CCD/CMOS image sensors and driving electronics

We develop customized control and evaluation electronics for CCD/CMOS sensors. For most applications and sensor types, we already have ready-made designs that can be quickly modified to meet your specific requirements. Upon request, we can also organize the production of the corresponding circuit boards.

It is not always possible to find suitable sensors for a new application that meet all the desired specifications. With a sufficient budget, it is possible to develop customer-specific sensors tailored to a specific application and have them manufactured exclusively. Eureca currently offers this service in cooperation with the Belgian company Caeleste.

These tailor-made solutions act as a unique selling point, include only the features that are really needed, which saves production costs, and can be reordered as needed. This also avoids the problems that can otherwise arise when a standard sensor is discontinued, such as expensive redesigns or large stock quantities for the remainder of the project, which is extremely important in an age of ever-shorter product cycles for image sensors. To find the optimal configuration, Eureca can accompany you throughout the entire product life cycle on request – from conception and selection of the manufacturing partner to the end of the product's service life.

In principle, it is possible to produce a customized image sensor for individual items. However, this involves considerable development and setup costs, which can usually only be reasonably allocated once a certain number of units has been reached. If an existing design can be used as a basis and only requires minor modifications, at least the development costs are reduced. However, suitable production masks still need to be created and a minimum purchase quantity of produced wafers must be agreed.

Eureca has all the knowledge and tools to check the technical feasibility of a desired sensor in advance of development and to estimate the specifications that can be achieved. After successful preliminary project planning, the design is then refined in close cooperation with the manufacturer. Average development times are approximately 6–8 months.

Pioneering work in sCMOS image sensors: High dynamic range thanks to thousands of A/D converters

Back in 2015, Elektroniknet reported on a joint project between Fairchild Imaging and Eureca Messtechnik, which introduced a new generation of scientific CMOS image sensors (sCMOS 2.0). The aim was to overcome the limitations of conventional CCD sensors while combining high light sensitivity, a wide dynamic range, and very low readout noise in a single sensor.

At the heart of the development was a sensor architecture with around 4,000 A/D converters integrated on the chip. This enabled each image area to be digitized very quickly and with high resolution. In combination with specially adapted semiconductor structures, this resulted in an effective dynamic range of around 88 dB at frame rates of up to approximately 100 frames per second. The sensors achieved readout noise close to one electron and were thus sensitive enough to enable high-quality night and low-light imaging without an additional image intensifier.

The product family included several resolution variants up to the megapixel range and was aimed not only at scientific imaging, but also at industrial, security, and broadcast applications where high dynamic range and low illuminance levels come together.

Another focus of the article is a simulation system developed by Eureca: Based on the technical data of the sensor and camera, virtual still and moving images are generated that take into account photon noise, dark noise, readout noise, dark current, fixed pattern noise, MTF/KTF, de-bayering, and the dynamic range in a physically sound manner. Numerous projects have confirmed the close correspondence between simulation and real images – an important tool for selecting the right sensor technology even before prototype construction. <pFinally, the article describes the joint offering from Eureca, Fairchild Imaging, and the Belgian design house Caeleste to develop customer-specific CMOS image sensors. Instead of using standard components, customers can obtain sensors with exactly the required functions, customized housings, and defined long-term availability. Eureca accompanies the entire product life cycle from conception to the selection of the manufacturing partner to discontinuation.

What has become of the technology?

The sCMOS 2.0 sensors described in the article are among the early scientific CMOS architectures that demonstrated that extremely low readout noise, high dynamic range, and high frame rates can be combined in a single device. The principles used there—column-parallel or massively parallel A/D conversion, dual gain chains per pixel/column, optimized pixel architecture—are now found in many modern CMOS image sensors used in science, medical technology, surveillance, machine vision, and professional video.

Fairchild Imaging (now part of BAE Systems Imaging Solutions) has continued to develop the sCMOS platform since then: Current sCMOS 3.x sensors achieve even lower noise, higher quantum efficiency, and even greater dynamic ranges, and are established in applications ranging from life science microscopy to security and space imaging. The sCMOS technology presented at that time can thus be considered an important starting point for today's highly integrated CMOS image sensors with excellent low-light performance.

For Eureca, little has changed in terms of its fundamental role. On the contrary:

• We continue to offer the services described in the article: simulation and evaluation of sensor scenarios, selection of the appropriate sensor platform, and support with integration into customer-specific camera systems.
• Customized sensors have become an established tool for creating unique selling points, optimizing costs, and minimizing the risk of discontinuation. The collaboration with specialized design houses outlined in the article has proven successful and has been expanded to include additional projects and partners.
• Since the article was published, several additional customer-specific sensor developments have been added, which we are currently not allowed to report on in detail due to confidentiality agreements – but they confirm that the approach of »tailor-made sensors instead of compromising with standard sensors« is proving successful in practice.

The sCMOS image sensor presented in Elektroniknet is thus an early example of our role as a development partner in the field of customer-specific image sensors. The combination of sound simulation, many years of experience with scientific and industrial sensor platforms, and a network of specialized design and manufacturing partners continues to form the basis for adapting modern CMOS image sensors precisely to the requirements of our customers.

Read the full article at (in German only).