Emberion

Emberion was recently acquired by Exosens, a high‐tech European headquartered company, with over 85 years of experience in the innovation, development, manufacturing and sale of high‐end electro‐optical technologies in the field of amplification, detection and imaging of light. The move expands Exosens’ capabilities into short-wave infrared (SWIR) imaging and strengthens its position across the full light detection spectrum.

Emberion’s CQD-based sensors offer a compelling alternative to traditional InGaAs-based SWIR detectors, enabling lower-cost, scalable solutions that are particularly well-suited for emerging applications such as portable imaging systems, drone-based sensing, and industrial inspection tools.

Researchers at AMO, Graphenea Semiconductor and Emberion recently demonstrated a 200 mm processing platform for the large-scale production of graphene field-effect transistor-quantum dot (GFET-QD) hybrid photodetectors. Such sensors have many potential applications, ranging from surveillance, search and rescue, and vehicle safety to improved sorting of food and food packaging to reduce their environmental impact. 

Schematic of the device architecture of the tandem GFET‒QD photodetector. Image from: Scientific Reports

The team addressed several of the graphene wafer-scale integration challenges, including monolayer graphene chemical vapor deposition (CVD), transfer, and patterning, which fulfill the requirements for imaging functionalization and large area deposition of the multilayer QD absorber material in an inert atmosphere, as well as methods for encapsulating devices using thin film alumina (Al₂O₃) and hermetically sealed semiconductor packages. Such a demonstration elevates the initial concept to higher technology readiness levels in multiple dimensions, ranging from wafer-scale graphene device statistics to the development of custom CMOS circuits and the implementation of production-ready packaging.

Emberion Oy, a developer of advanced infrared and hyperspectral imaging solutions, has completed a 'significant financing round' co-led by Nidoco AB, part of the Virala Group, and Verso Capital. The new capital will go towards Emberion’s next phase of growth as it scales production to meet rising global demand across industrial, environmental, and in particular defense markets.

Emberion’s solutions are used in both commercial and governmental applications, positioning Emberion as a standout deep-tech company in the global imaging space.

Emberion recently raised €6 million in funding to further develop their infrared imaging business. Currently, Emberion is one of the leaders in the development of these technologies, enabled by graphene and other layered materials.

Graphene Flagship partner Emberion develops high-performance SWIR sensors for imaging technologies. These devices detect light in both the visible and short-wave infrared (SWIR) wavelengths, enabling new applications in machine vision used in surveillance, autonomous driving, food processing, waste sorting, and more. Emberion also leads Graphene Flagship Spearhead Project GBIRCAM, to design cheaper and more efficient broadband infrared devices.

The Graphene Flagship has been invited by the European Commission to create an experimental pilot line for graphene-based electronics, optoelectronics and sensors. This will be a unique experimental manufacturing facility, where European companies, research centers and academic institutions can produce novel devices based on two-dimensional (2D) materials on a pilot scale.

The goal of this endeavor is to demonstrate how to manufacture and scale up the production of devices based on 2D materials for market applications. This is a crucial step before graphene technologies can be transferred to full scale manufacturing.

Graphene Flagship partner, Emberion, will be launching a VIS-SWIR graphene photodetector at Laser World of Photonics, from 24 to 27 June in Munich, Germany. The linear array covers a wide spectral range, detecting wavelengths from the visible at 400nm into the shortwave infrared up to 1,800nm. Traditionally, it would require both silicon and InGaAs sensors to image across this wavelength range.

Emberion estimates that replacing a system using silicon and InGaAs sensors with its graphene photodetector would result in a 30% cost reduction.

Graphenea, AMO and Emberion have been approved a European Innovation Council Fast Track to Innovation (FTI) project to help bring to market the G-IMAGER, a graphene imager based on graphene-on-wafer technology. The G-Imager is a short-wave infrared (SWIR) detector for applications in semiconductor inspection, sorting systems, spectroscopy hyperspectral imaging and surveillance.

A major obstacle for wider use of SWIR imaging products is the high cost of SWIR detectors, which are currently primarily manufactured with InGaAs technology. The high price is related to the complex manufacturing of InGaAs that also prevents increase of the detector production volumes. Now Graphenea Semiconductor SL, Emberion Oy, and AMO GmbH are tasked with constructing and marketing the G-Imager which will bring the core price down significantly, allowing market volumes to grow substantially.

Finland-based Emberion recently announced its plan to present new products for visible light to shortwave infrared (VIS-SWIR) detection at SPIE Photonics West in San Francisco 5-7.2.2019. The showcased linear array is said to have been specifically designed for spectroscopy and use graphene as a charge transducing layer.

Emberion introduces a cost-competitive 512 × 1 pixel VIS-SWIR linear array sensor for visible to shortwave infrared spectral range. The sensor provides superior and consistent responsivity with very low noise over the broad (400 1800 nm) spectral range. The sensor comprises an array of 25 × 500 µm2 pixels monolithically built on a tailor-made CMOS readout integrated circuit. The ROIC contains an analog front-end, performs analog-to-digital conversion and signal pre-processing, implements an electric shutter, and provides digital data output with up to 16 bits resolution.

A team of researchers at MIT, Raytheon BBN Technologies and Columbia University have used graphene to design a fast yet highly sensitive bolometer that can work at room temperature and may even be less expensive. Bolometers are devices that monitor electromagnetic radiation through heating of an absorbing material. Most such devices have limited bandwidth and must be operated at ultralow temperatures, which damages their usefulness.

The findings of this work could help pave the way toward new kinds of astronomical observatories for long-wavelength emissions, new heat sensors for buildings, and even new kinds of quantum sensing and information processing devices, the multidisciplinary research team says.

Emberion developed graphene-based photodetectors that convert light to an electronic signal using graphene charge transducers combined with a nanocrystal light absorber. Potential applications include spectrometry, optical gas detection or optical power measurements.

The photodetectors provide responsivity and low noise over a broad spectral range from VIS to NIR/SWIR wavelengths without cooling below room temperature. The full dynamic range is 160 dB, owing to the low noise and an unsaturated response.