"Black Silicon" based night vision device

[Logan]

Sensitivity to red light, in particular, is extremely high. I suspect also to near-IR.

Yes, I've read that the treatment for "black silicon" not only increase overall sensitivity, but also shift the spectrum response towards longer wavelengths.

[LaserSteve]

I've seen strong response at 1084 nm  on a laser emission line.  Far stronger then normal silicon. I will check  1152 this weekend with an IR Helium Neon Laser.  I'd be dreaming to see response at 1.35 or 1.5 um, but that would seriously make my day as a laser specialist.

Steve

[Ultrapurple]

It will be interesting to see whether the big DSLR manufacturers start using 'Black Silicon' in their cameras. I have a not-quite-top-of-the-range camera from a couple or three years ago that produces excellent results at ISO 10,000 and even ISO 20,000 - and that's still not at its maximum sensitivity. Getting (say) a factor-of-ten improvement would be interesting, although there are many other matters at play. For instance, my DSLR has a 35.9 x 23.9mm, 8256 × 5504 sensor, meaning a rather higher pixel density than today's SiOnyx sensors. But still, perhaps it's a portent of the future...

I know there's at least one camera, out for a few years, that claims a maximum sensitivity of something like ISO 4,000,000. Increase that by a factor of ten and you'd have trouble keeping enough light out of it!

[Logan]

I've seen strong response at 1084 nm  on a laser emission line.  Far stronger then normal silicon. I will check  1152 this weekend with an IR Helium Neon Laser.  I'd be dreaming to see response at 1.35 or 1.5 um, but that would seriously make my day as a laser specialist.

Steve

I would love to know that too!
Please report back

[Logan]

I know there's at least one camera, out for a few years, that claims a maximum sensitivity of something like ISO 4,000,000. Increase that by a factor of ten and you'd have trouble keeping enough light out of it!

That's the Canon ME20F-SH I mentioned earlier in this thread, it max out at ISO 4.5 million.

[bostwickenator]

Impressive out a of a 1" sensor! This is an example of what Sony have been shipping in their high end security camera line (based on the A7s 35mm sensor).

[bap2703]

I've seen strong response at 1084 nm  on a laser emission line.  Far stronger then normal silicon. I will check  1152 this weekend with an IR Helium Neon Laser.  I'd be dreaming to see response at 1.35 or 1.5 um, but that would seriously make my day as a laser specialist.

Steve

Such longer wavelength are another topic than just getting the highest sensitivity with silicon.
Germanium photodiodes on silicon are supposed to replace InGaAs sensors as a more affordable solution.

[frogg]

The Sony A7S line is well known among photographers as having incredible sensitivity.



Of course, the latest micro-channel plates have inherently better resolution and response time (and they are much more compact and the power requirements significantly lower), but the good thing about the A7S's is you can get them at Best Buy

[Logan]

Impressive out a of a 1" sensor! This is an example of what Sony have been shipping in their high end security camera line (based on the A7s 35mm sensor).

Interesting finding for another camera using (maybe) Sony a7s sensor.

Canon also have ML-100 and ML-105 using (maybe) Canon ME20F-SH sensor.

[MarcusG]

I've just acquired a used Sport and can confirm that it's an interesting toy. Sensitivity to red light, in particular, is extremely high. I suspect also to near-IR. When set to 7.5fps and black & white it's possible to see around a room lit by one power-on neon. But those YouTube videos claiming performance equalling or exceeding Gen III are at best somewhat misleading.

I plan to do some tests in due course to try and relate its sensitivity to ISO figures on a 35mm camera. But it'll have to wait until I can get to some open countryside: there's too much local IR floodlighting to do a fair test.

Apologies for digging up a slightly older thread, but that would be an interesting comparison, particularly how the response varied between a full spectrum DSLR/MILC as you get into near-IR frequencies. Full-spectrum conversion companies have said their modified cameras are sensitive up to 1100nm, the Sionyx appears to be significantly better in this regard. This is the closest I've seen to a comparison between them:

[Logan]

I also want to play with it's monochrome SDK. Without color filters, sensitivity will be even better.

[cejoba]

They released 2 new models: OPSIN and Nightwave(one finally with video output). Youtube tests shows they actually have further improved sensitivity.
BTW, while everyone is talking about Sony A7S with 400k ISO, no one mention Nikon D7500? It have 1.6 million ISO, even in video mode. Too bad their newer mirrorless models don't have that capability.