Backside illuminated CCD operating at 16,000,000 frames per second with sub-ten-photon sensitivity

An ultra-high-speed and very high sensitivity video camera is developed. The highest frame rate reaches 16,000,000 frames per second (16 Mfps). The full well capacity is 22,000e− at frame rates up to 4 Mfps, and 8000e− at 16 Mfps. The pixel count is 165,072 (362×456) pixels. The total number of consecutive frames is 117, which can be doubled to 234 by interlaced imaging operation. The sensitivity is less than 10 photons/pixel.