26-236 QUANTA CMOS IMAGE SENSOR FOR LOW LIGHT LEVEL IN SPACE ENVIRONMENTS

Mission

Low light level detection down to the unique photon is the ultimate challenge to reach for many space applications Astronomy, Earth-Observation by night, Detection and Ranging…) and non-space applications: night vision (for defense and commercial applications) , microscopy, life science, medical imaging… Traditional technologies used amplified detectors either photocathodes based devices (Image intensifier tubes, ICMOS, EBCMOS), or solid-state devices (SPADs, EMCCD), which are usually operating at high voltages. Moreover, except EMCDD detectors, photocathodes material and SPADs suffer from lower quantum efficiency (QE). The solid-state detectors approach then remains the main target due to their high QE potentiality. Nowadays Quanta Image Sensor (QIS) have been identified as the disruptive technology combining all advantages: small pixels with high fill factor, low voltage operation, accurate photon level detection and counting thanks to its high Charg...