Imaging Performance Analysis & Comparison between A High Sensitivity Low level light CMOS Detector and An EMCCD

The Low level light sensor has evolved from early ICCD device to EMCCD that appeared at the beginning of this century. With the continuous progress of CMOS technology, the scientific CMOS sensors were developed, which have been used for industrial cameras in high sensitivity imaging. This article described a low level light CMOS detector and its associated camera, which were developed by Beijing Institute of Space Mechanics and Electricity (BISME) in cooperation with a domestic detector manufacturer. We had an in-depth discussion of the chip's high sensitivity design techniques and analyze the weak charge transfer optimization mechanism. Then both the CMOS and EMCCD detector were combined with lens and video processing circuits to conduct a laboratorial test, finally low light detection performance of them were compared and analyzed. The SNR of CMOS imaging circuits was basically equal to the EMCCD imaging circuits when the camera's entrance pupil radiance was less than 0.5E-05 W/m(2)/sr, when the radiance was up to 2E-05 W/m(2)/sr, the SNR of CMOS circuits was about 2dB better than the EMCCD circuits.