UK sensors enhance electron microscopes

One problem with such devices, however, is that because each pixel on the imager has its own set of logic associated with it, the fill factor - or the percentage area that can be used to capture electrons - can never be 100 per cent if it is illuminated from the front, unlike a CCD sensor that can achieve close to a 100 per cent fill. This problem can be overcome if the sensor is illuminated from the back

To address that particular issue, the developers have created a second class of detector that sports an entirely different architecture. In these so-called double-sided strip detectors (DSSDs), silicon strips are fabricated on both sides of a detector to provide a means of pinpointing the exact coordinates of any electrons that pass through it.

’Unlike CCDs, and APS detectors - which fall into a class of sensor called integrating detectors - the DSSDs are counting detectors that can determine the position of an incoming electron from the charge that accumulates on strips that lie orthogonally on both the front and the back of the sensor as the electron passes though them,’ said Kirkland.