Specialists in large area and multiple CCD systems

XCAM is the only company worldwide to offer a complete imaging sensor camera solution:

• • Selection of best sensor or specify custom sensor for manufacture

  • Mechanical, thermal, electronic, software design of camera system

  • Manufacture, test and characterisation of system

  • On-site commissioning, training and support

  • Technically challenging and complex CCD, L3CCD, SCD systems

  • Detector expertise and know-how

L3 CCD Systems

The XCAM very high speed, low noise L3 CCD system has the following key features:

• • Extremely high speed operation: CCD97 up to 15 MHz, and CCD201 up to 25 MHz High speed means faster frame rates for both full frame and when reading out sub arrays: for example the CCD 97 can readout 552 x 132 pixels at about 160 Hz without any binning

  • By using focal plane masks even faster frame rates are possible; eg 110 x 132 @ 800 Hz

  • Extremely Low Clock-induced Charge due to our Unique Analysis System Background equivalent number: 0.0005 electrons per pixel in a 50 ms exposure time cf 0.005 electrons per pixel in a 30 ms exposure time quoted by other manufacturers

  • Use with gains of up to 4000 or gain turned off for normal CCD operation

  • Optical Photon-Counting

  • Systems are individually optimised for specific CCD for best performance

  • Systems available cryogenically cooled for optical, or for vacuum operation for X-ray

XCAM specialises in custom systems; this high speed electronics can be built into a system to suit your experiment. For further details, please contact us for information specific to your application.

Non-imaging X-ray Spectroscopy with a Swept Charge Device

Swept Charge Devices (SCDs), such as e2v technologies CCD54 and C1XS devices with four CCD54 detectors in on one ceramic package (shown in the images below), offer a low cost, large area, fast read-out alternative to the CCD, for situations where spatial information is not required. These devices are designed to operate at temperatures that can be achieved using Peltier cooling, so that liquid nitrogen is not required, making them a good replacement for the Si(Li), PIN and SDD devices.

Some of the features of SCDs include:

• • Low cost

  • Efficient detection over the 0.5-10 keV band

  • Large area, up to 400 mm2

  • Typically ~5 electrons r.m.s. noise, giving 80 eV FWHM at 1 keV and 130 eV FWHM at 6 keV

  • Peak to background ratio of 4000:1 with collimation

  • Suitable replacement for Si(Li), PIN and SDD devices

  • Can be operated warm requiring no liquid Nitrogen for cooling

  • Fast read-out

Custom Solutions and Standard Products

XCAM has developed and built many challenging custom systems for science over the years; this has given us the opportunity to develop a series of standard components which can be used to enable the customer to build a custom system from a series of standard elements, or we can use our accumulated know-how and expertise to develop a custom system specifically for your application.

Our specific expertise is in:

• • Chip selection and relationships with detector manufacturers

  • Electronics design

  • Camera system integration

  • CCDs in camera heads customised to suit your space envelope, vacuum interface or other specific requirements

  • Optimisation of performance

  • Novel readout/sampling strategies

  • Large area and multiple CCD focal plane arrays

  • Systems with custom CCDs, large area CCDs, scintillator-coupled CCDs

  • Detector test and characterisation work, including QE calibration to national standards

  • Detector consultancy

We have built cameras primarily using e2v technologies CCDs, but have also used Atmel (formerly Thompson and now part of e2v technologies) and Kodak CCDs. We are happy to offer systems constructed around any manufacturer’s CCDs.

Some examples of custom XCAM CCD camera systems and their applications are presented below, along with some information about other custom headboards and CCD packaging designs we have produced. For additional information, please contact us for a detailed discussion of your requirements.