Caeleste

Customized CMOS image sensors »beyond state-of-the-art«

Caeleste, based in Mechelen (Belgium), is a design house specializing in customized CMOS image sensors. Its core business is the development of high-end sensors tailored precisely to application specifications, offering complete turnkey solutions on request, from specification and sensor design to wafer production, packaging, characterization, and series delivery.

The claim »beyond state-of-the-art« says it all: Caeleste implements sensor architectures that significantly outperform classic standard products in areas such as noise, dynamic range, radiation tolerance, and spectral sensitivity.

As Caeleste's German representative, Eureca is your first point of contact in the DACH region—from the initial idea to the finished sensor system.

Typical applications for Caeleste sensors

Caeleste addresses demanding image and photon measurements in areas where standard CMOS sensors reach their limits.

Space & Scientific Imaging

Caeleste develops large sensors with high readout speed, low noise, high dynamics, and radiation tolerance for space missions and scientific instruments, such as telescopes, asteroid missions, or low-flux detectors.

Life Science & Medical Imaging

In medical imaging and life sciences, sensitive sensors are required across a broad spectral range: from UV to visible light to the X-ray range, for example for fluorescence applications, microscopy, or digital X-ray systems.

Industrial & Professional Imaging

For high-speed processes, industrial inspection, and high-speed scientific imaging, Caeleste develops sensors with very fast, low-noise readout—including special pixel architectures for high dynamic range, time gating, or photon counting.

Other special topics

These include color-resolved X-ray sensors, extremely low-noise pixels with sub-electron noise levels, and particularly radiation-resistant designs for harsh environments.

Eureca as Caeleste's German system partner

As your German partner, Eureca supports you in all stages of developing a customized sensor with Caeleste:

Requirements analysis and concept phase

Together, we clarify the application, framework conditions, and target parameters: resolution, spectral range, dynamics, frame rate, interfaces, cooling, package size, and budget.

Translation into a sensor specification sheet

Eureca contributes its experience from many OEM projects with CCD/CMOS sensors and helps translate your requirements into a clearly structured specification sheet that is ideally tailored to Caeleste.

Coordination with Caeleste

We act as the interface to the development team in Belgium, accompany design reviews, and coordinate prototype and series phases. This gives you a German-speaking contact person on site while also benefiting from Caelestes sensor expertise.

System integration, electronics, and optics

On request, Eureca can supply suitable control and evaluation electronics for your Caeleste sensor (e. g., camera boards, line scan camera electronics, readout boards) and provide support with the optical design of the overall system, including the selection of suitable lenses, filters, and lighting.

Synergies with Eureca's other areas of expertise

The collaboration with Caeleste fits perfectly into Eureca's existing portfolio. This results in solutions that go far beyond pure sensor design:

Modification of CCD/CMOS image sensors

Eureca removes cover glasses places customer-specific filters directly on the sensor, or applies UV conversion coatings to specifically extend spectral sensitivity—for example, to deep UV. These technologies can also be combined with Caeleste designs, opening up additional degrees of freedom in sensor design.

Customized electronics and cameras

In addition to the sensors themselves, Eureca develops customized readout and processing electronics as well as complete camera modules—from line scan camera boards and area scan cameras to special solutions for spectroscopy and scientific imaging. This quickly turns the Caeleste sensor into a ready-to-use OEM module.

UV-optimized and cover glass-free sensor solutions

Particularly exciting are combinations of Caeleste sensor features (e. g., BSI technology, special pixel architectures) with Eureca's down-conversion coatings and GCRM cover glass removal processes – ideal for applications in UV spectroscopy, fluorescence, or high-precision metrology.

Integration into measurement and spectrometer systems

For customers who need not only a sensor but a complete measurement system, Eureca can connect to its own spectrometer kits, photodiode amplifiers, illumination solutions and thermal management concepts. This creates a comprehensive solution from a single source, from the sensor to the finished measuring device.

Typical project workflow with Caeleste & Eureca

1. Idea & use case discussion
   Initial coordination on application, market environment, and target parameters together with Eureca's technical team.
2. MFeasibility and architecture study
   Evaluation of requirements, rough technical concept, and initial architecture options with Caeleste.
3. Sensor design & prototypes
   Development of final specifications, sensor development at Caeleste, sample production, and initial evaluation boards.
4. Evaluation, optimization & system integration
   Joint testing, optimization, and integration of the sensor into your camera or measurement system—including electronics, optics, and any necessary mechanical adjustments by Eureca.
5. Series production launch & long-term support
   Support during ramp-up, assistance with adjustments, and long-term assurance of sensor availability.

When is a project with Caeleste and Eureca worthwhile?

A joint project is particularly interesting if …

• Standard sensors cannot meet key requirements (noise, dynamics, spectral range, radiation tolerance, etc.);
• You want to set yourself apart from the competition with your own sensor;
• Long-term availability, IP control, and adaptability play a major role;
• you want to source electronics, optics, and modifications from a single source in addition to the sensor.

If you are planning a challenging sensor project or want to check whether a customized solution is worthwhile, please contact us—Eureca will coordinate the direct route to Caeleste for you and support you every step of the way, from the initial concept to the finished OEM product.

From single photon pixels to chip-on-board

Customer-specific production of image sensors guarantees long-term availability and optimal properties

Image sensors today are critical components of a wide variety of work processes, and depending on the application, they must meet very specific requirements in order to achieve the required performance. If a proven sensor is discontinued by the manufacturer—as recently Sony's CCD series—this can be a serious problem for camera manufacturers or measuring tools.

An alternative to this is provided by custom-made sensors, which can not only be tailored exactly to the task spectrum, but also remain available over the entire product lifetime. Eureca has already implemented various OEM projects in this area in cooperation with the Belgian design house Caeleste, such as very sensitive UV sensors for chemical analysis or precise high-speed sensors with global shutter. The basis of the developments is state-of-the-art CMOS technology, which ensures long-term availability.

Just how big the dependency of the digital imaging sector is on some suppliers was the upheaval in the industry when Sony announced the end of its CCD sensors in February 2015. Meanwhile, the group has extended the terms of some types again under pressure from customers, but the problem was only postponed. Companies in which imaging systems with specific characteristics and functionalities are essential for production—for example in quality assurance, analysis or monitoring—as well as the manufacturers of such devices increasingly rely on individually manufactured sensors due to such delivery risks. These are produced in a targeted manner, if and how the customer needs them, which ensures a high level of availability security over the entire product life cycle. Unmediated changes to devices that have proven themselves in practice can thus be avoided. In principle, the availability would be guaranteed for such customer-specific models, as long as there is still the necessary production technology somewhere in the world.

The right sensor for every task

The second big advantage with this approach is that the performance characteristics of the sensors can be tailored to the application requirement. Unnecessary features, which are simply part of the package for standard sensors, can be eliminated and other important functions optimized instead. This gives the customer an optimal sensor for him with the best possible specifications, which are not achievable with standard components.

In addition to sensors with low noise and high photosensitivity, for example, high-speed sensors for extreme sharpness can be created during the fastest movements by processing the acquired data in large numbers in parallel. For other applications, solutions with ultra-high dynamic range within an exposure are possible in which the pixel information is read several times with different amplification levels after only one exposure. The special tuning of the read-out processes prevents a falsification of the image data and guarantees highest linearity.

For metrology tasks, for example, Eureca and Caeleste are also able to produce especially UV-sensitive sensors. In addition to the usual backside thinning, the front side is also etched away in order to minimize the loss of UV quanta through absorption in the dielectric stack. Even the detection of individual photons can be achieved by means of so-called »single-photon avalance diodes« (SPAD), in which the charges generated by the detected light particles are amplified in the pixel itself. Depending on requirements, the sensors are not only manufactured as stand-alone units with their own housing, but can also be mounted directly on a circuit board, which saves installation space and production costs.

On-site consulting and implementation by specialized partners

In order to determine the relevant specifications within an economic framework, Eureca consults intensively with the respective customer and, if necessary, also looks after on site during the entire development and production period. This close collaboration allows for short distances and easy communication. With the help of a specially developed calculation program, the imaging of different sensor specifications can even be virtually simulated in advance in order to check whether it meets the requirements.

Once a first specification has been prepared, the specifications will be handed over to Caeleste. The designers there take care of the technical realization, for example, they create the masks for photolithography and search from all available production sites for a production partner with the production know-how appropriate for the specific sensor model.

The latter makes it possible to offer a wide range of different specifications, which would not be possible with a solid supplier specialized in one type of sensor. The fact that Caeleste, as a Belgian company, is more or less in the neighborhood and also works to European standards, ensures uncomplicated cooperation and fast project execution. Contracts that already have a base of requirements can sometimes be implemented in less than a year. But even projects that have to start from the drawing board usually last only one to two years.