MIPI to Adopt USB Protocol, USB to Adopt M-PHY

PR Newswire: MIPI Alliance and the USB 3.0 Group will facilitate the combined use of the MIPI M-PHY(SM) physical layer with the SuperSpeed USB protocol and software layers to produce the SuperSpeed Inter-Chip (SSIC) specification. Currently under development, the spec will bring M-PHY's high bandwidth and low power, and the performance enhancements of SuperSpeed USB "inside" the mobile device interface system. The two groups anticipate the SSIC specification will be available to USB adopters in early 2012.

Essentially it brings the unification between PC and mobile worlds, allowing same MIPI-interfaced sensors be used for both. So far M-PHY interface works up to 2.9 Gbps per lane with up-scalability to 5.8 Gbps per lane, while SuperSpeed USB has a 5 Gbps signaling rate.

Update: EETimes published an article on MIPI-USB marriage.

Biggest Imager Ever Made on 8" Wafer

PC World: University of Lincoln (UK) announced it has created the 12.8cm by 12.8cm square imager claimed to be the biggest ever made on 200mm wafer. Nigel Allinson, Distinguished Professor of Image Engineering at Lincoln created "DynAMITe" sensor, said: "DynAMITe was designed for medical imaging, in particular mammography and radiotherapy, so the individual pixels are much larger than those found in consumer digital cameras or mobile phones. As it will withstand exposure to very high levels of x-ray and other radiation, it will operate for many years in the adverse environment of cancer diagnosis and treatment instruments; and represents a major advance over the existing technology of amorphous Silicon panels."

Aptina Named 2010 EDN Innovation Award Winner

Business Wire: Aptina announced that its APS-C format 16MP MT9H004 sensor was selected as a winner in the 2010 EDN Innovation Award competition for its ability to deliver maximum SNR across all scene lighting and ISO speed conditions. Through the addition of a pixel-level, dual-conversion gain switch, MT9H004 combines two modes of operation in one pixel design – a high conversion gain mode with increased sensitivity and low read noise for low-light scenes and a low conversion gain mode for large charge handling capacity in bright scenes.

Cambridge Mechatronics Developed AF and OIS for Camera Phones

EETimes: Cambridge Mechatronics (UK) has developed an actuator technology for optical image stabilization in small camera modules. The system is based on wires of nickel-titanium shape memory alloy (SMA) and an associated control and heating ASIC. The alloy has the property that it contracts and expands in a precise and reliable manner under heating and cooling at frequencies of 1 to 30-Hz in response to gyroscope measurements of handshake:

The prototype camera modules are said to provide more than 24dB (more than 4 optical stops) of hand shake suppression for 8.5-mm by 8.5-mm by 5.7-mm 8MP module. The motor is controlled by XC104 SMA Motor Processor IC developed in collaboration with Swindon Silicon Systems. The chip is based on 8051 core that controls integrated MOSFETs that deliver up to 30-mA to heat and control the SMA wire. The chip is being manufactured by IBM at Burlington in a 0.18um process.

The company's business model is to license lens and camera module integrators to use its SMA actuator patent portfolio and provide the control ASIC, its CEO Simon Calder Calder said. Cambridge Mechatronics is targeting mass production of 8- and 13-MP OIS-plus-AF cameras in Q2 2012.

Pixart Margin Fell to 34-35%

Digitimes: Pixart expects its revenues to grow 10-15% sequentially in Q2 2011 due to strong demand for optical mouse sensors, but its gross margin to drop to 34-35% from 35.7% recorded in the previous quarter. The company's shipments of optical mouse sensors are expected to top 90-100M units in the first half of 2011 and 200M units for all of 2011. Shipments of high-margin sensors for Nintendo's Wii consoles are likely to decline in Q2 as consumers are waiting for the launch of Wii 2.

ST Sensors inside RIM Playbook

Chipworks teardown revealed that RIM Playbook tablet relies on two ST image sensors: 5MP primary camera's 5953BA and 3MP secondary 58548A, both based on 1.4um pixels. Chipworks writes: "This is a pretty big design win for STMicro, since it also has won the image processor (on a separate chip). The STV0986 (package markings show an X) is touted as a 5 Mp mobile imaging processor that can support up to two mobile sensors."

The 5MP ST5953BA sensor is said to have "aluminum & copper interconnect, a unique implementation of Bayer patterned color filters, a novel unit pixel isolation technique, uncommon microlens structure, and a thinned pixel dielectric stack."

Supposedly 5MP ST5953

Nobukazu Teranishi Awarded with PSA Progress Medal

Nobukazu Teranishi (Panasonic) has been selected as a recipient of the 2011 Photographic Society of America (PSA) Progress Medal Award for his invention of pinned photodiode. The award committee says: "The high performance of pinned photodiodes drove the pixel size shrinkage, and realized higher resolution. As a result, almost all CCD’s and CMOS sensors came to utilize the pinned photodiode, and 200-million CCD’s and 1,000-million CMOS sensors were produced for various applications in 2008. Mr. Teranishi’s pinned photodiode is the most innovative technology for both CCD’s and CMOS sensors."

The award will be presented at the PSA International Conference of Photography in Colorado Springs, Colorado on Sept. 18-24 2011.

Thanks to AT for sending me the news!

TowerJazz and Medigus Announce 2nd Generation of World’s Smallest Camera

Business Wire: TowerJazz and Medigus announced successful sampling of the second generation of TowerJazz's CMOS imager that serves in Medigus' line of disposable miniature cameras. Its image sensor measures 0.66x0.66 mm and has resolution of 45K pixels. Medigus and TowerJazz are said to use advanced technologies, including TSV for packaging. The camera’s diameter is only 0.99 mm which is said to be the first video camera in the world with a diameter smaller than 1 mm.

Medigus will begin supplying samples of the camera to customers in Japan and in the US for cardiology procedures. The camera will be integrated in Medigus’ other endoscopy products and will also be sold to third-party medical equipment manufacturers.

Image Sensors at 2011 VLSI Symposium

2011 Symposia on VLSI Technology and Circuits to be held on June 13-17 in Kyoto, Japan has published their advance programs with abstracts of few papers on image sensors:

A Digital CDS Scheme on Fully Column-Inline TDC Architecture for An APS-C Format CMOS Image Sensor
T. Takahashi, H. Ui, N. Takatori, S. Sanada, T. Hamamoto, H. Nakayama, Y. Moriyama, M. Akahide, T. Ueno and N. Fukushima
Sony Corporation and Sony LSI Design, Japan

This paper proposes a digital correlate double sampling (CDS) scheme which is suitable for a column-inline time to digital converter (TDC). The column-parallel TDCs, where measurements are made with a counter and delay line interpolation, achieve high speed A/D conversion without decreasing resolution. An APS-C format image sensor with 12-bit 360 Mpixel/s readout is realized in a cost-effective 0.18-µm CMOS technology.

A 640×480 Image Sensor with Unified Pixel Architecture for 2D/3D Imaging in 0.11μm CMOS
S.-J. Kim, J.D.K. Kim, S.-W. Han, B. Kang, K. Lee and C.-Y. Kim
Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, Korea

A 3D image sensor is presented employing a time multiplexed concept for color and depth image acquisition in a single chip to generate a real-time 3D image of an arbitrary scene. The pixel adopts a split photodiode to demodulate time-of-flight signals effectively. Every four pixels share two storages and readout transistors to utilize 100% of photons and increase the sensitivity of infrared light by simple binning operation at the expense of resolution. With the fabricated prototype sensor, 640x480 color and depth images of the scenes 1-3m away are captured with an accuracy of 1-6cm.

A Dual In-Pixel Memory CMOS Image Sensor for Computation Photography
G. Wan, X. Li, G. Agranov, M. Levoy, and M. Horowitz
Aptina and Stanford University, USA

We present a new image sensor to help applications like high-dynamic range, structured illumination, motion corrected photography, etc. by providing two analog memories in each pixel. Clever pixel design allowed us to create the smallest pixel size and the largest fill factor for this class of imager, while supporting dual global shutter operation and true correlated double sampling (CDS) readout from both in-pixel memories to cancel kTC noise.

A CMOS Σ-Δ Photodetector Array for Bioluminescence-Based DNA Sequencing
R.R. Singh, B. Li, A. Elligton and A. Hassibi
University of Texas at Austin, USA

A fully-integrated photodetector array for long-read length bioluminescence-based DNA sequence-by-synthesis is implemented. Each pixel has 120dB photocurrent detection dynamic range and includes a 10fA-10nA pulse frequency modulation (PFM) background subtraction block and a 1st-order Σ-Δ modulator.

Electronic Global Shutter CMOS Image Sensor Using Oxide Semiconductor FET with Extremely Low Off-State Current
T. Aoki, M. Ikeda, M. Kozuma, H. Tamura, Y. Kurokawa, T. Ikeda, Y. Endo, T. Maruyama, N. Matsumoto, Y. Ieda, A. Isobe, J. Koyama and S. Yamazaki
Semiconductor Energy Laboratory, Japan

A novel CMOS image sensor including a pixel with a hybrid structure of an oxide semiconductor FET (OS-FET) and Si(SOI)-FETs has been developed. The OS-FET has an extremely low off-state current, and thus can form a highly insulating charge storage node in combination with SOI. We have therefore applied the OS-FET to an electronic global shutter CMOS image sensor and confirmed improvement in imaging quality.

Low-Power Sensor Design Thesis

York University in Toronto, Canada published Wei Gao PhD dissertation "Low Power Design Methodologies in Analog Blocks of CMOS Image Sensors". The main approach is to use automated analog optimization to achieve the minimal current consumption at given constraints.