New High-Resolution, SWIR Sensor with High Performance
NIT (New Imaging Technologies) introduces its latest innovation in SWIR imaging technology: a high-resolution Short-Wave Infrared (SWIR) InGaAs sensor designed for the most demanding challenges in the field.
Overview
The new SWIR sensor – NSC2101 boasts remarkable features, including a high-performance InGaAs sensor with an 8µm pixel pitch, delivering an impressive 2MPIX resolution at 1920x1080px. Its ultra-low noise of only 25e- ensures exceptional image clarity, even in challenging environments. Additionally, with a dynamic range of 64dB, the sensor captures a wide spectrum of light intensities with precision and accuracy.
• 0.9µm to 1.7µm spectrum
• 2MPix – 1920x1080px @8µm pixel pitch
• 25e- readout noise
• 64dB dynamic range
This cutting-edge sensor is designed and manufactured by NIT in France and promises unparalleled performance and reliability. Leveraging advanced technology and expertise, NIT has crafted a sensor that meets the rigorous standards of ISR applications, offering crucial insights and intelligence in various scenarios.
Image examples
Applications
The applications of this SWIR sensor are vast and
diverse, catering to the needs of defense, security, and surveillance
industries. The sensor’s capabilities are indispensable for enhancing
situational awareness and decision-making, from monitoring border
security to providing critical intelligence in tactical operations.
Extension
Moreover,
NIT’s commitment to innovation extends beyond the sensor itself. The
camera version, integrating the NSC2101 sensor, will be released soon,
this summer
Any ideas about prices?
ReplyDeleteITAR here I come...
ReplyDeleteITAR does not apply as it is designed and produced in France. It is categorized as dual use product from the EU authorities.
ReplyDeletePierre POTET
how compared to Sony IMX992?
ReplyDeleteread out noise of NIT NSC2101 is <25e- while Sony IMX992 is >100e-
ReplyDeleteAnd, besides which, the question is whether the country of where the product is located is a signatory to the Wassenaar Arrangement. ITAR applies only when the location is the USA. Non-ITAR merely means the product is not on the US munitions list. Export licenses are generally still required for international shipment because almost all thermal infrared products are on the control lists.
ReplyDeleteI learnt recently that China produces viable infrared imaging products and they can export them without any export control. In case what is useness of Western export control? What kind of sensors used by russians?
DeleteA person who has worked a long time in arms control explained it to me this way: After WWII, there was serious concern about export of technologies developed in the US that could be used for military operations so experts in the field were asked to help define an export control list. The experts did this until the bureaucracy developed and then maintenance of the list was assumed by non-experts. As a result, the list has slowly degraded in tracking the technologies and their availability through uncontrolled sources. The list has become increasingly disconnected from reality.
DeleteReading the list reveals towers of double and triple negatives that are incremental attempts to keep the list up to date which make the list now nearly unreadable.
Certainly Category 6 should be rewritten from scratch by experts to capture new technologies that are critical and to clear out older restrictions that really no longer control anything.
just a 'interested layperson' question: often when there is some swir sensor announcement, there are comments here about dual use (so potential weapon use), export restrictions etc. What military usecases are there for swir cameras? What technical/application reason is behind this export restrictions or what makes imaging in 12/1500nm range so attractive for military use? I understand some of the material properties you can utilize with this cameras, like water gets intransparent or different appearance of different plastics. But for what do they use swir imaging in military?
ReplyDeleteExamples are decamouflage, "covert" illumination, detection of laser range finders, laser optics detection, laser target designators etc.
DeleteLong range observation through fog
ReplyDeleteLong range observation through fog and obscurant like smoke. Decamouflage also. And detection of laser batteflied 1064 and 1055 nm
ReplyDeleteWhy the SWIR sensors have such high readout noise (dozens of e-)? Is it because InGaAs photodiode has a intrinsic low conversion gain?
ReplyDeleteThere are several reasons, but one obvious one is the fact that the SWIR sensors operate as 3T pixel sensors, while the imager you have in your pocket is based on a 4T pixel architecture. The latter allows correlated-double sampling (CDS), a 3T does not. With CDS your can remove the kTC noise, source-follower offset and the majority of the 1/f noise.
DeleteDo you want to know more about this theory, check out the trainings offered by Harvest Imaging at www.harvestimaging.com
what is the technical reason for this (i mean for using 3T in a SWIR sensor)?
DeleteA 4T pixel needs a fully depleted photodiode (=pinned photodiode) to make the photodiode kTC noise free. When using a photodiode (made of another material) on top of a Si-ROIC, a pinned photodiode is not easy to fabricate, not to say impossible. IMEC is trying something alike with a photogate in combination with quantum dots, first experiments are promising, but I haven't seen any products yet.
DeleteEven if the use of CDS is more natural for 4T pixel, 3T (aka SFD) pixel architecture does not exclude the use of noise reduction techniques (including CDS), as routinely applied by astronomers operating SFD ROICs to reach read out noise of few e- rms. 3T architecture mainly suffers from the absence of dissociation between the integration and the conversion nodes, both being formed by the photodiode capacitance. I guess this is one of the rationale currently pushing Sony to reduce the pitch of their InGaAs photodiodes, in addition to cost/yield reason...
ReplyDeleteThat said, most ROICs used for reading InGaAs photodiode arrays (inlcuding NIT ones I guess) are based on CTIA pixel architecture, whose reading noise is hardly less than 20 e- rms (single readout at 300 K) even in CDS mode coupled with a very low (few fF) integration capacitance.
For SWIR detection technologies, It will therefore be an essential technical advantage to be compatible with 4T pixels architecture, particularly for night vision applications, which will benefit from the high brightness of the atmospheric night glow in the SWIR range.
This key difference between CDS in a 4T pixel and a CTIA pixel is that the double sampling time interval in 4T pixel is barely microsecond, but in CTIA pixel, this interval is the exposure time. So the CDS is far less efficient than that in 4T pixel. All the readout noise in datasheet is measured with very short exposure which is not OK for low light imaging. When you use 20ms or 40ms for night vision, in this case the readout noise is much higher and also you suffer from dark current noise too.
DeleteA modern low light CMOS is much more efficient and more economic for night observation.