“Samsung’s ISOCELL image sensors have made great leaps over the generations, with technologies such as ISOCELL for high color fidelity and Dual Pixel for ultra-fast autofocusing, bringing the smartphone camera ever closer to DSLR-grade photography,” said Ben K. Hur, VP of System LSI marketing at Samsung Electronics. “With an added DRAM layer, Samsung’s new 3-stack ISOCELL Fast 2L3 will enable users to create more unique and mesmerizing content.”
Conventional image sensors are constructed with two silicon layers; a pixel array layer that converts light information into an electric signal, and an analog logic layer that processes the electric signal into digital code. The digital code is then sent via MIPI interface to the device’s mobile processor for further image tuning before being saved to the device’s DRAM. While all these steps are done instantaneously to implement features like zero-shutter lag, capturing smooth super-slow-motion video requires image readouts at a much higher rate.
The 2Gb LPDDR4 DRAM layer is attached below the analog logic layer. With the integration, the image sensor can temporarily store a larger number of frames taken in high speed quickly onto the sensor’s DRAM layer before sending frames out to the mobile processor and then to the device’s DRAM. This not only allows the sensor to capture a full-frame snapshot at 1/120 of a second but also to record super-slow motion video at up to 960fps.
By storing multiple frames in the split of a second, the sensor can support 3-Dimensional Noise Reduction (3DNR) when shooting in low-light, as well as real time HDR imaging, and detect even the slightest hint of movement for automatic instant slow-motion recording.
The image sensor is also equipped with Dual Pixel technology, which allows each and every one of the 12M pixels of the image sensor to employ two photodiodes that respectively work as a PDAF agent.
The ISOCELL Fast 2L3 is currently in mass production.
interesting to see that the connection to the package still is done with wirebonds while the chip itself uses a direct bonding between the layers... What are the technical reasons for using wirebonds here?
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