en.Wedoany.com Reported - Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation announced the upcoming release, mass production, and shipment of the IMX711, a direct conversion charge integration type X-ray CMOS image sensor.
This sensor can directly detect X-rays and output signals proportional to energy, making it suitable for inspection and measurement instruments. Leveraging Sony's proprietary circuit technology, the IMX711 achieves the industry's highest maximum frame rate of 26,100 fps (based on the image sensor effective pixel specification method) among charge integration type X-ray CMOS image sensors, while ensuring accurate measurement by suppressing charge saturation. Its significantly reduced noise improves signal detection accuracy under low-flux conditions and aids in detecting differences in photon energy. This new product enables both high-precision measurement of integrated X-ray energy over a wide dynamic range and acquisition of photon-level energy information on a single sensor—something difficult for conventional sensors—and is expected to advance X-ray inspection and measurement technologies in fields ranging from cutting-edge device inspection to scientific measurement.
By reducing the accumulated charge per frame, the product improves saturation characteristics compared to conventional sensors. Additionally, random noise is reduced to 34 e-rms (calculated based on the average pixel value within the sensor's effective area; functional guarantee value is 60 e-rms at ambient temperatures of 20°C or below), ensuring that weak X-ray signals are not overwhelmed by noise. This improves measurement accuracy under low-flux conditions, enabling photon-level detection. These characteristics allow the sensor to accurately measure integrated X-ray energy across all pixels, from low-flux to high-flux conditions, supporting inspections and measurements with significant brightness differences on a single sensor, thereby helping to improve device throughput and expand the dynamic range.
The IMX711 employs a charge integration method, enabling the acquisition of photon energy information without the need to preset thresholds. Noise and signal variations during readout are suppressed, achieving high energy resolution that clearly identifies differences in photon energy. This characteristic helps simplify and enhance the precision of advanced inspections and measurements, such as detecting elemental-level composition differences, and performing structural and material analyses to quantitatively evaluate minute state changes—applications that previously required multiple measurements. Furthermore, the sensor supports post-processing under various conditions, such as collecting measurement data from all pixels, combining it with spatial information, and extracting specific energy data, thereby enabling versatile inspection and measurement.
The IMX711 was developed in collaboration between Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation and RIKEN. Based on a pixel structure invented by Dr. Takaki Hatsui, both parties jointly conducted practical technology development, including improving sensitivity, achieving high resistance to X-ray irradiation, and high voltage tolerance. Sony developed the circuit technology, manufacturing process, and packaging technology to enable mass production.
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