Introduction to image sensors

Slawomir Piatek, Ph.D., Hamamatsu Corporation and New Jersey Institute of Technology
June 30, 2020

About this webinar

Capturing and recording an image is a fundamental process of data taking in nearly all branches of science and medicine. It has evolved from hand sketching of the scene through imaging based on photo-chemistry of silver compounds to the present-day electronic imaging. Electronic image capture, manipulation of images, and image transmission have become efficient and inexpensive allowing a wide adoption of the techniques outside of science; in areas such as entertainment, communication, education, or retail electronics – the cell phone. CCD and CMOS are the two most commonly used image sensors and they will be the focus of this webinar. The presentation begins with a general overview of the opto-electronic characteristics of image sensors. This is followed by a discussion of the structure, operation, and readout schemes of the two sensors. The webinar concludes with examples of applications where either CCD or CMOS would be a better choice of the image sensor.

 

Topics of presentation:

 

The purpose of this presentation is to provide guidance in this selection process by discussing the above considerations for the four most common point photodetectors:

  1. Become familiar with opto-electronic characteristics of image sensors
  2. Learn about the structure, operation, and types of a CCD and CMOS
  3. Learn about applications that would favor using either CCD or CMOS

About the presenter

Slawomir S. Piatek has been measuring proper motions of nearby galaxies using images obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope as a senior university lecturer of physics at New Jersey Institute of Technology. He has developed a photonics training program for engineers at Hamamatsu Corporation in New Jersey in the role of a science consultant. Also at Hamamatsu, he is involved in popularizing a SiPM as a novel photodetector by writing and lecturing about it, and by experimenting with the device. He earned a Ph.D. in Physics at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, in 1994.