Megaframe

Megaframe was conceived in the summer of 2004 to respond to the growing interest of the scientific and engineering community in low-cost techniques for single photon counting.

Project Funders

EU FP6 FET Open Project

Funding Amount

€1.85 Million

Project Dates

2006-2010

Collaboration

  • STMircoelectronics
  • EPFL
  • Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK)
  • COSMIC
  • University of Pavia
  • TU Delft

Researchers

Project Website

Project Description

Megaframe was conceived in the summer of 2004 to respond to the growing interest of the scientific and engineering community in low-cost techniques for single photon counting. The project's technology was developed on the heels of the 2003 demonstration of the first monolithic single photon counter implemented in a low-cost CMOS process. This breakthrough convinced us that much more advanced imagers based on integrated single photon counting arrays could be possible.

Megaframe's long-term goal is to bring single photon imaging technology to an advanced low-cost deep-submicron CMOS platform, so that massive arrays of single photon detectors can coexist with and interface to large networks of parallel digital processing units on the same chip. The target fields are biology, physics, and medical imaging. However, any disciplines requiring time-resolved ultra-fast optical sensors are prime candidates.

In Megaframe we push the limits of many technologies necessary for the success of the project. The multidisciplinary effort will yield new and highly miniaturized detectors, ultra-fast integrated electronics, high-precision quantitative bioimaging systems, miniaturized optical components, and new signal processing solutions. The consortium we assembled represents Europe's leading Institutions in these fields and decades of experience in industrial and research sensor design and optics.

Publicity and Impact