CMOS image sensor characterization experimental setup

We demonstrate a very simple experimental setup that allows our students to study and fully characterize an industrial CMOS Image Sensor. In 2014, 95% of produced cameras are CMOS image sensors (Complementary Metal Oxyd Semiconductor) and only 5% are still CCD sensors (Charge‐ Coupled Device). The main difference between CMOS and CCD is that each CMOS sensor pixel has its own readout circuit (voltage‐photoelectron conversion and amplification) directly adjacent to the photosensitive area. CMOS image sensors are not only cheaper, because simpler to manufacture, they have a lower power consumption than CCD sensors. They also allow image processing at the pixel level (zones of interest (ROI), Binning, filtering, etc ...). However, compare to CCD sensor, CMOS sensors often demonstrate a lower dynamic, a larger read‐out noise and a larger non uniformity of the spatial response. In overall, it is very important to understand every characteristic of an image sensor and be able to measure it in a simple way. Our system consist in a small integrating sphere illuminated by a white LED, a standard calibrated photodiode (or a light power meter) and a small monochromator (or several colored LED). Control of the camera parameters, Image acquisition and data processing are achieved with a single Matlab homemade software.