There has been neck to neck competition between CCD and CMOS imaging technologies. CCD and CMOS imagers were invented in the same era within a span of few years. Yet, CCDs became dominant because of the superior results from the then available fabrication technology. CMOS technologies focused on uniformity and smaller feature sizes, which did not quite happen until 1990s when lithography advanced enough to be support small feature sizes. It was after this that CMOS imagers had a comeback and since then both technologies have fought for market dominance. While CCD sensors are known to offer best image qualities, CMOS imagers offer more functions on the chip and attractive features like lesser power usage making them more popular in mobile phone cameras etc. A comparison can be drawn between the two on various aspects and a sound decision be made depending on the requirements of the application.
Factor
|
CCD
|
CMOS
|
Responsivity
|
Moderate
|
Higher
|
Dynamic Range
|
High
|
Moderate
|
Uniformity
|
High
|
Low
|
Speed
|
Moderate
|
Higher
|
Antiblooming
|
High
|
High
|
Signal out of pixel/chip
|
Electron Packet/Voltage
|
Voltage/Bits
|
System/Sensor Complexity
|
High/Low
|
Low/High
|
Noise
|
Low
|
High
|
Markets have seen rapid decline of the CCDs share owing to the growing popularity of CMOS sensors in cell phones and point and shoot cameras and even industry stalwarts like Canon and Sony who used CCD products primarily are now shifting to CMOS imagers. It is expected that more than 95% of the camera market will switch over to CMOS sensors by 2014. But there still remains and would remain a predominant segment which will continue to bank on CCD sensors, the scientific research and the astronomer community, the biggest example being the Hubble Space Telescope. So, while the light from the CCDs might be fading from the earth, we’d still need a CCD to see what’s out there.
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