ZEISS MCS Series Flexible High-Performance Spectrometer

ZEISS offers custom-made operating electronics for our MCS spectrometer modules, depending on the detector type: BT-CCD or NMOS photodiode array. This includes the preamplifier, front-end and USB/Ethernet interface electronics as well as the temperature controller for Peltier-cooled CCD image sensors. Different software tools are also provided: ASPECT PLUS acquisition & analysis software or software development kits (SDK) for perfect integration in industrial environments.

The preamplifier and front end electronics are matched to the spectrometer module. The preamplifier can be mounted directly to the spectrometer module. Its task is the amplification of the low analog output signals of the detector array and minimizing possible analog signal interference.

Front end electronics act as an adapter between the preamplifier and the interface electronics of a spectrometer system. They preprocesses the amplified analog video signal and perform the analog to digital conversion. The digitized values are then forwarded as byte sequential data stream for the interface electronics. High dynamics and signal stability in the configurations are achieved thanks to quartz-precision timing and integrated filtering of supply voltages.

ZEISS provides high-speed digital spectral data acquisition controllers with PCI, USB 2.0/3.0 and Ethernet interfaces for PC communication. The interface electronics board thereby acts as connecting piece between the front end electronics and the PC. The 10/100 Base-T Ethernet interface is recommended for long distance communication and is ideally suited for distributed systems and decentralized monitoring.

ZEISS MCS CCD spectrometers are especially suited for low-light applications and are equipped with back-thinned FFT-CCD detectors. The MCS CCD is available with a cooled detector with an integrated thermoelectric (TE) cooler to minimize dark current/noise. It is also available with an uncooled CCD detector as well. For operation with a cooled sensor, a PI-type PCB temperature controller is provided. The temperature controller is directly connected to the CCD sensor board and can be stacked onto the preamplifier board. A fan-cooled heat sink guarantees heat dissipation from the CCD sensor. This allows for a cooling stability better than ± 10 mK to be achieved.

ZEISS provides different software tools to meet spectroscopic analysis and automation needs. A convenient solution is provided by the ready-to-use ASPECT PLUS software package. Running under MS Windows, it easily enables the acquisition and analysis of spectral data. Furthermore, we offer Software Development Kits (SDK) consisting of programming libraries allowing maximum flexibility for user-specific applications.

The Aspect PLUS software for acquisition and analysis of spectra with clear graphical interface runs on the latest Window versions and controls ZEISS spectrometers. Functions as spectra display, data handling routines, kinetics and calculation of concentrations or color and film-thickness evaluation modules are implemented.

OSIS SDK is a software development kit to support development of software applications for ZEISS spectrometers. There are several ways to create an application from scratch using one of the provided templates. It is also possible to add OSIS SDK to your existing projects using NuGet packages. The 32/64 bit SDK and the underlying OSIS Framework are based on .NET Standard 2.0 and are not limited to a specific platform or architecture.