Transatlantic Co-Operation Leads To Major Scientific CMOS (sCMOS) Technology Breakthrough

Main Category: Pharma Industry / Biotech Industry
Article Date: 18 Jun 2009 - 7:00 PDT

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CMOS image sensor (CIS) technology stands on the brink of fulfilling its potential to become the global detector platform of choice for scientific photonics applications that require world class performance in the fields of sensitivity, speed, dynamic range, resolution, and field of view.

The results of pioneering work, pooled resources and shared expertise by scientists from Andor Technology (Northern Ireland), Fairchild Imaging (United States) and PCO (Germany) were revealed yesterday with the publication of a ground-breaking white paper at the Laser Conference and Exhibition in Munich (15 - 18 June 2009).

The document presents sCMOS, a breakthrough technology based on next-generation CIS design and fabrication techniques. sCMOS is poised for widespread recognition as a true scientific grade CIS, capable of out-performing most scientific imaging devices on the market today. Unlike previous generations of CMOS and CCD-based sensors, sCMOS is uniquely capable of simultaneously offering: extremely low noise, rapid frame rates, wide dynamic range, high quantum efficiency (QE), high resolution, and a large field of view.

"This announcement is a great moment for all three companies, who have come together in a true spirit of commitment to reach a shared goal," said Fairchild Imaging's Colin Earle.

"We have reached a 'leap forward' point, where we can confidently claim that the next significant wave of advancement in high-performance scientific imaging capability has come from the CIS technology stable" added Dr. Colin Coates, Andor Technology.

Dr. Gerhard Holst, PCO, said "Scientific CMOS (sCMOS) technology stands to gain widespread recognition across a broad gamut of demanding imaging applications, carrying an advanced set of performance features that renders it entirely suitable to high fidelity, quantitative scientific measurement."

Current scientific imaging technology standards suffer limitations in relation to a strong element of 'mutual exclusivity' between performance parameters, i.e. one can be optimized at the expense of others. sCMOS can be considered unique in its ability to concurrently deliver on many key parameters, whilst eradicating the performance drawbacks that have traditionally been associated with conventional CMOS imagers.

Performance highlights of the first sCMOS technology sensor include:

- Sensor format: 5.5 megapixels (2560(h) x 2160(v))
- Read noise: < 2 e- rms @ 30 frames/s; < 3 e- rms @ 100 frames/s
- Maximum frame rate: 100 frames/s
- Pixel size: 6.5 m
- Dynamic range: > 16,000:1 (@ 30 frames/s)
- QEmax.: 60%
- Read out modes: Rolling and Global shutter (user selectable)

Key applications for this new technology, already identified by Andor Technology, Fairchild Imaging and PCO include:

- Live cell microscopy
- Particle Imaging Velocimetry (PIV)
- Single Molecule Detection
- Super resolution microscopy
- Lucky astronomy/imaging
- Adaptive optics
- Solar astronomy
- Luminescence
- Fluorescence Spectroscopy
- Bio- and Chemo-Luminescence
- Genome sequencing (2nd and 3rd generation)
- High content screening
- Biochip reading
- Photovoltaic inspection
- X-ray tomography
- Machine vision
- TV/Broadcasting
- Spectral (hyperspectral) imaging
- TIRF
- Spinning disk confocal microscopy
- FRET
- FRAP
- Laser Induced Breakdown spectroscopy

Source
Andor Technology