Samsung SVP on Sensor Development Process

Imaging Resource published an interview with Samsung Imaging Business execs. Few interesing quotes:

Byungdeok Nam, SVP, R&D Team, Digital Imaging Business says: "It usually takes about a year and a half to two years to develop sensors, and we have what are called test vehicles, where on a wafer we can try different samples of sensors with different technologies. Of all these different sensors, we see which is most strong, appropriate or optimal for us, and then we concentrate our development of that technology with that sensor. So in the beginning, we would have many different samples of sensors, and we would then do the evaluation , and decide on one sensor, and then do the development on that sensor."

Byungdeok Nam responds on smartphones vs. digital cameras question: "Well, basically, the OS for cameras and the OS for smartphones are different. Right now, phones have more processing power and they have more memory, So semiconductor companies are providing products that are needed by the smartphone companies, but I think that the same goes for cameras. I guess that in a year or two, cameras can have the same processing power or memory as smartphones."

NHK Interview on HiVision Progress

Image Sensors 2012 interviews Hiroshi Shimamoto who will present NHK 8K/120fps sensor on the upcoming conference. Few quotes:

"Super Hi-Vision (SHV) is a future broadcast system that will give viewers a great sensation of reality. SHV consists of an extremely high-resolution (16 times of HDTV) imagery system and 22.2 channel super surround multi-channel sound system.
We are now proposing to extend its frame frequency from 60 Hz to 120 Hz to improve the motion picture quality, and to have a wide-gamut colorimetry for better color reproduction. We call this new SHV system "full-spec SHV"."

Chipworks Finds Omnivision Sensors Inside the New iPad

Chipworks was quick revealing Omnivision OV5650 5MP BSI sensor inside the main camera of the new iPad. This is the same 1.75um pixel sensor used in iPhone 4:

The secondary VGA camera uses Omnivision's OV297AA 3um pixel sensor. The same sensor is used in iPod Nano and iPad 2:

Thanks to EK for sending me the news! Looks like Needham was wrong predicting Samsung sensors in iPad in January.

Pixpolar's 1T Pixel Presentation

Pixpolar published a nice Youtube video promoting its 1T MIG pixel:

TI Licenses Apical's HDR ISP Cores

EETimes: Apical announced a licensing agreement with TI in which TI will use Apical’s iridix ISP IP cores in future products.

iridix acts as a central component in high dynamic range imaging and also helps address several imaging design challenges for converged mobile imaging devices.

The iridix image processing IP cores will be integrated into TI products targeting digital imaging and display applications. Apical also licensed its ISP IP to Samsung in 2009, Hynix in 2010, HiSense in 2011, and HiSilicon in 2012.

Microsoft Research Presented Depth-Mapping Webcam

Microsoft Research had held a TechFest event on March 6, 2012 where it presented a new 3D-mapping webcams, shown in this Youtube video (a higher resolution version directly from Microsoft site is here):



Microsoft says: "This project presents next-generation webcam hardware and software prototypes. The new prototype webcam has an extremely wider view angle than traditional webcams and can capture stereo movie and high-accuracy depth images simultaneously."

Update: The zoomed face of Microsoft's 3D Webcam from the slide above (click to enlarge):

Another zoomed version under slightly different angle and better resolution:

IMS: Apple Needs to Embrace Vision-Based User Interface Technology

IMS Research believes Apple will need to embrace embedded vision-based technologies in its next product releases in order for the company to maintain its competitive edge.

Competitors such as Samsung and Microsoft have steadily begun integrating these technologies in recent releases and several more have products slated for debut in the next year, as competitive differentiators to employ against Apple. These technologies will also become commonplace in the years to come.

Apple’s competitors are also more aggressively deploying camera-based gesture recognition applications. Microsoft has already shown its commitment to gesture control with the Xbox 360 and upcoming Windows 8 platforms, along with gesture-friendly common interfaces across devices. Windows 8-based laptops and tablets incorporating gesture control with either standard or enhanced front-facing cameras are debuting this year. Android-based smartphones and tablets incorporating gesture control will debut in volume in late 2012. In the home video arena, where Apple has significant aspirations, Samsung is only the first of several major consumer electronics companies to debut camera-based gesture recognition this year in its Smart TVs. Vision-based applications are thus expected to be a competitive differentiator going forward.

Mixel and Graphin Demo M-PHY MIPI Products

Business Wire: Mixel and Graphin announce what they call the world’s first end-to-end video transmission over a MIPI M-PHY link. In 2010, the two companies established a strategic partnership to address the emerging M-PHY and to produce a “Golden M-PHY” IC to be used in Graphin’s evaluation system. As a result of that collaboration, Mixel achieved first-silicon success with its M-PHY test chip supporting all use cases, and was the first and only IP provider to demonstrate that capability in the MIPI face-to-face meeting in Copenhagen in June 2011. The companies will now be demonstrating end-to-end video transmission using the Mixel chip in the MIPI Alliance face-to-face meeting in Seoul, Korea on March 13th.

Mixel’s M-PHY IP supports both TYPE I and TYPE II operation, A and B data rates, and all current and future MIPI M-PHY use-cases, such as DigRF v4, UniProSM 1.4, CSI-3, LLI, and JEDEC’s UFS. The MXL-MIPI-M-PHY-HSG2 supports High-Speed (HS) Gear1 (G1), Gear2 (G2), as well as Low-Speed Gear 0 (LS-G0) through LS-G7. The IP supports 1.0 version of the M-PHY specifications, and has been silicon proven for over a year now.

TowerJazz Announced 0.11um Pixel Platform, Easy Migration from 0.18um Process

PR Newswire: TowerJazz announces its TS11IS hybrid CIS process, a combination of 0.11um and 0.16um platform. The TS11IS combines TowerJazz's 0.16um CMOS for periphery circuits and its 0.11um pushed design rules for the pixel array. The process is targeted for applications in high end photography, machine vision, 3D imaging and security sensors.

The new platform, based on Tower's 0.16um CMOS shrink process, will allow easy re-use of existing customers' 0.18um circuit IP which will save them from investing in resources to redesign existing blocks, and increase the probability for first time success. The TS11IS offers improved pixel performance, smaller pixel pitch, higher resolution, improved sensitivity, and improved angular response. It allows up to 50% reduction of pixel size, mainly for high-end global shutter pixels.

The platform includes a new local interconnect layer to allow denser metallization routing in pixels while maintaining good QE. It also includes tighter design rules for all metal layers and implant layers as well as provides a "Bathtub" option for lower stack height, improving the sensors' angular response.

"By allowing significantly smaller pixels, higher resolution and enhanced pixel performance, our new platform ideally serves our customers' needs for the professional CIS markets, allowing them to create new business opportunities, expand the span of applications accessible for their designs, and enlarge their market share," said Jonathan Gendler, Director of CIS Marketing. "We have received enthusiastic feedback from all of our customers on the opportunity to keep working with our established process environment and reuse their design block IP, while being able to shrink the pixel array and die size. This new platform not only improves the cost model of their products, but at the same time enhances device performance."

The new hybrid CIS process platform will be offered for prototyping for select customers in Q3 2012, and for production towards the end of 2012. The new process and other advances will be showcased at the Image Sensors (IS) conference in London on March 20-22, 2012.

According to Yole Development, the forecast for high-end CMOS image sensors is expected to be ~$2B in 2015 with a CAGR of 13%.

Color Shading Discussion

Albert Theuwissen discusses color shading measurements in his latest post in "How to measure..." series: "Even if the shading component is small, it can result in (minor) changes in spectral response across the sensor. These type of errors can have a severe effect on colour shading in a colour sensor and can make colour reconstruction pretty complicated. So it absolutely worthwhile to check out the shading under light conditions."