TY - JOUR
T1 - Electron-Bombarded CMOS Image Sensor in Single Photon Imaging Mode
AU - Rabner, Arthur
AU - Shacham-Diamand, Yosi
PY - 2011/1
Y1 - 2011/1
N2 - Solid-state devices utilizing “photonic events amplification” (PEA) are used for low-level light imaging (LLLI) and are exploited in military, scientific, astronomy, surveillance, and other applications. The PEA imagers are more sensitive by a few orders of magnitude than regular CCD cameras and by an order of magnitude than most sensitive scientific LLLI CCD cameras. The Electron-Bombarded CMOS Image Sensor (EB-CMOS-IS) is a novel PEA technology and has just recently become commercially available. The EB-CMOS-IS technology is a best price/performance combination among concurrent technologies such as EBCCD, EMCCD, Intensified CCD, and Intensified CMOS image sensors. Although the EB-CMOS-IS-based applications demonstrate outstanding sensitivity, they are exploited today far from their maximal potential. In this study, we developed a comprehensive model of the EB-CMOS-IS used for simulation of the sensor performance as a function of the device parameters, e.g., photocathode quantum efficiency, acceleration bias, electrons-to-voltage conversion factor, and operation parameters, e.g., amplifier gain, offset, and exposure time. We selected parameters enabling a single photon imaging (SPI) mode and performed imaging simulations for an object under various low-level illumination conditions. We present a method of the EB-CMOS-IS operation in the SPI mode for low-light-level imaging of a stationary object, boosting the sensor sensitivity to a level better than 10−7 lux.
AB - Solid-state devices utilizing “photonic events amplification” (PEA) are used for low-level light imaging (LLLI) and are exploited in military, scientific, astronomy, surveillance, and other applications. The PEA imagers are more sensitive by a few orders of magnitude than regular CCD cameras and by an order of magnitude than most sensitive scientific LLLI CCD cameras. The Electron-Bombarded CMOS Image Sensor (EB-CMOS-IS) is a novel PEA technology and has just recently become commercially available. The EB-CMOS-IS technology is a best price/performance combination among concurrent technologies such as EBCCD, EMCCD, Intensified CCD, and Intensified CMOS image sensors. Although the EB-CMOS-IS-based applications demonstrate outstanding sensitivity, they are exploited today far from their maximal potential. In this study, we developed a comprehensive model of the EB-CMOS-IS used for simulation of the sensor performance as a function of the device parameters, e.g., photocathode quantum efficiency, acceleration bias, electrons-to-voltage conversion factor, and operation parameters, e.g., amplifier gain, offset, and exposure time. We selected parameters enabling a single photon imaging (SPI) mode and performed imaging simulations for an object under various low-level illumination conditions. We present a method of the EB-CMOS-IS operation in the SPI mode for low-light-level imaging of a stationary object, boosting the sensor sensitivity to a level better than 10−7 lux.
KW - CMOS
KW - electron-bombarded (EB)
KW - image sensor
KW - low light level
KW - single photon
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85008024076&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/JSEN.2010.2055846
DO - 10.1109/JSEN.2010.2055846
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AN - SCOPUS:85008024076
SN - 1530-437X
VL - 11
SP - 186
EP - 193
JO - IEEE Sensors Journal
JF - IEEE Sensors Journal
IS - 1
ER -