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.
