  Silicon photomultipliers are very versatile photo detectors due to their high
photon detection efficiency, fast response, single photon counting capability,
high amplification, and their insensitivity to magnetic fields. At our
institute we are studying the performance of these photo detectors at various
operating conditions. On the basis of the experience in the laboratory we built
a prototype of a timing Cherenkov detector consisting of a quartz radiator with
two $3\times 3$ mm$^2$ MPPCs S10362-33-100C from Hamamatsu Photonics as
photodetectors. The MPPC sensors were operated with Peltier cooling to minimize
thermal noise and to avoid gain drifts. The test measurements at the DA$\Phi$NE
Beam-Test Facility (BTF) at the Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati (LNF) with
pulsed 490 MeV electrons and the results on timing performance with Cherenkov
photons are presented.
