Photonfocus AG, the world-leading Swiss company that designs, develops and manufactures high performance CMOS sensors and CMOS cameras, is pleased to announce the release of its new Hurricane-, Thunder- and Blizzard CMOS camera- series.

The following article focuses on specific features of the CMOS camera technology and presents an application note that explains the most important camera specifications relative to the market needs:

Requirements for High-End PCB and Wafer Inspection Systems

3-D scanning systems include laser line projectors that rely on CMOS camera technology to produce 3D-image profiles. The camera is positioned at a fixed angle on a moving horizontal rail and a rotating stage on which the objects are placed. This setup allows the total system to scan the multiple sides of an object. The laser line scans across the objects, and the CMOS camera captures changes in the line’s shape. Image-processing software running on a PC converts the distortions in the laser line to 3-D coordinates through triangulation algorithms that use the known positions of the laser line projector and the CMOS camera relative to the object under inspection. High-speed interfaces with up to 150 Mbytes of bandwidth and dualprocessor PCs boost the system's throughput. The 3-D scanner moves the laser line in very small steps in 10 s of μm. This results in a tremendous amount of data that can slow down the system when using a megapixel CMOS camera in full resolution. By windowing the camera to the same size as the laser line, it can reduce the data set for analysis and improve the system's throughput. Windowing is a substantial feature of the CMOS cameras that’s been refined in Photonfocus’ cameras.

High dynamic range is essential for various applications – this however becomes distinctive in laser welding. As high and low light level pores, seams, and/or cracks are to be captured and distinguished with high contrast, a linear detector can saturate and resolving the signal for image analysis may prove unfeasible. Photonfocus’ LinLog technology resolves this – at high intensities, the linear function of the sensor can be logarithmically compressed and oversaturated image portion can be made visible – the linear function maintains, however, at low light level.

The Importance of High-speed Imaging

Combining high speed, high definition CMOS cameras and low power consumption, machine vision has taken a crucial part of production processes in many industries. Machine vision is used for defect and non-conformance detection in the manufacturing of silicon wafer and mask, PCB, optical media, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and many other industries – defects that include chrome extensions, spots and bridging between the mask patterns, as well as unwanted clear area extensions, pin holes or breaks are to be detected, visualised and sorted out relative to a specified recipe prepared for specific applications. Images are acquired and data propagated at up to 150 MB/sec, the equivalent of over 150 images with 1024 x 1024 pixel per second. CMOS cameras can handle this in a convenient manner.

In today’s intensely competitive marketplace, quality has become a key indicator of a company’s long-term success. Photonfocus has launched its new one tap camera generation to satisfy the demanding market requirements with regard to the quality and pricing.

State-of-the-art CMOS Cameras

The camera series incorporate the state of- the-art 5T-CMOS-sensor technology that provides on-pixel amplification, onchip A/D-conversion (Blizzard-60 only), anti-blooming, global shuttering with no smear and image lag. Multiwindowing capability (16 ROIs) is selectable to increase the frame rate up to 25kfps @ 1024 x 1 pixels. Photonfocus’ patented LinLog technology and skimming proprietary offer an excellent dynamic range of 120 dB to deliver unprecedented image contrast at high and low light levels, resolvable at a depth of 12 bits. The mechanical design is robust and built with finetuneable back-focal length for C-/ CS-mount-lenses.

Photonfocus AG has implemented a unique on-board algorithm for image correction – it compensates for Shading (Fixed Pattern Noise) and Hot Pixels. The result is a superior image quality without speed limitation and time delay that may reveal a challenging task with conventional image post-processing software methods.

Exposure control has been devised, so that it can be triggered externally via the I/OTable power connector and CameraLink. All types are configured with a USB2.0- or CameraLink- interface.

The ease-to-use PFRemote software exhibits a GUI to adjust for the exposure time, frame rate, region of interest, bit-depth, gain, trigger, LUT, LinLog, etc. As the USB2.0 configuration doesn’t require a physical frame grabber, the image capture functionalities have been packaged within the MicroDisplay Software that is shipped with the camera. Upon availability of the supportive chipset (ICH4, ICH5 or ICH6) on the PC motherboard, isochronous data transfer for periodic and continuous communication can be utilised at a transmission rate of 48 MB/s.

Blizzard depicts with its 2/3” sensor size a compact structure based on a one single board design. This allows shrinking the mechanical size down to 55 x 55 x 24 mm3. Table 1 illustrates the major specifications for the three new cameras:

The advantages couldn’t be more obvious. The Hurricane, Thunder and Blizzard give the ability to meet the sophisticated market requirements for high performance image acquisition, high speed, reliability, low power, miniaturisation and pricing. The camera deployment is diverse and covers an expanded field of applications, ranging from machine vision to PCB and 3D-inspection, laser welding, surveillance, etc.

Contact: Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Maher Zein Sales Manager Cameras Photonfocus AG Tel. +41 55 451 00 02 zein@photonfocus.com www.photonfocus.com