Evaluation of Microlenses, Color Filters, and Polarizing Filters in CIS for Space Applications
Author:
Durnez Clémentine1ORCID, Virmontois Cédric1, Panuel Pierre1, Antonsanti Aubin12, Goiffon Vincent2, Estribeau Magali2, Saint-Pé Olivier3, Lalucaa Valérian1, Berdin Erick3, Larnaudie Franck3, Belloir Jean-Marc1, Codreanu Catalin1, Chavanne Ludovic1
Affiliation:
1. Centre National D’Etudes Spatiales (CNES), 18 Avenue Edouard Belin, 31400 Toulouse, France 2. Department of Electronics, Optronics and Signal Processing (DEOS), Institut Supérieur de l’Aéronautique et de l’Espace (ISAE-SUPAERO), 10 Avenue Edouard Belin, 31400 Toulouse, France 3. Airbus Defence and Space, 31 Rue des Cosmonautes, 31400 Toulouse, France
Abstract
For the last two decades, the CNES optoelectronics detection department and partners have evaluated space environment effects on a large panel of CMOS image sensors (CIS) from a wide range of commercial foundries and device providers. Many environmental tests have been realized in order to provide insights into detection chain degradation in modern CIS for space applications. CIS technology has drastically improved in the last decade, reaching very high performances in terms of quantum efficiency (QE) and spectral selectivity. These improvements are obtained thanks to the introduction of various components in the pixel optical stack, such as microlenses, color filters, and polarizing filters. However, since these parts have been developed only for commercial applications suitable for on-ground environment, it is crucial to evaluate if these technologies can handle space environments for future space imaging missions. There are few results on that robustness in the literature. The objective of this article is to give an overview of CNES and partner experiments from numerous works, showing that the performance gain from the optical stack is greater than the degradation induced by the space environment. Consequently, optical stacks can be used for space missions because they are not the main contributor to the degradation in the detection chain.
Subject
Electrical and Electronic Engineering,Biochemistry,Instrumentation,Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics,Analytical Chemistry
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