WATERLOO, ONTARIO — Dalsa announced expanded capabilities including backside illumination (BSI) in custom image sensors for aerospace applications in earth observation and remote sensing.

Key scientists and researchers around the world have used Dalsa multispectral, hyperspectral and high resolution panchromatic sensors to obtain the highest quality imaging data possible to guide important science and resource policies in government and industry. With successful delivery of specialized devices for applications including environmental assessment (land, water, pollution, agriculture), aerial mapping, and defense and security (reconnaissance and guidance), DALSA is ready to offer new capabilities to a wider audience.

Dalsa’s Multispectral sensors build on our rich history in linescan and TDI devices which provide maximum signal to noise ratios and sensitivity. New technologies in multispectral filters allow Dalsa to capture images from not only the traditional RGB visible color bands but also a number of near-infrared bands in a single highly compact and cost effective package. Our new custom back side thinning capability enables the highest quantum efficiency. Dalsa also has the ability to tailor the bands capture to the needs of the application and provide solutions on a cost effective and timely basis. As most multispectral sensors are deployed aboard satellites or airplanes, Dalsa has developed sophisticated techniques to allow these sensors to withstand the extreme harshness of these environments, including extreme vacuum and temperatures, over the multi year life of these products. Dalsa’s long experience with ultra-high resolution devices allows us to deliver multispectral line scan imagers with more than 12000 horizontal pixels in each band.

In addition to multispectral sensors, Dalsa offers hyperspectral sensors, typically 2-D area arrays sampling a higher number of even narrower bands. Dalsa is able to provide the highest resolutions, speed, and light collection efficiency required for this application. Our new custom back side thinning (BST) process enables the sensor to collect as much light as possible so that each wavelength can be assessed to measure trace quantities of compounds in the environment. With our uniquely broad technology portfolio, Dalsa is able to offer both CMOS and CCD technologies to the unique needs of hyperspectral customers.

In high resolution panchromatic remote sensing, customers demand the largest viewing areas, highest resolutions, and highest image quality possible. Using our own CCD fabrication process we have delivered high speed area (2-D) sensors with over 100 megapixels and active pixels covering areas 10cm by 10cm. Higher resolutions are possible, limited only by the size of the silicon wafer. When mounted in moving aircraft using a “push-broom” imaging approach, our line scan image sensors provide almost unlimited forward resolution with horizontal resolution up to 16000 pixels. In aerial imaging applications that require even higher frame rates, DALSA offers its newest technology CMOS with noise performance equivalent to CCDs.