Extraction of activation energies from temperature dependence of dark currents of SiPM

Despite several advantages of Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPM) over Photomultiplier Tubes (PMT) like the increased photon detection efficiency (PDE), the compact design and the insensitivity to magnetic fields, the dark count rate (DCR) of SiPM is still a large drawback. Decreasing of the SiPM dark count rate has become a modern task, which could lead to an enormous enhancement of the application range of this promising photo-detector. The main goal of this work is to gain initial information on the dark generation and identify the dominating contributions to dark currents. The chosen approach to fulfill this task is to extract characteristic activation energies of the contributing mechanisms from temperature dependent investigations of dark currents and DCR. Since conventional methods are not suited for a precise analysis of activation energies, a new method has to be developed. In this paper, first steps towards the development of a reliable method for the analysis of dark currents and dark events are presented.