Scientific Imaging Technologies, Inc.

Scientific Imaging Technologies, Inc., (SITe) is a world leader in the research, design, development and manufacture of silicon charged-couple devices (CCDs). CCDs are the key components in digital imaging systems, replacing vacuum tube-based imagers and film used in conventional cameras. Combined with a lens system, a cooling method and operating electronics, these highly sensitive microchips produce high-resolution images by turning light into a stream of electronic signals, which can be recorded and displayed on a computer monitor or television screen.

Originally founded in 1974 as the CCD Group of Tektronix, Inc., SITe was incorporated in 1993. The company supplies science and industry with integrated digital imaging solutions that deliver the highest quantum efficiency, sensitivity, contrast range and resolution available. SITe CCDs can operate with a dynamic range of 100dB and are sufficiently sensitive to detect fewer than 10 photons. From headquarters in Tigard, Oregon, SITe engineering and manufacturing teams have designed and built imagers that play a key role in many scientific and medical inventions. The company's scientific-grade CCDs are used in astronomy, aerospace, medical, spectroscopy and other imaging research applications. Commercial applications include biomedical imaging, manufacturing quality control, environmental monitoring and nondestructive testing.

SITe provides both standard and custom-designed CCD imaging components and modules to customers worldwide. Standard products range from a 512 x 512-pixel format for small-area imaging to a 2048 x 4096 pixel, three-edge buttable imager for large-scale applications. Device formats are available as front-illuminated or thinned, back-illuminated CCDs. In September 1999, the company completed construction of a new 2,600 square foot Class 100 clean room for packaging and testing of imaging sensors. Currently, the 36,000 square foot Tigard manufacturing facility is being expanded to include a Class 10 clean room environment capable of thinning four- and six-inch and larger wafers. The project is due for completion by August 2000.

SITe's technical capabilities have taken the company to the forefront in several niches of the solid-state imager market, particularly those involving radiation environments and space flight conditions where high quantum efficiency and high resolution are crucial. Quantum efficiency (QE) measures the percentage of incident photons a CCD can detect - some photons may not be absorbed due to reflection or other type of loss.

SITe's CCD technology incorporates a proprietary, patented process for thinning and strengthening the substrate to accommodate back-lighting of the pixels, a process which yields devices with very high quantum efficiencies over a wide range of wavelengths from near infrared to ultraviolet. When configured with an anti-reflective (AR) coating, a thinned, back-illuminated SITe CCD can deliver QE in excess of 90%.

SITe focuses on the design and manufacture of scientific grade CCD imaging components and modules, providing both standard designs and custom CCDs for user-defined performance specifications. SITe also offers CCD fabrication services for customers with specialized imager designs.