Statement of the problem or situation that is being addressed in your application: Great strides have been made in the development of ultra-fast, high rep-rate lasers and have enabled research advancements in everything from extreme ultraviolet photolithography for the semiconductor industry to the study of high energy density plasmas. These advanced light sources require similar advances in detectors to help unlock the broad scientific applications being studied. Ultra-fast lasers and dynamically evolving experiments require imaging systems that can operate on similar timescales and high rep-rate facilities require these imagers to operate at a corresponding rep-rate, generating significant data read-off challenges. General statement of how this problem is being addressed: Advanced hCMOS Systems will license novel hCMOS imaging detectors developed at Sandia National Laboratories, port the design from the existing Sandia proprietary CMOS7 foundry process to a commercial foundry and engage in design innovations to increase the rep rate from 2 Hz to > 100 Hz. What is to be done in Phase I? Advanced hCMOS Systems will identify a US based, radiation hardened, commercially available foundry process appropriate for unique needs of an hCMOS imager. They will perform full unit pixel design, layout, and simulations to verify this process port is feasible. Additionally, there will be novel design work to establish a readout architecture suited for high replication rates of > 100 Hz. This will require a full redesign of the readout architecture to accommodate this high pixel throughput. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits (limited to the space provided): Phase II/III will fund full sensor design and fabrication for a commercially available product. These sensors have broad applications across many realms of high speed research. Ultra-fast Dual Image Correlation (DIC) experiments for materials science, pulsed laser beam diagnostics, ultra-fast X-ray imaging, and Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging (FLIM) to name a few. The market for high speed imagers is large and the time-scales that hCMOS operates in are not offered commercially with the trade space and total performance specs offered by an hCMOS detector. Increasing the replication rate will only increase the potential market for these devices.
