Image Sensors World
News and discussions about image sensors
Tuesday, November 11, 2025
Event-Driven Vision Summer School
Thursday, October 30, 2025
Foveon X3 sensor update
Some updates from Foveon in a new video interview posted on YouTube:
- Sigma is “still working on the development of the sensor” [17:00].
- Current status: The project is still in the “technology development” stage [17:11]. They have not yet started the design of the actual, final sensor [17:11].
- Focus: The team is currently working on the “design of the pixel architecture” [17:20].
- Delays: The project has been “a little bit delayed” [17:30] because as they test prototype wafers, they encounter “technical issues” [17:53].
- Development team: The sensor development is now being handled primarily by the Sigma Japan engineering team [18:02].
- Path forward: Mr. Yamaki mentions that the technical problems “have been narrowing down” [18:12]. Once the team is confident that the technology is ready, they will start the final sensor design and move toward production [18:23].
Tuesday, October 28, 2025
Paper on flexible SWIR detector
Saturday, October 25, 2025
33rd IS&T Color and Imaging Conference Oct 27-31
ST's new sensors for industrial automation, security, retail
Tuesday, October 21, 2025
[Video] Owl Thermal Imaging for Safer Streets
Smarter Cameras Imply Safer Streets? | Interview with Wade Appelman, Owl Autonomous Imaging
Pedestrian deaths at night are rising around the world — and traditional car sensors aren't enough to stop them. In this eye-opening interview, we speak with Wade Appelman, Chief Business Officer at Owl Autonomous Imaging, about how thermal imaging and AI are working together to change that.
We explore:
- Why pedestrian safety at night is now a global concern
- How thermal cameras and convolutional neural networks (CNNs) work in real-time to detect people in low light
- How these smart systems integrate with vehicle software using ROS
- The technology behind monocular vision and its use in autonomous driving
- How advanced camera sensors are built — from microbolometers to full-scale production
- Real-world testing results from Detroit and Las Vegas that show how thermal vision outperforms lidar, radar, and regular RGB cameras
Monday, October 20, 2025
Single-Photon Challenge image reconstruction competition is now open!
The Single-Photon Challenge announced yesterday (Oct 19) at ICCV 2025 is a first-of-its-kind benchmark and open competition for photon-level imaging and reconstruction.
The competition is now open! The submission deadline is April 1, 2026 (AOE) and winners will be announced in summer 2026.
The challenge provides access to single-photon datasets and a public leaderboard to benchmark algorithms for photon-efficient vision: https://SinglePhotonChallenge.com
For this image reconstruction challenge you will need to come up with a novel and creative ways to transform many single-photon camera frames into a single high quality image. This setting is very similar to traditional burst imaging but taken to its extreme limit. Instead of a few burst images you have access to a thousand, but the catch is that each input frame is extremely noisy.
There are thousands of dollars in prizes to win, thanks to the sponsors Ubicept and Singular Photonics.
Thursday, October 16, 2025
Samsung announces 0.5um pixel
https://semiconductor.samsung.com/image-sensor/mobile-image-sensor/isocell-hp5/
Specifications:
Effective Resolution
16,384 x 12,288 (200MP)
Pixel Size
0.5 μm
Optical Format
1/1.56"
Color Filter
Tetra²pixel RGB Bayer Pattern
Normal Frame Rate
7.5 fps @full, 30 fps @50MP, 90 fps @12.5MP
Video Frame Rate
30 fps @8K, 120 fps @4K, 480 fps @FHD (w/o AF)
Shutter Type
Electronic rolling shutter
ADC Accuracy
10-bit
Supply Voltage
2.2 V for analog, 1.8 V for I/O, 1.0 V for digital core supply
Operating Temperature
-20℃ to +85℃
Interface
4 lanes (4.5 Gbps per lane) D-PHY / 3 trios (4 Gsps per trio) C-PHY
Chroma
Tetra²pixel
Autofocus
Super QPD (PDAF)
HDR
Smart-ISO Pro (iDCG), Staggered HDR
Output Formats
RAW8, RAW10, RAW12, RAW14
Analog Gain
16x @full, 256x @12.5MP
Excerpt from Baidu news (translated with Google translate):
Samsung releases ISOCELL HP5, the world's first 0.5µm ultra-fine pixel 200 million image sensor
... Samsung officially released the new 200-megapixel image sensor ISOCELL HP5, which is expected to be the first telephoto camera of the OPPO Find X9 Pro mobile phone.
... ISOCELL HP5 sensor is 1/1.56 inches in size, has an ultra-high resolution of 16384 x 12288, and compresses the unit pixel size to 0.5 microns. It is Samsung's first 200 million image sensor in the world equipped with 0.5µm ultra-micro pixels.
To overcome the challenges posed by small pixels, ISOCELL HP5 integrates multiple cutting-edge technologies. Among them, dual vertical transfer gate (D-VTG) and front deep trench isolation (FDTI) technologies work together to effectively increase the full well capacity of each pixel, or its ability to accommodate light signals.
Tuesday, October 14, 2025
Tower Semiconductor preprint on 2.2um global shutter pixel
Yokoyama et al. from Tower Semiconductor have posted a preprint titled "Charge Domain Type 2.2um BSI Global Shutter Pixel with Dual Depth DTI Produced by Thick-Film Epitaxial Process":
Abstract: We developed a 2.2um Backside Illuminated (BSI) Global Shutter (GS) pixel with true charge-domain Correlated Double Sampling (CDS). A thick-film epitaxial deep DTI (Deep Trench Isolation) process was implemented to enhance 1/PLS (Parasitic Light Sensitivity) using a dual depth DTI structure.
The thickness of the epitaxial substrate was 8.5 um. This structure was designed using optical simulation. By using a thick epitaxial substrate, it is possible to reduce the amount of light that reaches the memory node. Dual-depth DTI, which shallows the DTI depth on the readout side, makes it possible to read signals from the PD to the memory node smoothly. To achieve this structure, we developed a process for thick epitaxial substrate, and the dual-depth DTI can be fabricated with a single mask. This newly developed pixel represents the smallest ever charge-domain GS pixel to date. Despite its compact size, this pixel achieved high QE (83%) and 1/PLS of over 10,000. The pixel maintains 80% of its peak QE at ±15 degrees. 1/PLS is stable even when the F# is small.
Full paper: https://sciprofiles.com/publication/view/7ae02d55ce8f3721ebfc8c35fb871d97
Saturday, October 11, 2025
Conference List - April 2026
IEEE 23rd International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging - 8-11 April 2026 - London, UK - Website
SPIE Photonics Europe - 12-16 April 2026 - Strasbourg, France - Website
IEEE Silicon Photonics Conference - 13-15 April 2026 - Ottawa, Ontario, Canada - Website
IEEE Custom Integrated Circuits Conference - 19-22 April 2026 - Seattle, Washington, USA - Website
Compound Semiconductor International Conference - 20-22 April 2026 - Brussels. Belgium - Website
SPIE Defense + Security - 26-30 April 2026 - National Harbor, Maryland, USA - Website
If you know about additional local conferences, please add them as comments.
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