January 30th 2020, Changchun, China – Gpixel announces PulSar (PS) technology, extending the capability of all GSENSE family BSI sensors to detect vacuum ultra violet (VUV) light, extreme ultra violet (EUV) light and soft x-ray photons with quantum efficiency approaching 100%. In addition, the technology demonstrates excellent resistance to radiation damage in soft x-ray detection applications.

Gpixel’s standard backside illuminated (BSI) scientific CMOS image sensors have a proven track record in applications requiring good quantum efficiency down to the Far UV (FUV) wavelengths (122-200nm)[1] [2] and for electrons with energy ranging from 1keV to 10keV [3], but the passivation layer on the surface of these sensors is strongly absorbing of shorter wavelength photons, limiting capabilities in the VUV, EUV and soft XRAY range as well as showing degradation over time in some use cases.

Gpixel’s new PulSar (PS) technology eliminates the anti-reflection coating on the BSI sensor surface, which greatly improves the sensitivity for VUV/EUV and soft x-ray light, and incorporates a new passivation technique to reduce the thickness of the non-sensitive layer at the sensor surface, reducing the dark current, and boosting the resistance to radiation damage. [4] This energy-resolving performance combined with CMOS imaging related high frame rate will facilitate new applications for soft X-ray and EUV experiments including soft XRAY microscopy and EUV lithography as well as enabling electron direct detection imaging.

Figure 1 PulSar GSENSE QE curve vs Photon energy (left). Histograms of single-event frequencies for photon-range of 92-1000 eV (right). The horizontal axis represents the digital number (DN) of single-event

“Gpixel is very proud to offer our new technology to address the needs of our scientific customers,” says Wim Wuyts, CCO of Gpixel. “We are excited to have the opportunity to make this technology available across our broad range of large format BSI image sensors, offering our customers the unique combination of VUV/EUV and soft x-ray imaging options using our standard scientific CMOS GSENSE product family. PulSar (PS) variants are electronically compatible with their corresponding standard BSI sensors, allowing customers to quickly and easily accommodate the new sensors in existing designs.”

Prototype samples of the GSENSE2020BSI-PS are available now for evaluation, and GSENSE400BSI-PS samples will be available in mid 2020. Other variants available upon request. To learn more and order a sample, please contact us at info@gpixel.com.

Ref:
[1] GSENSE400BSI datasheet
[2] GSENSE2020BSI datasheet
[3] Characterization of a back-illuminated CMOS Camera for soft x-ray coherent scattering, Kewin Desjardins
[4] High-exposure-durability, high-quantum-efficiency (>90%) backside-illuminated soft-X-ray CMOS sensor, Tetsuo Harada, Nobukazu Teranishi, Takeo Watanabe, Quan Zhou, Jan Bogaerts and Xinyang Wang Applied Physics Express, Volume 13, Number 1, 016502, 2020.