Quantitative performance evaluation of a back‐illuminated sCMOS camera with 95% QE for super‐resolution localization microscopy

Scientific Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (sCMOS) cameras were introduced into the market in 2009 and are now becoming a major type of commercial cameras for low‐light imaging. sCMOS cameras provide simultaneously low read noise, high readout speed, and large pixel array; however, the relatively low quantum efficiency (QE) of sCMOS cameras has been a major limitation for its application in single molecule imaging, especially super‐resolution localization microscopy which requires high detection sensitivity. Here we report the imaging performance of a newly released back‐illuminated sCMOS camera (called Dhyana 95 from Tucsen) which is claimed to be the world's first 95% QE sCMOS camera. The imaging performance evaluation is based on a new methodology which is designed to provide paired images from two tested cameras under almost identical experimental conditions. We verified that this new 95% QE sCMOS camera is able to provide superior imaging performance over a representative front‐illuminated sCMOS camera (Hamamatsu Flash 4.0 V2) and a popular back‐illuminated EMCCD camera (Andor iXon 897 Ultra) in a wide signal range. We hope this study will inspire more studies on using sCMOS cameras in super‐resolution localization microscopy, or even single molecule imaging. © 2017 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry

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