Low-End Laptops to Keep VGA Camera Forever

PRNewswire: "Analysts predict that 20% of embedded notebook cameras will remain at VGA resolutions for the foreseeable future, due to cost considerations in the entry-level market," said Jason Chiang, product marketing manager at OmniVision. "By introducing this new OV0VA10 SoC with advanced pixel technology, OmniVision is increasing the performance and extending the viability of the VGA notebook camera market."

OmniVision OV0VA10 SoC integrates a VGA image sensor and signal processor in a single chip-scale package. The SoC's OmniPixel 3-HS allows entry level, thin-bezel notebook designers to incorporate the VGA camera with excellent low light image capture for applications such as videoconferencing. Additionally, it offers 30% lower power consumption than the leading competitor.

Additionally, its OmniPixel 3-HS enhances color performance with symmetric pixel design to eliminate color shading and optimize the signal-to-noise ratio. This SoC's integrated image sensor has a 1/10" optical format and 2.2um pixel size, enabling a 4mm camera module in the Y dimension for the latest entry level notebooks with thinner bezels. Additionally, it is manufactured using 200mm wafer process and is offered in an 8" chip-scale package with a DVP interface.

FT: 15% of Sony CIS Sales Go to Huawei

FT discusses the US ban on components sale to Huawei. As Panasonic and Toshiba halt shipping their chips to the Chinese company, a question arises about Sony image sensors. They are used in all Huawei flagship phones and are difficult to substitute.

When contacted, Sony executives declined to comment on that. Jefferies analyst Atul Goyal estimates that Sony image sensor sales to Huawei is about 15% of the company's total CIS production. Oppo and Vivo use Sony sensors too, so if Huawei loses its market share to them, it should not impact Sony much. However, if Samsung takes over Huawei's products, Sony sales might suffer.

Aurora Buys Blackmore

Techcrunch, Wired, Forbes: Aurora, an AI self-driving startup that recently raised $530M in Round B, acquires Montana-based 10 year-old FMCW Doppler LiDAR developer Blackmore. The 70 Blackmore employees will join the 250 Aurora's engineers and technicians. So far, Blackmore has raises $21.5M in tow financing rounds.

“We're really the pioneers in FM lidar,” Blackmore founder and CEO Randy Reibel says. “The easiest analogy is AM radio versus FM radio. If you think back to the days of broadcast radio, AM radio has a lot of interference. It’s staticky. When you work with an FM lidar system, or an FM radio, you don’t have that interference. That’s a huge deal in this space, especially from a safety perspective. … As we start to pack the roads with hundreds and hundreds of lidars in close proximity, they’re going to crosstalk. With an FM lidar, you don’t have any of those interference challenges.”

That kind of consolidation will likely continue, Reibel predicted, in part because it’s challenging for LiDAR companies to “go it alone.” AV companies are particularly protective of their tech and opening the door to an outside LiDAR company takes convincing.

Aurora said it is not interested in manufacturing hardware, whether it’s cars or LiDARs. The company will work with automotive Tier 1 suppliers and other partners as it scales.

Update on Ominivision and Superpix Acquisition by Will Semi

From Deloitte doc: "In 2018, Shanghai Will Semiconductor acquired a 85% stake in Beijing SuperPix Micro Technology and a 96% stake in Beijing OmniVision Technologies for USD2.18bn to take advantage of the high-end technics of OmniVision and cost control capabilities of SuperPix."

See here the previous reports on that.

Yanta Research on 2018 CIS Market Shares

Korea-based Yanta Research publishes its view on CIS market shares with Hynix taking #4 spot on the chart:

Omnivision VGA NIR Camera Module

PRNewswire: OmniVision announces the OVM7251 VGA CameraCubeChip module built on the 3um OmniPixel 3-GS global shutter pixel. The module is available in an 850nm version for AR/VR eye tracking, and a 940nm version for machine vision and 3D sensing in mobile facial authentication.

“Until now, most camera modules for these applications have been built with rolling shutters, which have latency issues. Meanwhile, global shutter modules have previously been too large and expensive,” said Aaron Chiang, marketing director at OmniVision. “Our new OVM7251 overcomes these challenges by providing a cost effective VGA module with global shutter performance in a wafer-level, reflowable form factor.”

The OVM7251’s sleep current consumption is 5mA, and during active mode. The module is available now for sampling and volume production, along with an evaluation kit.

Fast Imaging in the Dark

Pixart and National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan publish an open access paper "Fast Imaging in the Dark by using Convolutional Network" by Mian Jhong Chiu, Guo-Zhen Wang, and Jen-Hui Chuang presented at 2019 IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS):

"While fast imaging in low-light condition is crucial for surveillance and robot applications, it is still a formidable challenge to resolve the seemingly inevitable high noise level and low photon count issues. A variety of image enhancement methods such as de-blurring and de-noising have been proposed in the past. However, limitations can still be found in these methods under extreme low-light condition. To overcome such difficulty, a learning-based image enhancement approach is proposed in this paper. In order to support the development of learning-based methodology, we collected a new low-lighting dataset (less than 0.1 lux) of raw short-exposure (6.67 ms) images, as well as the corresponding long-exposure reference images. Based on such dataset, we develop a light-weight convolutional network structure which is involved with fewer parameters and has lower computation cost compared with a regular-size network. The presented work is expected to make possible the implementation of more advanced edge devices, and their applications."

Sony Opens Design Centers in Norway, Germany, and Switzerland

Sony posts the following message at LinkedIn: "Sony Semiconductor Solutions, the largest image sensor supplier in the world, is establishing new design centers across Europe (Norway, Germany, Switzerland).

The design centers will focus on the design and the development of image sensors targeting a plethora of markets including mobile, automotive and industrial. The European design teams will work closely with Sony Semiconductor design and manufacturing teams in Japan.

We are starting a wide recruitment campaign all over Europe with the purpose of hiring analogue and digital engineers as well as engineering managers and field application engineers."

Thanks to AB for the pointer!

Ge-on-Si SPAD Publications

As noted in comments to my previous post on Heriot Watt University Ge-on-Si SPADs, there is a similar work in Eduardo Charbon group in EPFL and Delft University. The most recent development is presented in open-access IEEE TED paper "CMOS-Compatible PureGaB Ge-on-Si APD Pixel Arrays" by Amir Sammak, Mahdi Aminian, Lis K. Nanver, and Edoardo Charbon:

"Pure gallium and pure boron (PureGaB) Ge-on-Si photodiodes were fabricated in a CMOS compatible process and operated in linear and avalanche mode. Three different pixel geometries with very different area-to-perimeter ratios were investigated in linear arrays of 300 pixels with each a size of 26 x 26 mu m(2). The processing of anode contacts at the anode perimeters leaving oxide covered PureGaB-only light-entrance windows, created perimeter defects that increased the vertical Ge volume but did not deteriorate the diode ideality. The dark current at 1 V reverse bias was below 35 mu A/cm(2) at room temperature and below the measurement limit of 2.5 x 10(-2) mu A/cm(2) at 77 K. Spread in dark current levels and optical gain, that reached the range of 10(6) at 77 K, was lowest for the devices with largest perimeter. All device types were reliably operational in a wide temperature range from 77 K to room temperature. The spectral sensitivity of the detectors extended from visible to the telecom band with responsivities of 0.15 and 0.135 A/W at 850 and 940 nm, respectively."

Leeds University publishes a PhD Thesis "Electronic Transport Properties of Silicon-Germanium Single Photon Avalanche Detectors" by Helen Rafferty.

"Single photon avalanche detectors (SPADs) have uses in a number of applications, including time-of-flight ranging, quantum key distribution and low-light sensing. Germanium has an absorption edge at the key communications wavelengths of 1.3-1.55um, and can be grown epitaxially on silicon, however, SiGe SPADs exhibit a number of performance limitations, including low detection efficiencies, high dark counts and afterpulsing. Unintentional doping may affect electronic performance, and band-to-band tunnelling at high operational voltages SPADs may lead to noise currents. Additionally, defects in the Si/Ge interface lead to trap states within the bandgap and contribute to afterpulsing.

This work investigates a range of critical performance parameters in SiGe SPADs. The effect of intentional and unintentional doping in SPADs on electric fields, potential profiles and carrier transport in the device is investigated, and optimal dopant profiles for a SiGe SPAD discussed. The dependence of band-to-band tunnelling currents in Ge on bias voltage, Ge thickness and temperature is investigated, and these currents are compared to other sources of noise currents in SPADs. DFT calculations of misfit dislocation structures in Ge are undertaken, to establish electronic bandstructures and optimised geometries for these defects, and identify trap states in the bandgap, which may contribute to afterpulsing and dark counts in SPADs. A number of directions for continuing work are identified, to progress understanding of noise currents and afterpulsing in SPADs."

Himax and Emza Announce Human-Aware Vision for Notebooks

GlobeNewsWire: Himax and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Emza Visual Sense announce WiseEye 2.0 NB, an intelligent vision solution for notebook computers. It is said to be the industry’s first ultra-low power, AI-based intelligent visual sensor that adds the advanced human presence awareness functionality for notebooks while supporting always-on operation. The solution has been tested and well received by the leading global chipmaker and Quanta Computer, the world’s largest original design manufacturer (ODM) of notebook computers, for inclusion in their next-generation mainstream notebook platforms.

"We are excited that the WiseEye 2.0 solution’s coverage has expanded from IoT devices to notebook computers as it opens up new growth opportunities in the high-end notebook ecosystem. It’s a real win-win situation for OEMs, ODMs and Himax/Emza. Our unique technology consists of Himax’s CMOS image sensor and Emza’s AI-based computer vision algorithm running on an Himax-designed ASIC, all catered for ultra-low power consumption to enable always-on operation of the end device. The partnership with the world’s leading chipmaker and notebook ODM allows us to closely engage with multiple global notebook OEMs, targeting their next generation product launches for the 2020 back to school season,” said Jordan Wu, President and Chief Executive Officer of Himax Technologies.

The key features of the WiseEye 2.0 NB intelligent visual sensor for human presence detection include:

• Enhanced AI-enabled User Experience: a combination of ultra-low power image sensor and energy efficient CV image processing algorithm, augmented with AI-based machine learning, enable automatic wake up of the notebook from standby mode or locking the screen based on specific human behavior or movements. This is a significant improvement over the existing solutions that do not function when the notebook is in sleep mode.
• Extended Battery Life: AI-based always-on camera (AoS) can detect user engagement levels based on presence and face posing, enabling power management of the display and maximizing battery life.
• Improved Privacy and Security: WiseEye 2.0 NB can detect the presence of additional humans in the field of view and send an alert to the user.
• Expanded FOV: Optimized for 60-90 deg. HFOV and flexible VFOV as opposed to currently used simple sensors which are sensitive to screen angles. Wider FOV can enable early detection and sensing of flexible movement even when users are close to the screen.
• Increased Distance Detection: High accuracy sensing of human presence from up to 5 meters away enables a quick response to user detection even when approaching the device at high speeds.
• Production Friendly Technology: Does not need strict tolerances in mounting versus solutions that require calibration due to limited FOV.
• Tiny Form Factor: The Himax 2-in-1 (AoS and RGB) sensor is the first hybrid CMOS sensor specifically for notebook computers. The sensor combines high quality HD image capabilities with ultra-low-power visual sensing, for AI context awareness applications. The new CMOS sensor will be available at end of 2019
• Privacy Awareness: The sensor image is processed entirely on the dedicated WiseEye 2.0 processor, co-located with the CMOS image sensor, so that the image is never transmitted to the main platform. This architecture is specially designed to meet the highest privacy standards.

“Expanding our industry leading intelligent vision solutions into notebook computing is a great achievement,” said Yoram Zylberberg, CEO of Emza Visual Sense, “applying ultra low-power machine learning AI for notebooks is the key especially while device operation is suspended to extend the life of the battery. Leveraging the AI benefits that we developed for IoT and now applying it to notebook is a great demonstration of the agility of our solution and our readiness to adapt the technology for specific customer requirements.”