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Phantom
TMX series by Vision Research creates new generation of high-speed cameras
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Phantom
TMX launches new era of FAST backside illumination
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With increased speeds
comes the need for increased light. The backside illuminated sensor
found in the Phantom TMX cameras address this issue by locating
the metal parts of a traditional sensor that interfere with incident
light to the photodiode to the back of the sensor. Backside illumination
also provides increased processing efficiency, which allows cameras
to maintain their high throughput levels even as frame rates increase.
The TMX cameras also
offer a FAST mode for increased frame rates. By expanding on its
internationally recognised range of Phantom cameras
with the TMX camera series Vision Research deliver groundbreaking
ultra highspeed imaging. Designed with a backside illuminated
custom CMOS sensor the TMX series produce clear, high quality
images at speeds not previously possible.
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Backside Illuminated Sensors (BSI) have been available for over
10-years in mobile phones and specialist digital cameras. BSI
provides advantages when it comes to improving low light performance
and dynamic range but have been difficult to design for high speed
sensors because of the larger pixel size required in a high speed
sensor. With Vision Research's capability to design and fabricate
their own sensors they have broken new ground with the sensors
in the TMX series.
High speed sensors need to work with very short exposure times
and so light sensitivity is a critical factor in their design.
High speed sensors are designed with large pixels to improve sensitivity
however this in-turn makes the sensors larger and so difficult
to manufacture as backside illuminated sensors. Backside Illuminated
Sensors require additional manufacturing steps. Among them is
a wafer backthinning step to remove the bulk silicon, bringing
the photodiodes closer to the light source. There are also additional
processing steps on the backside of the wafer to anneal the surface
and provide electrical contacts to the front side. When thinning
the backside of a large sensor there is a much greater probability
of defects which creates a low-yield and so many sensors are discarded.
Vision Research have been able to achieve a commercially viable
yield with their new techniques and this has resulted in these
mind-blowingly fast TMX cameras.
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The BSI sensor on the Phantom
TMX cameras deliver great advantages:
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Speed
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The Phantom TMX 7510 is the world's first high-speed
camera that utilizes a back-side illuminated sensor. This sensor
delivers over 75,000 fps at full 1 Mpx resolution. The Phantom TMX
6410 is able to deliver Phantom quality images at nearly 66,000
fps at full 1 Mpx resolution. Historically, the resolutions associated
with high speed cameras when running at hundreds of thousands of
FPS were too low for nearly all scientific uses. The TMX 7510 with
FAST option can run at 1,750,000 fps at 1280 x 32 pixels which is
a usable resolution in a wide range of applications.
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Exposure Times
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The new sensor supports minimum exposure times
as short as 95 ns with Export Controlled FAST option, making it
the fastest in its class by far. The fast exposure times make it
possible to capture ever-faster events without motion blur, which
can be a limiting factor in obtaining high-quality images in applications
as wide ranging as cytometry and combustion analysis.
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Pixel size
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To work in light-starved conditions, high-speed
cameras have historically used very large pixel sizes as a means
to catch as many photons as possible. Our existing Front Side Illuminated
(FSI) ultra high speed sensors, for example, have a pixel size of
28 x 28 µm with an area of 784 µm2. The new BSI high-speed
image sensor has an 18.5 x 18.5 µm pixel, but its proficiency
at capturing light makes it as sensitive as earlier FSI sensors
at three times the speed. Smaller pixels also improve sampling frequency
(Nyquist), allowing the sensor to resolve higher lp/mm spatial frequencies
before aliasing. This capability enhances the imaging systems
performance in flow cytometry, particle image velocimetry (PIV),
digital image correlation (DIC) and other high speed applications
limited by the resolving power of the sensor.
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Solving
analog-to-digital conversion challenges.
Embedding analog-to-digital converters (ADC) on CMOS image
sensors is standard practice, but the BSI sensors speed
requires a massive increase in the amount of analog to digital
conversion.
While modern CMOS image sensors typically have
between 1,000 and 10,000 embedded ADC's, the new BSI high-speed
sensor has 40,000 ADC, each converting every 523 ns and generating
a large amount of data to off-load from the sensor. To accomplish
this task, it incorporates 160 high-speed serial outputs operating
at greater than 5 Gbps. This technology is common on CPUs
and FPGAs but new on a high-speed imaging sensor.
The density of ADC on the new sensor did create power management
and electrical crosstalk challenges, which were solved with
the help of our design and integrated production partner,
Forza Silicon. While simulations are often used in predicting
sensor performance, this sensor required the simulation to
calculate for weeks to provide a prediction. Forza has significant
experience in simplifying simulations and analyzing actual
versus predicted results for fast design modifications. In
the case of the BSI sensor, testing of early designs revealed
a higher level of ADC crosstalk than our simulation models
had predicted in both normal imaging and binning modes, causing
noticeable artefacts in the images.
Forza engineers discovered that the crosstalk
exhibited predictable patterns and developed modeling techniques
that helped us eliminate the crosstalk altogether, which in
turn mitigated imaging artefacts.
The sensor supports 2 x 2 binning to maximize throughput at
faster speeds. Though not common in high-speed sensors, Vision
Research implement binning in two previous cameras. It helps
mitigate limitations of the sensors column ADC architecture,
enabling faster speeds than simply decreasing the y-dimension.
This approach is subtly different than binning as applied
in CCD cameras, where its used to primarily boost sensitivity.
In this case, were using it to boost speed.
BSI Difference
BSI is not a new technology, and it has been used with great
success in standard and cellphone cameras. By adapting it
to high-speed imaging, weve been able to create a sensor
that pushes the boundaries on speed in light-starved conditions.
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Key Features
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Designed for high
speed applications:
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- 2 performance models
offer extreme high frame rates at larger resolutions, up to
1.75 million fps at 1280 x 32 and 640 x 64
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- Real data for real
results: frame rates are actual with no interpolation. 2 x
2 Binning Mode provides double the vertical resolution at
high frame rates for added flexibility
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- Very high native light
sensitivity, made possible by backside illuminated CMOS sensor
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Focus on data management:
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- Record multiple experiments with up to 512
GB of memory that can be portioned up to 511 times
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- 10 Gb Ethernet is standard for the fastest
data download directly from the camera's RAM buffer
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- Use the Phantom CineMag V for up to 8TB
of non-volatile memory and fast image transfer
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Applications
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Ballistics
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Due to the TMX's light sensitivity and incredibly
high frame rates, it makes it perfectly suited to ballistics e.g
gunshot analysis or explosives etc.
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Digital Image Correlation (DIC)
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Digital Image Correlation is a non-contact method
of observing how an object is affected by impact and vibration.
It can also be used to create 3D imaging of the object to help researchers
take exact measurements.
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Combustion
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Combustion applications often have unique difficulties
that need to be overcome. Aside from being exceptionally fast events
they often have lighting issues as they quickly fluctuate between
being very dark and very bright. Phantom cameras have features that
aid researchers in dealing with these issues.
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Droplet Analysis / PIV
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Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) or droplet analysis,
is a research method that allows scientists to observe the flow
of air, water, and other invisible elements. Phantom cameras are
equipped with high-resolution sensors to make particle tracking
simple.
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Quick Specifications
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TMX 7510
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TMX 6410
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FPS at max res
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76,000 fps
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65,940 fps
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Maximum FPS
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722,050
(standard), 1,750,000 with FAST option |
758,330
(standard), 1,516,660 with FAST option |
Pixel Size/Binned Pixel Size
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18.5 µm/37
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Maximum Resolution
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1280 x 800 |
Sensor Type
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CMOS, Backside
Illuminated (BSI) |
Sensor Size
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23.7 mm
x 14.8 mm |
Need a price or more
application information? Please
email Adept Turnkey or call our offices
Adept Turnkey Pty Ltd are "The Machine
Vision and Imaging Specialists" and distributor of Vision Research
products in Australia and New Zealand. To find out more about any
Vision Research product, please call Adept Turnkey at Perth (08)
9242 5411 / Sydney (02) 9905 5551 / Melbourne (03) 9384 1775 or
contact us online.
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