New-Generation CCD/EMCCD Technology: A Primer On eXcelon™ Technology

By Princeton Instruments Inc.

Since their invention in 1969, charge-coupled devices (CCDs) have been used to detect the faint light from items as nearby as cells under a microscope to those as far away as stellar objects at the edge of the known universe. Over the past four decades, low-light CCD cameras have facilitated some of the biggest breakthroughs in both the life sciences and the physical sciences. Salient features that have contributed to the remarkable track record of these detectors include greater than 90% peak quantum efficiency (QE), very low read noise of 2 e- rms or less, 100% fill factor, and excellent charge-transfer efficiency.

About ten years ago, a variant of CCDs known as electron-multiplying CCDs (EMCCDs) was developed. In addition to the features noted above, EMCCDs are able to achieve sub-electron read noise at high frame rates, allowing single-photon detection. Thus, CCD and EMCCD cameras are commonly the instruments of choice for scientific applications ranging from steady-state astronomical imaging to dynamic single-molecule imaging, and from widefield imaging to spectroscopy.