Summary of Contents for Spectral Instruments Series 800
- Page 1 Series 800 Camera System User's Manual P/N 2500 2002 Spectral Instruments, Inc. TUCSON, ARIZONA...
- Page 2 Spectral Instruments Pt # 2500-...
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Page 3: Table Of Contents
Spectral Instruments TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION S800 Series Camera System Overview 1.1.1 SICCD - The Important Distinction 1.1.2 CCDs And How They Work 1.1.3 Cooling The CCD - Why 1.1.4 Sensitivity Of The Camera The S800 Camera 1.2.1 The Camera Head And Electronics 1.2.2... - Page 4 Spectral Instruments Commanding The Camera Initial Tests 2.6.1 Types Of Images 2.6.2 Default Camera Readout Format 2.6.3 Dark Image RUNNING THE COOLED CAMERA Image Quality Performance Metrics 3.2.1 Noise 3.2.2 Dark Signal Generation Rate Other Metrics USING THE CAMERA Kinds Of Images 4.1.1...
- Page 5 Spectral Instruments 5.6.1 Equipment Required 5.6.2 The Process FIELD REPLACEABLE COMPONENTS Cables 6.1.1 Camera Cables 6.1.2 Camera To PDCI Cable The PDCI Card The Camera SYSTEM OPERATION AND SAFETY Electrical Requirements 7.1.1 Incoming Power 7.1.2 Power Cords 7.1.3 Power Required Physical Operating Conditions 7.2.1...
- Page 6 Spectral Instruments APPENDIX A CCD Readout Format APPENDIX B Multi-Port CCD Readout Parameters Multi-Port CCD Image Pixel Data Format Single-Port CCD Image Orientation Over-Scan in Multi-Port CCD Readout APPENDIX C Sensitivity And Attenuation Dual Slope Integrator Sensitivity APPENDIX D APPENDIX E...
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Page 7: Introduction
Introduction This manual documents the standard Series 800 (S800) camera. Features that pertain to a specific version of a camera are described in detail in Appendix G. It is recommended that you read that section before operating your camera. The S800 is a multi-port (from one to four ports) 14- or 16-bit camera where the CCD can be cooled to temperatures in the range of –40... -
Page 8: Siccd - The Important Distinction
CCDs. Innovative and detailed mechanical and electronic design coupled with careful component specification and system manufacture provides the ultimate in stable, high dynamic range digital imaging. Spectral Instruments has invented the term Scientific Imaging CCD with SICCD as the symbol that captures this high precision and high quality character of your camera. - Page 9 C and finally D. This pixel data stream has pixels from all of the quadrants interleaved. Software must sort them out so they are presented properly. Spectral Instruments’ SI-Image software performs this task automatically. The columns are still horizontal and rows are vertical in the final image just as if they came out of a single port.
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Page 10: Cooling The Ccd - Why
The source of power may be a Spectral Instruments S800 rack mount power supply or a DC source in your application (typically through a DC - to - DC converter package supplied by Spectral). - Page 11 Spectral Instruments second. If a multi-output CCD is used, the rate per output port is appropriately lower. Figure 3 Figure 4 Pt # 2500-...
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Page 12: The Camera Head And Electronics
Spectral Instruments Coolant is supplied to a pair of ¼" Swagelock VCO couplings. The appropriate part numbers for the mating connector is: SS-4-VCO-3-4TA “Tube Gland Adapter” and SS-4-VCO-4 “Female Nut”. Other gland forms are available if flexible tube is not your choice for the cooling hose connection. Coolant can be supplied by your application or by a refrigeration unit provided by Spectral Instruments. - Page 13 Spectral Instruments Fiber-optic based cameras seal the camera head chamber at the fiber optic. The fiber optic protrudes a few millimeters in front of the chamber so the camera can be coupled to other optics. The S800 camera is cooled by a thermoelectric cooler. That cooler is capable of cooling the CCD below –40...
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Page 14: The Camera Power Supply
Spectral Instruments 1.2.2 The Camera Power Supply The DC voltages necessary to operate the camera are provided through a separate power supply module. This module is connected to the camera head by a 14-pin Twist-lock connector. The power supply pin-out is shown in Appendix F. -
Page 15: Tdi Operation
1.2.5 TDI Operation Spectral Instruments cameras can image in conjunction with a moving field. In this mode the camera operates either through a timed delay or by synchronizing the shifting of the image on the sensor to an external event. In the latter case, the trigger input provides the synchronization. -
Page 16: Lenses, Light Paths And Vignetting
1.2.7 Lenses, Light Paths and Vignetting Spectral Instruments usually does not provide a lens. This is because most applications that can utilize the precision of a SICCD camera already provide an image plane at which the SICCD camera is positioned. Typically, a lens is only useful for imaging with the camera “straight out of the box”... -
Page 17: Externally Supplied Power
Instruments proprietary PDCI AIA digital imaging module by a 50- to 68-pin AIA cable. The fiber optic connection connects to a Spectral Instruments proprietary PDCI FO fiber optic input module. This module presents the identical interface register set and I/O addresses as the PDCI AIA module. The host computer drivers are identical for the two interface modules. -
Page 18: The Auxiliary Port
1.5.2 Hooking Up A Cooler The camera is fitted with two ¼” Swagelock VCO fittings. Spectral Instruments supplies a closed cycle refrigeration system as a cooling option. The liquid is a 50% ethylene glycol and 50% de-ionized water mixture. It is important that the fluid used be non-corrosive to the metal camera head chamber. -
Page 19: Cooling Cycle
Spectral Instruments 1.5.3 Cooling Cycle The camera will start to cool immediately when the TE cooler is turned on. It requires a few minutes (for a small CCD camera) to stabilize and it will only stabilize if the temperature requested is at least five degrees warmer than the open-loop temperature. -
Page 21: Receiving Your S800 Camera System
Receiving Your S800 Camera System The camera system is shipped in double-walled heavy weight cardboard boxes that are industry standard for fragile electronic equipment. Do not discard these cartons if the equipment is to be transported. Shipping Configuration The camera and the computer interface module, with its cable, are shipped in one box. The DC power supply, with its cable, is shipped in a second carton. -
Page 22: Assembly Of The Camera System
Spectral Instruments Assembly Of The Camera System Camera assembly consists of verifying proper AC line voltage setting, connecting AC line power to the power supply, connecting the power cable between the power supply and camera, and connecting the computer interface cable between the camera and the computer interface card. -
Page 23: Digital Camera Interface
Spectral provides two versions of the computer interface module. One is the PDCI- AIA parallel data card that is a PCI bus interface card for the Spectral Instruments 500, 600 and 800 Series cameras. It accepts camera image data at rates up to 10 MHz and directs it to computer memory by bus-master direct memory access. -
Page 24: Software Installation
Spectral Instruments To install either module in your computer, first turn off your computer and plug the interface card in any available PCI slot. Insert the Spectral Instruments CDROM into the CDROM reader on the computer. 2.3.4 Software Installation Camera control and imaging software is provided by Spectral Instruments. This imaging software, called SI-Image, is supplied on a CDROM. -
Page 25: Commanding The Camera
Only those characters that are part of the command set are valid. The command set is available from Spectral Instruments upon request as part number 1870. Termination characters are treated as invalid commands and thus should never be transmitted. -
Page 26: Types Of Images
2.6.2 Default Camera Readout Format The default image readout format, as delivered by Spectral Instruments, reads out more pixels than just the illuminated pixels. This readout mode is called “overscan”, reading imaginary pixels as well as illuminated pixels. Appendix A contains an illustration of overscan readout mode. - Page 27 Spectral Instruments to overscan some representative CCDs. The illustration shows you how to relate each of the tabulated parameters to the image read from the camera. Figure 7, below, shows an image from a warm camera displayed with SI Image and the plot for a column near the center of the image overlaying the image.
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Page 28: Dark Image
Spectral Instruments readout, rows on the right hand side of the image were exposed to dark signal longer than those on the left hand side – hence the ramp. The image shows dark bands at the bottom and top. These bands are from pixels that were digitized but that did not come from the active area of the sensor. - Page 29 Spectral Instruments shows up with the brighter pixels on the side of the image away from the serial register. Some number of very bright spots may be visible. Most of these are pixels that generate an excess of dark signal compared to the average; they are hot pixels. Any hot column defects are also visible.
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Page 31: Running The Cooled Camera
Running The Cooled Camera Once the camera head has become thermally controlled it is possible to verify some camera performance metrics, as described in subsequent sections. Image Quality Now that the camera head is cold, a bias image is a more uniform array of gray values with a lower-level ramp along columns. -
Page 32: Dark Signal Generation Rate
If another metric is vital to your application, that performance metric - and its method of evaluation - have been established between Spectral Instruments and yourself and a process set up to validate that metric on each of your cameras. -
Page 33: Using The Camera
Using The Camera Kinds Of Images An image obtained from a SICCD camera is made up of: a) a dc offset, or bias, introduced to assure all pixel values are positive integers, b) the thermal signature of your camera - the dark signal image, and c) the target image at which you pointed your camera. -
Page 34: Light Images
Spectral Instruments signal. An image with 16 electrons of dark signal contributes 4 electrons to the total system noise for that image. If you look only at readout noise and dark noise without considering image noise (reasonable for measuring the dark areas between bright areas) it doesn’t take a lot of dark noise to make it difficult to... -
Page 35: Fixing Problems With Images - The Master Image Solution
Spectral Instruments Fixing Problems With Images - The Master Image Solution The SI Image software includes tools to correct images for offset and patterns that are introduced by dark signal and for sensitivity variations that arise in the incoming light signal caused by the entire application optical light path and possibly by camera effects (especially if the CCD is bonded to a fiber optic). -
Page 36: Master Flat Images
Spectral Instruments images, because they “sit” on the CCD for some number of minutes, show numerous bright pixels. Some of these are single-pixel (probably hot pixels) and some of these are multi-pixel “blobs” or “streaks”. These are images of the path taken by some exceedingly energetic particle as it passed through the sensor. -
Page 37: Correcting Images
Spectral Instruments Uniform illumination is hard to obtain. The degree of difficulty is determined entirely by the application. In many instances the application was not designed so that a uniform illumination source could easily be introduced. Self- luminescent targets are difficult. Microscopes are the most difficult instrument. -
Page 38: How
Spectral Instruments 4.3.2 The three calibration constituents must each be manipulated differently. The master bias is used as is. The master dark image must be multiplied by the ratio of the exposure time of the target image to the exposure time of the master dark image. -
Page 39: Understanding The Scaling Effects
Spectral Instruments The flat field is also sensitive to illumination angle of the incoming light. Since collimated light shows up many optical defects, such as dust, in a way that wide angle illumination does not, it is important that master flats and target images are both obtained with very similar (if not identical) illumination beams. -
Page 41: Camera System Warranty And Service
Returning A Camera For Service A S800 camera can only be serviced at the factory. You must obtain a Return Material Authorization number from Spectral Instruments customer service department before any camera component is returned for service. Diagnosing A Camera Problem... -
Page 42: Determining When To Refresh The Vacuum
10 torr. A facility is provided within the camera status feedback to report the current camera head pressure. Software supplied by Spectral Instruments incorporates this capability into a user status report on the pressure (and temperature) inside of the camera head. -
Page 43: Equipment Required
Kurt J. Lesker company at 4414 Highway 75 S., Sherman, TX 75090 (1-800-245-1656). The other parts are available from the McMaster-Carr and Swagelok catalogs. The entire kit can be purchased from Spectral Instruments as Part # 2268 “Assy, field service vacuum pump system”. - Page 44 Spectral Instruments coupling to attach the Cajon™ fitting to the vacuum hose. Use Teflon™ tape to ensure proper seals. It is necessary to bake out the foreline trap by hooking up the wires to an AC voltage source. Baking the micromaze filter on the pump with the pump running and the hose end sealed is the recommended process in order to most rapidly exhaust the water vapor.
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Page 45: The Refresh Process
Spectral Instruments 5.5.1.2 Vacuum Hose Fitting The vacuum port on a camera is a ¼” metal tube that extends from the vacuum valve. This tube is "plugged" at the factory with a small Allen set screw which keeps "stuff" out of the vacuum port. -
Page 46: Cleaning The Window
10 torr else the camera head vacuum refresh process failed. Call Spectral Instruments Customer Service for assistance on how to proceed if the vacuum refresh process failed. Cleaning The Window Cleaning the window is not a recommended practice as it is hard to make the window better by cleaning unless it is done very carefully. -
Page 47: The Process
Spectral Instruments 5.6.2 The Process Set the camera on its side so that the shutter/window is easily accessible. If a shutter is mounted onto the front of the camera, it must be removed before the window can be cleaned. Disconnect the shutter power cable. If one is attached, also disconnect the shutter output status cable. - Page 48 Spectral Instruments Pt # 2500-...
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Page 49: Field Replaceable Components
Don't change any jumpers on this card. The Camera Spectral Instruments maintains a complete service record for every camera system shipped. The baud rate at which the camera operates is set inside the camera. The standard factory setting is 19,200 baud and no other baud rate is provided. -
Page 51: System Operation And Safety
System Operation And Safety Electrical Requirements 7.1.1 Incoming Power The camera system must be connected to properly installed incoming mains AC power. It is important that an electrical transient surge protector be included somewhere in the incoming mains AC power to the camera system. 7.1.2 Power Cords For U.S. -
Page 52: Aggressive Vapors
Spectral Instruments must be used in instances where either condition might otherwise be exceeded. 7.2.5 Aggressive Vapors The camera system must not be exposed to aggressive vapors. Specifically, salt-laden air causes micro-crystals of salt to form on all of the components inside the camera electronics unit and the camera head. -
Page 53: Troubleshooting
If replacing a fuse results in another blown fuse, the problem is most likely a power supply failure. Contact Spectral Instruments to see about a replacement. Image Quality Issues The following image quality items do not exhaust the possible image quality syndromes but these are common ones. -
Page 54: Streaks In The Image
Spectral Instruments than 2000 units and no image appears, it is probably not an analog offset problem. The next most frequent cause of an all 0 image is over saturation of the CCD or the analog processor. Cover up the camera front end. If the “zeros”... -
Page 55: Noisy Image
8.1.3.1 Isolation And Detection It is recommended that you consult with Spectral Instruments if you have a noise pattern that is not cured by either plugging the computer, the camera Pt # 2500-... -
Page 56: The Camera Seems Not To Be Stable
Spectral Instruments power supply and the refrigeration system into the same plug strip or electrically isolating the camera head from other equipment. If the problem persists there is either a problem with the camera or a camera cable or the external source of electrical noise is too great for laboratory apparatus to operate. -
Page 57: Camera Does Not Cool
Spectral Instruments signal in electrons per pixel per second. That value should agree with the test report to within 10%. If the dark signal is too high something is wrong. The usual cause of reported high dark turns out to be a light leak in the application. -
Page 58: Ccd Readout Format
Spectral Instruments Appendix A CCD Readout Format A refresher on row/column terminology. Figure A1., below, shows a single port readout image. The physical orientation on the page matches the way that SI-Image shows it on the screen of your computer. Your software may present the image in a different orientation. - Page 59 The extra pixels in the serial register are typically called pre-scan and post-scan. However, this terminology often includes the dark masked pixels which are actually on the parallel register. Spectral Instruments calls the extra pixels in the serial register pre-extension and post-extension. Note that it is quite possible to extend the post-extension into imaginary non-existent pixels and the difference between post- extension and imaginary pixels is usually negligible.
- Page 60 Spectral Instruments Parallel Parallel Parallel Parallel Serial Serial Serial Serial Serial Serial Readout Pre- Illumin- Over- Readout Pre- Pre- Illumin- Register register Dimension Mask ated Scan Dimension ext. Mask ated Post Post Pixels Pixels Mask Ext. TK1024 1050 1024 1120...
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Page 61: Multi-Port Ccd Readout Parameters
Spectral Instruments Appendix B Multi-Port CCD Readout Parameters S800 cameras support readout through more than one port. This feature only works with those CCDs that are designed to split the readout into more than one output amplifier. It is always possible to read out a multi-port CCD through one single port. -
Page 62: Over-Scan In Multi-Port Ccd Readout
Spectral Instruments C or D flips the image right-to left. Re-orienting the image must be handled by your software if the origin of the image and its mapping to the application is important. Over-Scan in Multi-Port CCD Readout Using the 4-port model, you can have post-scan but your display software must deal with the result. - Page 63 Spectral Instruments Figure B1. Multi-Port CCD Readout Format Serial Phasing Serial Split Action Shift to A and C outputs Shift to B and D outputs Split both serial registers and shift to all four output amplifiers Invalid! Charge shifts to the center of the serial registers Table B1.
- Page 64 Spectral Instruments Figure B2. Parallel Phasing Parallel Split Action Shift to A/B outputs (depends upon serial split) Shift to C/D outputs (depends upon serial split) Split and shift to A/B and C/D outputs Invalid! Charge shifts to the center of the CCD Table B2.
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Page 65: Sensitivity And Attenuation
Appendix C Sensitivity And Attenuation SICCD cameras are designed to use CCDs that have a very large intrinsic signal capacity – or full well. The full well capacity is specified in electrons and ranges from 40,000 to more than 500,000 electrons in each pixel depending upon CCD type. - Page 66 Spectral Instruments Increasing the integration time changes the sensitivity of the camera independent of the attenuation. Longer DSI values slow down the readout (changing the attenuation does not slow down the readout) and decreases the sensitivity number. Table C1., below, tabulates a selected set of DSI settings and the effective pixel read time and the equivalent readout rate for typical S800 SICCD cameras.
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Page 67: Appendix D
Spectral Instruments Appendix D Pressure Conversion Table Reading From Pressure in Reading From Pressure in Camera Torr Camera Torr 0.00 1621 1.00 0.01 1957 2.00 0.05 2126 3.00 0.10 2233 4.00 0.20 2304 5.00 1048 0.30 2356 6.00 1176 0.40 2395 7.00... -
Page 68: External Trigger
Spectral Instruments Appendix E External Trigger The S800 camera is capable of acquiring images where the acquisition is synchronized with an external event. When the camera is programmed to acquire an image upon receipt of a trigger, the camera runs continuous clear (unless that activity is specifically disabled) until the trigger line is activated. - Page 69 Spectral Instruments Figure E1 Figure E2 Pt # 2500-...
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Page 70: S800 Dc Power Specification
Spectral Instruments Appendix F S800 DC Power Specification The camera uses a 14-pin HiRose TwistLock connector. The table below defines the voltages required. The TEC voltage depends upon the particular TEC installed and that is driven by the load on the CCD. The DC power other than the TEC must be ripple free to 0.01% rms.
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