Princeton Instruments - Signal to Noise Calculator

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First select the CCD detector

Move mouse over QE plot area, left click to save selected QE value

Enter horizontal and vertical binning values

Enter exposure time and expected spherical photon flux

Select CCD readout speed, amplifier mode and the amplifier gain


Select detector		Exposure time, s
Pixels:		Select CCD readout speed
Pixel size µm:		Select amplifier mode
Binning hor:	Ver.	Select amplifier gain
Effective pixel area/binning µm²		Signal e-/eff.pixel
Single Pixel area µm²		Total dark noise e-/eff.pixel
CCD temp C°		Total noise e-/eff.pixel
Dark current e-/pixel/s		S/N Ratio
CCD readnoise e- rms		System gain e-/count
Spherical photon flux ph/µ²/s		Expected CCD counts*
QE %	@	Incident photons, ph/eff.pixel/s

Note: *The actual values may be 50-100 counts higher because of the Baseline Offset

Amplifier mode: Optimization of system performance for lowest noise or highest SNR
Binning factor: The number of pixels to be combined on a CCD during binning.
Dark current: The charge accumulated within a well, in the absence of light.
Exposure time: The length of time that a CCD is accumulating charge.
Read noise: Unwanted signal or disturbance that is generated by the on-chip output amplifier
Signal-to-noise ratio: The ratio of the measured signal to the overall noise at that pixel.
Spherical photon flux: The number of photons intercepted by a sphere per unit time.
System gain: Relationship between the number of detected electrons and the A/D units generated

Disclaimer:
all numbers presented in this calculator should be used purely for reference and comparison purposes only. We do not assume any liability for their inaccuracy.