INSPECT: Dr. Chamberlain, at Dalsa you've always put great emphasis on innovation. Looking back, what do you perceive as the most important innovations you brought to the market?
S. Chamberlain: Looking back I see two significant early innovations which Dalsa brought into the market and put the company on the path to success. These are the high speed CCD image sensor line scan and the Time-Delay-and-Integration (TDI) CCD Image sensor.
High speed CCD line scan: The basic fundamental charge transfer theory for small geometry CCDs, which I developed with my graduate students in the 1970's and published in refereed scientific papers and text books, I transferred along with the know-how to Dalsa, and it was applied to produce the first CCD high speed line scan silicon imagers. These imagers could operate at 50 MHz while at that time the state of the art was 2-5 MHz maximum. The industry loved these devices. We became, and we still are, international leaders in this area. We now have CCD image sensors with an effective output pixel rate of more than 2.5 GHz.
Time-Delay-and-Integration (TDI) CCD Image sensor: With the CCD line scan image sensor, there are certain significant trade-offs. The customers need more speed, higher pixel count, higher spatial resolution and higher responsivity. All these requirements go against each other. The solution is the TDI. The TDI principle was invented during the Second World War and applied to improve the signal to noise ratio in radar detection of enemy aircraft. Quickly the principle works like this. During an integration time the signal is summed many times. By doing this, the signal strength increases proportionally with the summation number, but the noise increases with the square root of the summation number. Thus the signal to noise ratio improves with the summation. We applied this principle to realize an advanced line scan CCD image sensor. We used a CCD frame transfer architecture, and time delay and integration stages anywhere from 32 to 1024. Thus the signal was summed 32 times or 1024 times. By doing this we are able to provide high speed, high photosensitivity and high spatial resolution.
We started developing this technology at Dalsa in the early 1980's. In the research laboratory we could produce few devices at a time working very well but we had difficulty getting these devices to be predictable and repeatable. After about five years pursuing the development of these TDI devices in the Dalsa research laboratory, Brian Doody and I were asking ourselves whether it was time to recognize defeat and just give up. We decided at that time to give it more time and continue on the development. We successfully applied three dimensional computer device simulations and process fabrication simulations, and after seven years we were able to produce these TDI image sensors, predictably and with repeatable specifications. I am proud that I was the first to recognize the significance of the TDI technique and its application to high speed CCD TDI image sensors. I am also proud that Dalsa was the first to succeed in commercializing this technology.

Following this strategy into the future, what are the challenges lying ahead requiring the next innovations in imaging technology?
S. Chamberlain: I shall do a Greek dance before I come to the point of your question.
As the cost of computing is becoming cheaper and cheaper, the customers are able to handle higher and higher output pixel rate, are able to handle higher and higher pixel count, and of course, at the same time, they keep demanding that the spatial resolution and high photosensitivity is not sacrificed. Further to that, the customer wants the imager to be programmable and be adapted dynamically (on the fly) as the operating object and environmental conditions change. At the same time the customer does not want to pay more than what he pays now. So for us at Dalsa the challenge is to offer the customer improved performance without asking him to pay more, and at the same time we need to keep our gross margins to our present level. It is a difficult task, but we are confident that we can meet this challenge. Dalsa is well positioned to succeed. We have the scientific capital, more than 30 PhD's and more than 80 Masters in our research laboratories; we have our own CCD sensor fabrication. We also have MEMS (micro electromechanical systems) technology which can be utilized in digital cameras. Dalsa will continue its strategy to offer technology innovation as a competitive resource.

Today we see a lot of camera manufacturers active in machine vision. Do you expect a consolidation here during the next five years?
S. Chamberlain: As the customers demand more and more sophisticated digital cameras, the associated technology of the digital camera, the sensor, digital hardware and the software, are all becoming more and more complex. To keep up with this, as a business, you need a certain critical mass in many and different areas. Smaller companies will not be able to keep up with this. I expect a lot of consolidation will happen during the next three to five years.

You've just recently announced a transition into a non-executive role. Does that mean you will have more time for hiking and books?
S. Chamberlain: I feel that there is time for everything. I am running out of time. Over the years at Dalsa I managed to surround myself with smart employees and smart executives. These executives are young, they have a lot of energy, they understand the technology, and they understand the markets and the customers. I am confident that our CEO Brian Doody can run Dalsa very successfully. I am not going away, as Chairman of the board I will still be involved at the board level.
I look forward to spending more time and travel with my wife, spend more time with my children and grandchildren, spend more time with my friends, listen to my music selections, look after my gardens, enjoy time on Lake Huron, enjoy nature, walking, hiking, concerts, opera theatre, as well as do some reading and writing.
Dr. Chamberlain, we thank you for this interview and wish you all the best for the future.