SiOnyx Says Black Silicon Sensors with 2e Read Noise Possible

SiOnyx technology features in Laser Focus World article on black silicon advances by James E. Carey, principal scientist and co-founder and Martin U. Pralle is VP of business development at SiOnyx. Few quotes:

"A combination of ultralow noise image sensor design and our proprietary black silicon NIR enhanced sensing technology enables broad-spectral-response sensors operating from 400 to 1200 nm with approximately 2 e- of read noise within a monolithic CMOS solution. Extended quantum efficiency (trademarked XQE) SiOnyx sensors deliver increased IR quantum efficiency to enable as much as a 10X improvement (for wavelengths greater than 1000 nm) compared to incumbent CMOS solutions."

"The optimized, proprietary ultrafast laser process does not cause an increase in dark current, read noise, or lag as compared with that of standard process control devices. This ability to significantly boost quantum efficiency (QE) while not degrading any other device parameters is a critical achievement."

A scene is captured with a SiOnyx camera in starry moonless
night (note the clear star field in the sky) at 30 frames/s,
showing a 1064 nm laser designator on target.