Astronomical observations at sub-millimetre wavelengths are limited either by the angular resolution of the telescope or by the sensitivity and field of view of the detector array. New generation of radio telescopes, such as the APEX 12-m telescope on Chajnantor plateau in Chile, can overcome these limitations if they are equipped with large detector arrays made of thousands of sensitive bolometer pixels. Instrumentation developments undertaken at CEA and based on the all silicon technology of CEA/Leti are able to provide such large detector arrays. The ArTeMiS project at CEA Saclay, in partnership with IAS, IAP and CRTBT, consists in developing a 4000-pixel bolometer camera for ground-based telescopes that operates in atmospheric windows at 200–450 μm (Talvard et al. 2006, SPIE, 6275).