HTC Switching from Samsung to Omnivision and Sony Sensors

Digitimes reports that HTC is going to switch its CIS orders from Samsung to Omnivision and Sony.

Pixpolar Updates its On-Line Simulator

Pixpolar updated its on-line image sensor simulator. PSF and pixel size were added to simulate the crosstalk.

Fraunhofer Prepares Black Silicon Spin-off

It looks like SiOnyx gets competition on the black silicon market (so to say, I'm not sure there is a market yet). Fraunhofer announced a progress in its own black silicon manufacturing process.

"Black silicon is produced by irradiating standard silicon with femtosecond laser pulses under a sulfur containing atmosphere," explains Dr. Stefan Kontermann, who heads the Research group "Nanomaterials for Energy Conversion" within the Fraunhofer Project Group for Fiber Optical Sensor Systems at the Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications, Heinrich-Hertz-Institut, HHI. "This structures the surface and integrates sulfur atoms into the silicon lattice, making the treated material appear black." If manufacturers were to equip their solar cells with this black silicon, it would significantly boost the cells’ efficiency by enabling them to utilize the full Sun spectrum.

So, the Fraunhofer researchers are planning a spin-off to market the laser system that manufacturers will be able to acquire to expand their existing solar cell production lines. "We hope to be able to increase the efficiency of commercial solar cells – which currently stands at approximately 17 percent – by one percent by combining them with black silicon," Kontermann says.

While Fraunhofer claims are quite similar to ones of SiOnyx, the SiOnyx name has not been mentioned in the article. A year ago SiOnyx reported achieving 0.3% improvement in solar cell efficiency.

Large Format Sensors Get Emmy Award

TV Week: The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) announced the recipients of the 64th Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards that will take place at CES on January 10, 2013. This is the 7th consecutive year that the Technology and Engineering Emmy Awards have been presented.

One of the awards go to the imaging companies for "Improvements to Large Format CMOS Imagers for Use in High Definition Broadcast Video Cameras". The companies that get the award are:

• Arnold & Richter Cine Technik (ARRI)
• Canon USA, Inc.
• RED Studios
• Sony Electronics Inc.

I was told that the fact that the adjectival phrase "large format" was inserted means that all others are still under consideration for future awards.

Thanks to MS for the link!

How to Measure RTS Pixels

Albert Theuwissen published an interesting post on identification, measurement and interpretation of various random telegraph signal effects (RTS) in pixels:

"This RTS effect can originate through :

• dark current effects in the pixel itself, then the two flipping signal levels will be observed also as 2 RTS levels, or,
• the effect of a single trap in the source follower, then the two flipping signal levels in combination with the CDS can be observed as 3 RTS levels, without CDS they remain as 2 RTS levels."

Rohm's CIGS NIR Image Sensor Wins CEATEC 2012 Innovation Award

Ubergizmo reports that Rohm’s CIGS NIR image sensor won CEATEC Japan 2012 Innovation Award. Rohm's sensor was selected because it allows the creation of NIR cameras that are much more power-efficient, small and cost effective than alternative solutions.

Different version of this sensor have been exhibited at CEATEC shows since 2007 (Tech-On), but have not been awarded up to now.

Sony Applies for a Curved Sensor Patent

Ubergizmo quotes Japanese-language Egami blog (via Google translation) describing a recently published Sony patent application on a method to create a curved image sensor surface. I was unable to find the original patent application link, so the only available info is what's published by Egami:

According to the Egami post, Sony proposes to control curvature by varying the magnetic force, volumetric shrinkage of the base due to heat, or by changing a vacuum suction force. Sony says that one needs to leave a flat portion of silicon around the curved one to avoid cracks.

Market Reviews by Yole

Yole Développement published "X-ray and Endoscopy Medical Imaging Applications & Technology Trends" report with sub-title "How CCD, CMOS and a-Si are Reshaping the Medical Imaging Industry".

Medical image sensor shipments are predicted to grow from 1.8M units to 4.2M units in
2017, fueled by growing sales of disposable endoscopes and camera pills:

In terms of revenue, medical image sensor market is forecasted to grow at 9% CAGR in the 2012-2017 period, and is expected to reach $112M in 2017. X-ray image sensors account for 93% of total medical image sensors market revenue due to the ultra expensive price of X-ray sensors:

Another Yole's presentation is based on its Oct. 2012 CIS market report and is titled "CMOS Image Sensors: Technology & Market Trends". According to Yole, the revenue-based market shares in 2011 were:

Few other interesting slides:

e2v Shipped 1M Jade Sensors, Omnivision Sold 3B Sensors (Cumulatively)

In September e2v celebrated the shipping of its 1 millionth Jade CMOS sensor, a 0.5MP global shutter device. The company sees this milestone as a demonstration of its ability to manage a high volume business supply chain. Jade sensor is mainly used by Cognex for 2D barcode scanning. (thanks to GP for the correction.)

The EV76C454 is a 850 x 640 pixel CMOS sensor. Its innovative pixel design offers excellent performance in low-light conditions and it has an electronic global (true snapshot) shutter which offers a high readout speed of 60 fps in full resolution and 80 fps in VGA mode. Very low power consumption enables this device to be used in battery powered applications.

Meanwhile, Omnivision published FY2012 shareholders presentation for the year ending on Apr. 30, 2012. In a year it sold 615M units and cumulatively 3B units:

IISW 2013 Call for Papers

The 2013 International Image Sensor Workshop to be held at Snowbird Resort, Utah, USA, June 12-16, 2013, announces Call for Papers.

Papers on the following topics are solicited:

Image Sensor Design and Performance

• CMOS Image sensors, CCD and CID image sensors. New architectures.
• Image sensors with rolling shutter and global shutter.
• Image sensors architecture, Low noise readout circuitry, ADC designs
• High frame rate Image sensors, High dynamic range sensors, Low voltage and low power
• High image quality. Low noise. High sensitivity. High color reproduction.
• Non-standard color patterns with special digital processing
• System-on-a-chip, Image sensors with digital preprocessing

Pixels and Image Sensor Device Physics

• New devices and structures. Advanced materials.
• Small pixels development, testing, and characterization
• New device physics and phenomena
• Techniques for increasing QE, well capacity, reducing crosstalk, and improving angular performance
• Front side illuminated and back side illuminated pixels and pixel arrays
• Nanotechnologies for Imaging
• Pixel simulation: Optical and Electrical simulation, 2D and 3D, CAD for design and simulation.

Application Specific Imagers

• Image sensors and pixels for depth sensing: TOF, RGBZ, Structured light, etc.
• Image sensors with enhanced spectral sensitivity (NIR, UV)
• Pixels and Image sensors for stereo Imaging
• Sensors for DVC, DSC, Mobile, DSLR and mirror-less cameras
• Array Imagers and sensors for Computational Imaging
• Sensors for medical applications, microbiology, genome sequencing,
• High energy photon and particle sensors (X-ray, Radiation).

Fabrication and testing

• New fabrication techniques. Backside thinning. Scaling.
• Wafer stacking, multilayer sensors, “3D” integration
• Advanced optical path, Color filters. Microlens. Light guide
• Packaging and Testing. Wafer level cameras
• Reliability. Yield. Cost.
• Defects. Leakage current. Radiation damage.

Abstracts should be submitted electronically to the Technical Program Chair, Gennadiy Agranov (see email in the pdf doc) by January 23, 2013. An abstract should consist of a single page of text with up to two pages of illustration, and include authors’ name(s) and affiliation, mailing address, telephone and e-mail address.