World's First >111 Megapixel Image Sensor

Last night I spotted an interesting SlashDot story entitled "111-Megapixel CCD Chip Ships" which pointed to an EETimes article stating that "Dalsa Semiconductor has fabricated an image sensor with more than 111 million pixels. The company claims the 4 x 4-inch charge-coupled device, configured as 10,560 x 10,560 pixels, is the world's highest-resolution image sensor and the first to break the 100 million-pixel barrier."

DALSA, a Canadian company, delivered the chip to Semiconductor Technology Associates (STA; San Juan Capistrano, California) who developed the chip for the Astrometry Department of the U.S. Naval Observatory with funding from the Navy's Small Business Innovation Research program. Dalsa manufactured the device for STA at its wafer fabrication facility in Bromont, Quebec.

DALSA (founded in Waterloo, Ontario in 1980) is a world-wide leader in image sensor design and high-quality fabrication which has made their sensors the de facto standard for professional Digital Camera Backs. Their "FTF4052 is the world's first commercially available 22-megapixel sensor. Its combination of very low noise, very high dynamic range, and very high uniformity provide the very highest imaging performance possible--until we (DALSA) build its successor."

As is so often the case, SlashDot made no mention that this breakthrough sensor is a Canadian development. Although you don't hear much about it in the (strongly US dominated) news, we (us Canadians I mean) are leaders in many specialized areas of the high-technology industry. This record-breaking image sensor is just one more feather in our cap!