Application · SWIR Imaging & Industrial Sensing

Detectors for SWIR imaging and industrial sensing

SWIR imaging can reveal information that visible cameras cannot — material composition, moisture content, contrast through certain obscurants, and inspection features relevant to industrial processes. SWIR detector systems, however, are often expensive, limiting wider deployment.

The detector bottleneck

Traditional SWIR detectors can be costly and difficult to scale. For photon-starved imaging, time-resolved sensing, and low-light SWIR systems, single-photon sensitivity could open new use cases — if the detector platform becomes scalable and practical.

GeQD's contribution

A germanium-on-silicon SPAD platform combining SWIR sensitivity with silicon-compatible manufacturing.

GeQD's germanium-on-silicon SPAD platform is being developed to combine SWIR sensitivity with silicon-compatible manufacturing — creating a possible path toward more scalable SWIR sensing and imaging systems.

Application examples

Industrial inspection

Reveal sub-surface defects, fill levels through plastics, and contamination invisible to visible cameras.

Semiconductor process monitoring

Through-silicon imaging and back-side inspection at SWIR wavelengths where silicon becomes transparent.

Material sorting

Spectral separation of plastics, food grades, and recyclables using SWIR absorption signatures.

Low-light imaging

Photon-starved scenes, night-glow imaging, and time-resolved capture where every photon counts.

Scientific instrumentation

Time-correlated single-photon counting (TCSPC), fluorescence lifetime, and SWIR spectroscopy.

Safety & security sensing

Perimeter monitoring, covert SWIR illumination, and detection through haze, smoke, or fog.

Application-relevant metrics

Model-based target parameters for the Ge-on-Si SPAD platform — not yet demonstrated. Values will be published as lab characterisation completes.

Parameter

Target (model-based)

Note

Wavelength response

~600 – 1550 nm

Single platform spanning visible to SWIR.

Array size

TBD

Roadmap toward scalable Ge-on-Si SPAD arrays.

Pixel pitch

Targeting compatibility with imaging-grade pitches.

Dark count rate (DCR)

Critical for low-light and time-resolved SWIR.

Room-temperature performance

Room-temperature target (TEC optional)

Removes cryogenic infrastructure from the camera stack.

Readout integration

CMOS-compatible co-integration roadmap

Path toward monolithic SPAD + readout for compact modules.

Packaging

Standard semiconductor packaging targeted; details to follow.

Based on laboratory measurement data — all values are model-based targets and not yet demonstrated specifications.

Explore SWIR sensing use cases with GeQD.

We engage with machine builders, inspection vendors, and research groups on detector specifications for SWIR imaging and industrial sensing.

Universität Stuttgart – Institut für Halbleitertechnik

Contact

Pfaffenwaldring 47

70569 Stuttgart, Deutschland

Tel: +49 711 68560896

info@geqd.de

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