The study of cosmic rays was always driven by the development and application of new technologies to enhance the precision of experiments. In recent years, the huge advancements in the photon detection using SiPM led to outstanding performance of these devices and promise an important step forward in detector technology. In this thesis, their characteristics are studied with special focus on simulating their response and understanding the behavior when being exposed to bright or long lasting

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... ht pulses. An SiPM based optical module has been developed to prove their maturity for applications in cosmic ray induced air shower detectors. A perfect candidate for studying its performance is the SSD developed for an upgrade of the Pierre Auger Observatory, AugerPrime. The SSD was designed to improve the sensitivity of the current detector on the mass composition of the primary cosmic rays and to possibly reveal their origin. The SiPM based optical module was installed in prototype SSD at the Pierre Auger Observatory. It has proven excellent performance and allows to study UHECR with good precision.