a sampling calorimeter for proton computed tomography, based entirely on the ALICE PIxel DEtector (ALPIDE). The same telescope can be used for in-situ range verification in particle therapy. An accurate charge diffusion model is required to convert the deposited energy from Monte Carlo simulations to a cluster of pixels, and to estimate the deposited energy, given an experimentally observed cluster. Approach. We optimize the parameters of different charge diffusion models to experimental data for both proton computed tomography and proton range verification, collected at the Danish Centre for Particle Therapy. We then evaluate the performance of downstream tasks to investigate the impact of charge diffusion modeling. Main results. We find that it is beneficial to optimize application-specific models, with a power law working best for proton computed tomography, and a model based on a 2D Cauchy-Lorentz distribution giving better agreement for range verification. We further highlight the importance of evaluating the downstream tasks with multiple approaches to obtain a range of expected performance metrics for the application. Significance. This work demonstrates the influence of the charge diffusion model on downstream tasks, and recommends a new model for proton range verification with an ALPIDE-based pixel telescope.",

keywords = "charge diffusion, monolithic active pixel sensor, proton computed tomography, proton therapy, range verification",

author = "Alexander Schilling and Max Aehle and Johan Alme and Barnaf{\"o}ldi, {Gergely G{\'a}bor} and G{\'a}bor B{\'i}r{\'o} and Tea Bodova and Vyacheslav Borshchov and Brink, {Anthony van den} and Viljar Eikeland and Gregory Feofilov and Christoph Garth and Gauger, {Nicolas R.} and Ola Gr{\o}ttvik and H{\aa}vard Helstrup and Sergey Igolkin and Johansen, {Jacob G.} and Ralf Keidel and Chinorat Kobdaj and Tobias Kortus and Viktor Leonhardt and Shruti Mehendale and Mulawade, {Raju Ningappa} and Odland, {Odd Harald} and George O{\textquoteright}Neill and G{\'a}bor Papp and Thomas Peitzmann and Pettersen, {Helge Egil Seime} and Pierluigi Piersimoni and Maksym Protsenko and Max Rauch and Rehman, {Attiq Ur} and Matthias Richter and Dieter R{\"o}hrich and Joshua Santana and Joao Seco and Arnon Songmoolnak and {\'A}kos Sud{\'a}r and Ganesh Tambave and Ihor Tymchuk and Kjetil Ullaland and Monika Varga-Kofarago and Boris Wagner and Xiao, {Ren Zheng} and Shiming Yang",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2025 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd.",

year = "2025",

month = may,

doi = "10.1088/2057-1976/adbf9c",

language = "English",

volume = "11",

journal = "Biomedical Physics and Engineering Express",

issn = "2057-1976",

publisher = "IOP Publishing Ltd.",

number = "3",

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Schilling, A, Aehle, M, Alme, J, Barnaföldi, GG, Bíró, G, Bodova, T, Borshchov, V, Brink, AVD, Eikeland, V, Feofilov, G, Garth, C, Gauger, NR, Grøttvik, O, Helstrup, H, Igolkin, S, Johansen, JG, Keidel, R, Kobdaj, C, Kortus, T, Leonhardt, V, Mehendale, S, Mulawade, RN, Odland, OH, O’Neill, G, Papp, G, Peitzmann, T, Pettersen, HES, Piersimoni, P, Protsenko, M, Rauch, M, Rehman, AU, Richter, M, Röhrich, D, Santana, J, Seco, J, Songmoolnak, A, Sudár, Á, Tambave, G, Tymchuk, I, Ullaland, K, Varga-Kofarago, M, Wagner, B, Xiao, RZ & Yang, S 2025, 'Modeling charge collection in silicon pixel detectors for proton therapy applications', Biomedical Physics and Engineering Express, vol. 11, no. 3, 035005. https://doi.org/10.1088/2057-1976/adbf9c

Modeling charge collection in silicon pixel detectors for proton therapy applications. / Schilling, Alexander; Aehle, Max; Alme, Johan et al.
In: Biomedical Physics and Engineering Express, Vol. 11, No. 3, 035005, 05.2025.

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review

TY - JOUR

T1 - Modeling charge collection in silicon pixel detectors for proton therapy applications

AU - Schilling, Alexander

AU - Aehle, Max

AU - Alme, Johan

AU - Barnaföldi, Gergely Gábor

AU - Bíró, Gábor

AU - Bodova, Tea

AU - Borshchov, Vyacheslav

AU - Brink, Anthony van den

AU - Eikeland, Viljar

AU - Feofilov, Gregory

AU - Garth, Christoph

AU - Gauger, Nicolas R.

AU - Grøttvik, Ola

AU - Helstrup, Håvard

AU - Igolkin, Sergey

AU - Johansen, Jacob G.

AU - Keidel, Ralf

AU - Kobdaj, Chinorat

AU - Kortus, Tobias

AU - Leonhardt, Viktor

AU - Mehendale, Shruti

AU - Mulawade, Raju Ningappa

AU - Odland, Odd Harald

AU - O’Neill, George

AU - Papp, Gábor

AU - Peitzmann, Thomas

AU - Pettersen, Helge Egil Seime

AU - Piersimoni, Pierluigi

AU - Protsenko, Maksym

AU - Rauch, Max

AU - Rehman, Attiq Ur

AU - Richter, Matthias

AU - Röhrich, Dieter

AU - Santana, Joshua

AU - Seco, Joao

AU - Songmoolnak, Arnon

AU - Sudár, Ákos

AU - Tambave, Ganesh

AU - Tymchuk, Ihor

AU - Ullaland, Kjetil

AU - Varga-Kofarago, Monika

AU - Wagner, Boris

AU - Xiao, Ren Zheng

AU - Yang, Shiming

PY - 2025/5

Y1 - 2025/5

N2 - Objective. Monolithic active pixel sensors are used for charged particle tracking in many applications, from medical physics to astrophysics. The Bergen pCT collaboration designed a sampling calorimeter for proton computed tomography, based entirely on the ALICE PIxel DEtector (ALPIDE). The same telescope can be used for in-situ range verification in particle therapy. An accurate charge diffusion model is required to convert the deposited energy from Monte Carlo simulations to a cluster of pixels, and to estimate the deposited energy, given an experimentally observed cluster. Approach. We optimize the parameters of different charge diffusion models to experimental data for both proton computed tomography and proton range verification, collected at the Danish Centre for Particle Therapy. We then evaluate the performance of downstream tasks to investigate the impact of charge diffusion modeling. Main results. We find that it is beneficial to optimize application-specific models, with a power law working best for proton computed tomography, and a model based on a 2D Cauchy-Lorentz distribution giving better agreement for range verification. We further highlight the importance of evaluating the downstream tasks with multiple approaches to obtain a range of expected performance metrics for the application. Significance. This work demonstrates the influence of the charge diffusion model on downstream tasks, and recommends a new model for proton range verification with an ALPIDE-based pixel telescope.

AB - Objective. Monolithic active pixel sensors are used for charged particle tracking in many applications, from medical physics to astrophysics. The Bergen pCT collaboration designed a sampling calorimeter for proton computed tomography, based entirely on the ALICE PIxel DEtector (ALPIDE). The same telescope can be used for in-situ range verification in particle therapy. An accurate charge diffusion model is required to convert the deposited energy from Monte Carlo simulations to a cluster of pixels, and to estimate the deposited energy, given an experimentally observed cluster. Approach. We optimize the parameters of different charge diffusion models to experimental data for both proton computed tomography and proton range verification, collected at the Danish Centre for Particle Therapy. We then evaluate the performance of downstream tasks to investigate the impact of charge diffusion modeling. Main results. We find that it is beneficial to optimize application-specific models, with a power law working best for proton computed tomography, and a model based on a 2D Cauchy-Lorentz distribution giving better agreement for range verification. We further highlight the importance of evaluating the downstream tasks with multiple approaches to obtain a range of expected performance metrics for the application. Significance. This work demonstrates the influence of the charge diffusion model on downstream tasks, and recommends a new model for proton range verification with an ALPIDE-based pixel telescope.

KW - charge diffusion

KW - monolithic active pixel sensor

KW - proton computed tomography

KW - proton therapy

KW - range verification

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=105000972512&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1088/2057-1976/adbf9c

DO - 10.1088/2057-1976/adbf9c

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 40073455

AN - SCOPUS:105000972512

SN - 2057-1976

VL - 11

JO - Biomedical Physics and Engineering Express

JF - Biomedical Physics and Engineering Express

IS - 3

M1 - 035005

ER -

Modeling charge collection in silicon pixel detectors for proton therapy applications

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Keywords

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