10-09 :: September 2010

nanotimes News in Brief

CEA-Leti said that a prototype of the new-genera- tion scalar magnetometer, which it designed and developed in partnership with CNES, has passed the qualification step en route to being deployed in the SWARM space mission.

SWARM, a project of the European Space Agency, is scheduled for launch in 2011 or 2012. The mission’s objective is to provide the best-ever sur- vey of the Earth’s magnetic field and its temporal evolution, and gain new insights that will improve scientists’ understanding of the Earth’s interior and climate.

The new absolute scalar magnetometers (ASM) are designed to overcome the limits of the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) magnetometers, the first magnetometers designed to be placed in orbit. Those instruments, which were used in the Oersted mission launched in 1999 and the CHAMP mission launched in 2000, also were developed by Leti in partnership with CNES.

Furthermore, CEA-Leti and CMP (Circuits Multi Projets®

) announced during the FDSOI Workshop

at Tokyo University the launch of an Exploratory MPW (Multi Project Wafers) initiative based on FDSOI (Fully Depleted SOI) 20nm process, opening the access of its 300mm infrastructure to the design community. This MPW offer is partly supported by EUROSOI+ network that gathers the main Europe- an academic partners on SOI. http://www.leti.fr

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The Fraunhofer Institute for Microelectronic Cir- cuits and Systems IMS in Duisburg has developed a CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconduc- tor) image sensor for an industrial customer which can withstand temperatures ranging from -40 to +115° Celsius (-40° F to 239° F). The CCD (char- ged coupled device) image sensors available up to now fail when the temperature goes beyond about 60 degrees. “Our chip is not only heat-resistant, it even functions at arctic temperatures,” says Werner Brockherde, head of department at the IMS.

The research scientists have succeeded in develo- ping pixels which exhibit an extremely low dark current. This reduction of residual current, which flows in complete darkness, makes it possible to capture very high-quality images even in extreme heat. “It was not easy to achieve a low dark current. An increase in temperature of just eight degrees doubles the dark current, resulting in image noise and reduced dynamics. Ghosting occurs in the form of artifacts or fuzziness and degrades the image,” explains Brockherde. A further special feature of the sensor is its image size of 2.5 x 2.5 centimeters. This offers the advantage that for special applications with weak illumination or for capturing images in the infrared or UV range the sensor can be con- nected directly to an electronic image intensifier. The sensor has a resolution of 256 x 256 pixels. Its high dynamic range or exposure latitude of 90 decibels provides increased contrast and optimized detail accuracy both in shadow as well as in very bright areas. Nuances of light are precisely repro- duced. Thanks to its efficient light absorption, the image sensor reacts with high sensitivity even in weak light conditions. It is therefore also suitable for night vision equipment.