tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19092890.post1272450933514320778..comments2024-03-28T15:26:27.432+02:00Comments on Image Sensors World: Reportedly, Altasens Closed DownVladimir Koifmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01800020176563544699noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19092890.post-4160920011255840862017-01-20T00:27:57.150+02:002017-01-20T00:27:57.150+02:00This comment has been removed by the author.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11116512314989422451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19092890.post-51134880761996102962017-01-18T21:40:45.767+02:002017-01-18T21:40:45.767+02:00http://www.altasens.com/index.php/34-yootheme/alta...http://www.altasens.com/index.php/34-yootheme/altatheme/224-notice-of-changes<br /><br />On the bright side, it is good to know that all the customers we helped and worked with will be taken care of. <br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19092890.post-77658466517477093012017-01-18T11:56:04.161+02:002017-01-18T11:56:04.161+02:00"Things that make you laugh might kill you in..."Things that make you laugh might kill you in the end" (by Neil Young in "From Henk to Hendrix")Albert Theuwissen - Harvest Imagingnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19092890.post-6990157624240493092017-01-18T00:37:14.793+02:002017-01-18T00:37:14.793+02:00The thing that killed Altasens was that during the...The thing that killed Altasens was that during the Olympus-ownership days, most of the company's resources were channeled in to a project for them with unachievable goals (using the technology available at the time). Only a little attention was given to the products that were making money, so over time they went from industry-leading to behind the competition.<br /><br />By the time they were sold to JVC Kenwood, they were too far behind to catch up.<br /><br />Perhaps they needed Olympus' money to survive at some point, but it doomed them in the end.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19092890.post-4158606590272906702017-01-16T19:37:38.505+02:002017-01-16T19:37:38.505+02:00Indeed I heard from a packaging house that they wo...Indeed I heard from a packaging house that they worked with TSMC on a pixel-level stacking sensor. That was so long time ago, maybe 5-6 years. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19092890.post-56900691532902688362017-01-16T19:27:06.437+02:002017-01-16T19:27:06.437+02:00As to what Lester and his team were developing you...As to what Lester and his team were developing you can refer to an older post on this blog<br />http://image-sensors-world.blogspot.com/2012/11/altasens-talks-about-stacked-sensor.html<br /><br />and Lester recent talk at the local IEEE chapter<br />https://www.meetup.com/Buenaventura-IEEE-Advancing-Technology-for-Humanity-Meetup/events/231776409/Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19092890.post-25909267025157298782017-01-16T14:04:42.240+02:002017-01-16T14:04:42.240+02:00Vlad, I think AltaSens switched to 4T around 2006 ...Vlad, I think AltaSens switched to 4T around 2006 or so. I also heard they had a stacked BSI global shutter chip almost ready for sampling. So, I think the issue is more likely level of investment by the owners (JVC Kenwood) compared to the larger companies, and patience with the consequent longer development cycle. I agree though that I really don't think there is room for smaller companies to compete against the big giants except in niche markets and/or custom applications. Also, I would include ON-Semi as a (shorter) giant.Eric R Fossumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09740612324630105312noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19092890.post-22297238639288551262017-01-16T01:45:38.783+02:002017-01-16T01:45:38.783+02:00We had a few other things up our sleeve that we we...We had a few other things up our sleeve that we were developing. Competing against Sony with conventional imagers is indeed difficult, so we were working on things that promised a differentiation.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19092890.post-54435334183015511642017-01-15T21:36:27.868+02:002017-01-15T21:36:27.868+02:00My understanding is that Altasens used to have a v...My understanding is that Altasens used to have a very unique technology in 3T pixel times. However, its lost its advantage when the whole industry switched over to 4T. True, they have proposed SoC integration, dual exposure HDR, and few other things, but they've lost a differentiation they used to have in 3T times. Without that, it's almost impossible to compete with Sony, Samsung and Omnivision.Vladimir Koifmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01800020176563544699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19092890.post-10744492830704525942017-01-15T17:22:11.383+02:002017-01-15T17:22:11.383+02:00I had the pleasure of visiting AltaSens in March 2...I had the pleasure of visiting AltaSens in March 2016. It was a vibrant company with many excellent engineers, some of which came from the infrared focal plane activity at Rockwell Science Center in Thousand Oaks. My friend Les Kozlowski (who taught me how to test a CCD for the first time in the summer of 1981 at Hughes MSG) was a co-founder and led the company. <br /><br />SoCal image sensor companies like Forza or Samsung etc. ought to grab some of these engineers if they can!<br /><br />I can't figure out why JVC Kenwood did not try to sell the group intact to ON or Omnivision etc. Anyway, RIP AltaSens. Enjoy some rest and then onwards to the next thing!Eric R Fossumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09740612324630105312noreply@blogger.com