Sensors

TDI image sensor for space applications

25th November 2013
Nat Bowers
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At the 'CMOS Image Sensors for High Performance Applications’ workshop in Toulouse, imec presents a high-performance time-delay-integration image sensor for space applications. Based on imec’s proprietary embedded charge-coupled device in CMOS technology, the image sensor has been fabricated for the French Space Agency, CNES, for space-based earth observation.

Integrating CCD with CMOS technology, imec combined the best of both worlds: a light-sensitive, CCD-based TDI pixel array delivers low-noise TDI performance in the charge domain; while peripheral CMOS readout electronics enable low-power, on-chip integration of fast and complex circuitry readouts.

Increasing the signal to noise ratio, a time-delay-integration image sensor synchronises the linear motion of the scene with multiple samplings of the same image. Operating in the charge domain CCDs fit extremely well with the TDI application. They enable the movement of charges without creating excess noise. imec has combined the TDI pixels array with CMOS readout circuitry on the same die to produce a camera-on-a-chip or system-on-a-chip imager, reducing overall system complexity and cost. Impossible with traditional CCD technology, the CMOS technology enables on-chip readout electronics, such as clock drivers and analog-to-digital convertors, operating at higher speeds and lower power consumption.

Fabricated using imec’s 130nm process with an additional CCD process module, the prototypes have achieved an excellent charge transfer efficiency of 99.9987%. Ensuring almost lossless transport of charges in the TDI array, this guarantees high image quality. Imec’s specialty imaging platform combines custom design (i.e., specialized pixels, high-performance readout circuits and chip architectures) with optimized silicon processing, such as dedicated implants and backside thinning, to achieve high-end specialized imagers.

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