The company information page says it has "developed a board range of high performance image sensor and relative image process chip, and most of them achieved domestic advanced level. Up to now, there are over 50 million chips had been sold. And based on customers’ comments, the products are stable and reliable. The latest 12MP CMOS image sensor is the very first domestic product beyond 10MP, which represents the highest level of that field in China. The company has been appraised “100 Innovative Experiment Enterprises” by ministry of science and technology, and won the honor of “A Level Credit Outstanding Corporation”".
The company product range spans from 1/15-inch 0.08MP to APS-C 12MP sensors. The pixel size range is from 1.75um used in 2MP sensor to 6um in APS-C DSLR one. The package options include TSV:
The 2MP 1/5-inch SP2518 is said to be "based on the 3rd generation 1.75um CMOS image sensor pixel architecture designed by SuperPix". With Integrated ISP it consumes 220mW power. The reported dark current is 40e/s at 60C. The maximum SNR is 38dB, quite in line with other sensors with similar pixel size. The summary table above says SP2518 is able to work at 15fps speed, the product page claims 13fps at full 1600 x 1200 resolution, while the product flyer says the speed is "up to 12fps" at full resolution.
Another interesting product is SP8AC08 12MP APS-C DSLR sensor. "The SP8AC08 is a high quality and low power consumption 12 mega pixel image sensor capable of capturing color digital images. 4260(V) x 2840(H) active pixels are incorporated in and each pixel size is 6 um. High Sensitivity, High SNR, and Low dark current also are the advantages can’t be ignored. These particularities will result in extremely visual impression. SP8AC08 is the first homemade CMOS image sensor which has resolution up to 12 mega pixel." Here is the sensor's spec:
Who is their foundry? SMIC??
ReplyDeleteUsed to be Tower in the past. Not sure about now. Actually, for a big DSLR sensor Tower might be the best option, as it has a lot of experience in large sensors manufacturing.
ReplyDeleteWhat is the major challenge in DSLR sensors? 27Mhz is not that high speed anyway.
ReplyDeleteTheir 2MP ones used 0.18 um SMIC process.
ReplyDeleteHow about quality & price of TSMC, SMIC, Towers, etc??
ReplyDeleteI doubt any of these SuperPix sensors are at volume production, so the foundry pricing is a smaller concern for them. Their biggest success so far was actually an add-on image processing chip to MTK's 6223 for the Chinese white-box cell phone market.
ReplyDeleteGalaxycore, on the other hand, is in a different game. The foundry pricing may very well be one of the reasons that they are reportedly switching from SMIC to Hua-Hong NEC.
@ "I doubt any of these SuperPix sensors are at volume production"
ReplyDeleteSuperpix site claims they've already sold 50M sensors. While not that big number, it's definitely mass production.
12MP , 4264(H) x 2844(V) with 6um pixel;
ReplyDeletesensor array ~ 25584um x 17064um,
How many gross die per wafer ??
Well you can get 40-50 dies from a 8" wafer. If you pay 1500$ per wafer, each die will cost you 30-40$. If you can sell it for 500$, it's still OK.
ReplyDeleteAny one knows the quality of Hua-Hong NEC CIS process?
ReplyDeleteI saw on their website their process presentation, but no mention about CIS.
volumn may be exaggerated a little bit, but in general close to truth. foundry is at Grace, now merged with HHNEC.Tower is no longer their foundry.
ReplyDelete