Above: Light hitting an image sensor, recorded by Andor IQ
The increase in CMOS sensor speed is what makes HDSLR video possible. But according to scientists in academic image sensor technology fields, fabrication processes used to make CMOS imagers are lagging 2 or 3 generations behind fabrication methods used in integrated circuits (IC) and solid-state memory – so we can expect some huge leaps in the very near future.
Professor Dr. Albert J. P. Theuwissen, of the University of Delft, Netherlands thinks that image processors will soon break the 1 µm barrier and have sensitivity overtaking that of the human retina.
The course ran in the UK, Cambridge last week but will return in Barcelona on November 22nd 2010. It looks very interesting but is highly specialised, designed for junior engineers already working in the field of image sensor design.
In the course, Dr Albert gives the low-down on global shutter, backside-illuminated sensors and EM-CCDs – the latter are particularly new to me!
“In case of extremely low light level, the EM-CCD is a very interesting and powerful image sensor. This device is characterized by the fact that an electron multiplication stage is included just before the output amplifier. In this way a gain can be applied to the signal in the CCD without amplifying the noise of the output stage. Equivalent noise levels of sub-electrons are being reported”
Check out the course introduction below for more tech-insights. Entry is 1180 Euros!
[url]http://www.cei.se/020.htm