Difference between CIS and CCD scan sensors

Among the technical characteristics of a multifunction printer or scanner, you may find the term CIS or CCD scanning technology. If you do not know what it means and you want to find out its meaning, in this article I will try to explain to you the difference between CIS and CCD scan sensors helping you to choose the multifunction printer that you think is ideal for your pocket.

Take five minutes of your free time and keep reading what I am about to tell you.

You must know that modern scanners acquire images when they are placed under the glass and on which a trolley is visible on whose accuracy the vertical resolution depends. For the horizontal resolution, it is necessary, instead, to take into consideration also the sensor mounted on the trolley which can be of the type CIS or CCD.

The difference between CIS and CCD scan sensors, is the way in which light is emitted, reflected, directed and captured.

In the sensor CIS (Contact Image Sensor) the light coming from RGB LEDs (red, green and blue) is reflected from the original and sent through a lens apparatus to the sensor, which can be CCD or CMOS.

Contact Image Sensors (CIS) are image sensors used in flatbed scanners that come into direct contact with the object to be scanned. It is a much smaller sensor than a CCD line sensor, and allows all necessary optical elements to be included in a compact module, thus helping to simplify the internal structure of the scanner.

With a CIS sensor, the scanner can be portable and with a height of only 30mm. In addition to ensuring low power consumption, CIS technology is widely used in portable scanners, barcode readers and in optical identification technology. The only flaw of this technology is the lack of color fidelity and imperfect brightness.

The sensor CCD (Charge Coupled Device) also called a charge coupled device, or DAC, allows greater depth of field when scanning the original, greater speed, reduced image noise and high accuracy in color rendering. In conclusion one higher quality and productivity.

Used in mid-range scanners, CCD sensors have a very high sensitivity and transform light reflected from the original image into electrical pulses by measuring it with a light source. This is usually provided by a lamp combined with a mirror, lenses, and one or more rows of sensors with RGB color filters.

In conclusion, the process is as follows: the lamp emits the light that is reflected from the original, a mirror directs this light onto a series of lenses that focus it on the CCD sensor. Soon after, the sensor will transform it into electrical pulses converted into digital data through an analog-to-digital converter (ADC).