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EMCCD problem

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zhan cheng

EMCCD problem

Roshma Azeem

Re: EMCCD problem

Hello Zhan,

What make of EMCCD is this? (and what sensor it has?). Generally, EMCCDs are equipped with peltier coolers that will take care of the temperature regulation. Hence, I do not think you may have problems with the temperature in the environment. If the peltier system with your instrument is intact, then I guess there may be a problem with the sensor.

Roshma.

On Sat, Aug 7, 2010 at 9:10 AM, zhan cheng <[hidden email]> wrote:

Hello everyone,
I bought a EMCCD in 2006, it is quite sensitive to dim fluorescence.
But our EMCCD seems a little brittle. It have been send back to factory
twice, and recently it become unstable again. This really bother me. We have
air-condition to keep the enviroment temperature at 20 centigrade, I don't
know why our EMCCD broken down so often. So I want to know other EMCCD users
experience. Thanks.
Zhan Cheng
--
View this message in context: http://confocal-microscopy-list.588098.n2.nabble.com/EMCCD-problem-tp5383096p5383096.html
Sent from the Confocal Microscopy List mailing list archive at Nabble.com.

Jim Haley

Re: EMCCD problem

Roshma,

Yes and no. EMCCD cameras can have regulated cooling. This means that the cooling unit maintains the sensor at a specified temperature, regardless of the ambient temperature (subject to limitations). Obviously, the higher the ambient temperature, the more the cooling unit has to work to maintain a regulated temperature, which could shorten the life of the cooling unit. Therefore, the ambient temperature can have an effect on the longevity of the cooling unit.

That being said, 20 degrees Celsius is not a hot enough ambient temperature that it should cause problems. And if the cooling unit did stop cooling the camera, you would see "hot pixels" in the images, but the camera would not act erratically. Loosing the cooling would not make the camera "unstable".

But...

The cooling units on some of the EMCCD cameras are sealed. If the seal fails, condensation can form on the sensor. You would be able to recognize this condition because the images would become blurry from the condensation. The condensation can find it way onto the sensors' pins, sensor circuitry, and camera circuitry. This can cause corrosion, which would lead to obvious problems or it can also short out adjacent pins on the sensor (water is a conductor). Either one of these conditions would make the camera unstable or cause it fail altogether.

We have sold a number of EMCCD cameras over the past few years and I haven't had any come back for repair, so in answer to your original question, Zhan: no, EMCCD failure is not a problem with the EMCCD technology. But, I have heard that some manufacturers have had a lot of issues with the camera seals, so it can be a chronic issue depending on the brand.

My suggestion would be to find out exactly what the issue has been and what has been causing the failures. I am taking an educated guess that it is a seal leak causing your problems. Your best bet would be to find out the exact cause of the failures from the manufacturer and see if there is a remedy to prevent this from reoccurring.

Hope this helps!

Thanks And Have a Great Day!

Jim Haley

******************************
Jim Haley
Applications Engineer
MVIA, Inc.
125 Sherwood Drive
Monaca, PA 15061
 voice:    (724) 728-7493
 fax:      (412) 291-1709
 e-mail:   [hidden email]
 MVIA Website
 Digital Microscope Cameras from MVIA
 Image Analysis Software from MVIA 
******************************

On 8/7/2010 5:10 AM, Roshma Azeem wrote:

Hello Zhan,

What make of EMCCD is this? (and what sensor it has?). Generally, EMCCDs are equipped with peltier coolers that will take care of the temperature regulation. Hence, I do not think you may have problems with the temperature in the environment. If the peltier system with your instrument is intact, then I guess there may be a problem with the sensor.

Roshma.

On Sat, Aug 7, 2010 at 9:10 AM, zhan cheng <[hidden email]> wrote:

Hello everyone,
I bought a EMCCD in 2006, it is quite sensitive to dim fluorescence.
But our EMCCD seems a little brittle. It have been send back to factory
twice, and recently it become unstable again. This really bother me. We have
air-condition to keep the enviroment temperature at 20 centigrade, I don't
know why our EMCCD broken down so often. So I want to know other EMCCD users
experience. Thanks.
Zhan Cheng
--
View this message in context: http://confocal-microscopy-list.588098.n2.nabble.com/EMCCD-problem-tp5383096p5383096.html
Sent from the Confocal Microscopy List mailing list archive at Nabble.com.

Craig Brideau

Re: EMCCD problem

Any cooling system that operates below the dewpoint of the air in your
room is a potential source of condensation. It the seals go then you
could have a problem. Keeping the room dry is one way to reduce any
potential problems, but the seals should be working...

Craig

On Sat, Aug 7, 2010 at 3:21 AM, Jim Haley <[hidden email]> wrote:

> Roshma,
>
> Yes and no. EMCCD cameras can have regulated cooling. This means that the
> cooling unit maintains the sensor at a specified temperature, regardless of
> the ambient temperature (subject to limitations). Obviously, the higher the
> ambient temperature, the more the cooling unit has to work to maintain a
> regulated temperature, which could shorten the life of the cooling unit.
> Therefore, the ambient temperature can have an effect on the longevity of
> the cooling unit.
>
> That being said, 20 degrees Celsius is not a hot enough ambient temperature
> that it should cause problems. And if the cooling unit did stop cooling the
> camera, you would see "hot pixels" in the images, but the camera would not
> act erratically. Loosing the cooling would not make the camera "unstable".
>
> But...
>
> The cooling units on some of the EMCCD cameras are sealed. If the seal
> fails, condensation can form on the sensor. You would be able to recognize
> this condition because the images would become blurry from the
> condensation. The condensation can find it way onto the sensors' pins,
> sensor circuitry, and camera circuitry. This can cause corrosion, which
> would lead to obvious problems or it can also short out adjacent pins on the
> sensor (water is a conductor). Either one of these conditions would make
> the camera unstable or cause it fail altogether.
>
> We have sold a number of EMCCD cameras over the past few years and I haven't
> had any come back for repair, so in answer to your original question, Zhan:
> no, EMCCD failure is not a problem with the EMCCD technology. But, I have
> heard that some manufacturers have had a lot of issues with the camera
> seals, so it can be a chronic issue depending on the brand.
>
> My suggestion would be to find out exactly what the issue has been and what
> has been causing the failures. I am taking an educated guess that it is a
> seal leak causing your problems. Your best bet would be to find out the
> exact cause of the failures from the manufacturer and see if there is a
> remedy to prevent this from reoccurring.
>
> Hope this helps!
>
> Thanks And Have a Great Day!
>
> Jim Haley
>
> ******************************
> Jim Haley
> Applications Engineer
> MVIA, Inc.
> 125 Sherwood Drive
> Monaca, PA 15061
> voice: (724) 728-7493
> fax: (412) 291-1709
> e-mail: [hidden email]
> MVIA Website
> Digital Microscope Cameras from MVIA
> Image Analysis Software from MVIA
> ******************************
>
> On 8/7/2010 5:10 AM, Roshma Azeem wrote:
>
> Hello Zhan,
>
> What make of EMCCD is this? (and what sensor it has?). Generally, EMCCDs are
> equipped with peltier coolers that will take care of the temperature
> regulation. Hence, I do not think you may have problems with the temperature
> in the environment. If the peltier system with your instrument is intact,
> then I guess there may be a problem with the sensor.
>
> Roshma.
>
>
>
> On Sat, Aug 7, 2010 at 9:10 AM, zhan cheng <[hidden email]> wrote:
>>
>> Hello everyone,
>> I bought a EMCCD in 2006, it is quite sensitive to dim fluorescence.
>> But our EMCCD seems a little brittle. It have been send back to factory
>> twice, and recently it become unstable again. This really bother me. We
>> have
>> air-condition to keep the enviroment temperature at 20 centigrade, I don't
>> know why our EMCCD broken down so often. So I want to know other EMCCD
>> users
>> experience. Thanks.
>> Zhan Cheng
>> --
>> View this message in context:
>> http://confocal-microscopy-list.588098.n2.nabble.com/EMCCD-problem-tp5383096p5383096.html
>> Sent from the Confocal Microscopy List mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>
>

Jacqueline Ross

Re: EMCCD problem

In reply to this post by Jim Haley

Hi Zhan,

Can you provide more information on what exactly happens with your camera? For example, when you say it has “broken down”, do you mean that it’s not working at all? Or does it have increased artefact, etc.? What do the images from it look like and what software are you using?

Kind regards,

Jacqui

Jacqueline Ross

Biomedical Imaging Microscopist
Biomedical Imaging Research Unit
School of Medical Sciences
Faculty of Medical & Health Sciences
The University of Auckland
Private Bag 92019
Auckland, NEW ZEALAND

Tel: 64 9 373 7599 Ext 87438
Fax: 64 9 373 7484

http://www.fmhs.auckland.ac.nz/sms/biru/

From: Confocal Microscopy List [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Jim Haley
Sent: Saturday, 7 August 2010 9:22 p.m.
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: EMCCD problem

Thanks And Have a Great Day!

Jim Haley

******************************

Jim Haley

Applications Engineer

MVIA, Inc.

125 Sherwood Drive

Monaca, PA 15061

 voice:    (724) 728-7493

 fax:      (412) 291-1709

 e-mail:   [hidden email]

 MVIA Website

 Digital Microscope Cameras from MVIA

 Image Analysis Software from MVIA

******************************

On 8/7/2010 5:10 AM, Roshma Azeem wrote:

On Sat, Aug 7, 2010 at 9:10 AM, zhan cheng <[hidden email]> wrote:

Hello everyone,
I bought a EMCCD in 2006, it is quite sensitive to dim fluorescence.
But our EMCCD seems a little brittle. It have been send back to factory
twice, and recently it become unstable again. This really bother me. We have
air-condition to keep the enviroment temperature at 20 centigrade, I don't
know why our EMCCD broken down so often. So I want to know other EMCCD users
experience. Thanks.
Zhan Cheng
--
View this message in context: http://confocal-microscopy-list.588098.n2.nabble.com/EMCCD-problem-tp5383096p5383096.html
Sent from the Confocal Microscopy List mailing list archive at Nabble.com.

zhan cheng

Re: EMCCD problem

Hi Jacqui,
I list the problems on our EMCCD here:
1) The brightness of images field is not equal. The left-bottom corner is much dimmer than other fields.
3) The EMCCD’s sensitivities are much lower than before. Even for strong fluorescence signal, the images look quite dim. It is not a single-photon CCD any longer.
4) When set the EM gain’s value at 4.7, the background image is not uniform.
5) There seems something wrong with the output TTL trigger signal’s voltage value. We use the “fire” output to trigger the shutter’s open/close. Recently three shutter drivers from the uniblitz are broken down during a week. We guess the trigger signal from the EMCCD is not stable.
Abover are the problems I can find.
About the cooling system of the EMCCD, it seems ok. The cooling temperature looks normal, at least show normal by the control software. If there are seal problems as Jim mentioned, what can I do?
I appreciated your reply very much. I attend a meeting during the past days, so sorry for my delayed reply.
Zhan Cheng