Pixel-Shift Resolution Enhancement Simulation

Pixel shift often presented as a way to enhance image sensor resolution. One of the latest cameras has been presented by Vieworks at Stemmer Imaging Technology Forum 2013:

Martin Doppelbauer, Prof. at Karlsruhe University, Germany, presents the pixel shift video simulation that questions the real benefit of this approach:

Thanks to TL for the Stemmer Imaging link!

Sony Announces Industrial BSI CMOS Sensor

Sony announces 2.5um BSI-pixel based CMOS sensor for industrial applications, the IMX124LQT. Its sensitivity is said to improved by ~2.7 times over the existing FSI 2.5µm pixel in the older IMX036LQR sensor. It looks like this sensitivity advantage is achieved at quite large aperture, while smaller apertures show almost no BSI benefit:

The new sensor has 3.21MP resolution and can deliver 1080p60 video. The ADC has 12b resolution and its gain can be controlled in 51db range by 0.1db increments.

ABI Research on Gesture Recognition Adoption

ABI Research: "Hands-free operation or gesture recognition is soon going to become a key differentiator in high-end flagship smartphones, media tablets, and smart glasses," says senior analyst Joshua Flood. In 2013, almost 12% of smartphones shipped will have vision-based gesture recognition capabilities.

Global and China CMOS Camera Module Report, 2013

Research-In-China has updated its "Global and China CMOS Camera Module Industry Report" with 2013 data. A few key statements from the report:

• The growth rate of cell phone camera pixels slows down, or even declines in 2013.
• OIS is widely used in high-end phones: HTC (one), SONY (Xperia ZU), LG (G2 flagship) and Google (Nexus5)
• Tablet PC shipment has shown the signs of touching the ceiling, and its future growth will be sluggish.
• The automotive CCM shipment totaled 24,946,000 sets in 2012 and will grow by 56.4% year on year to 39,008,000 sets in 2013. The shipment is expected to maintain rapid growth, reaching 59,632,000 sets with the increase of 52.9% in 2014. The automotive CCM market is dominated by Panasonic, Sony, Magna, Valeo, MCNEX, Gentex, Fujitsu, Continetal and Autoliv.
• Without taking DSC into account, CMOS camera modules market is about USD13 billion in 2013, up 28.7% from 2012. Themarket is expected to hit USD15.9 billion in 2014, representing a year-on-year increase of 22.3%, mainly because of the adding of higher pixels and more complex features such as OIS.
• At the image sensor market, Omnivision, Samsung and Sony compete with each other fiercely. Sony firmly occupies the high-end market, especially the market of 13MP and bigger pixel size; Omnivision's revenue in FY2013 surged by 56.8% from the figure in FY2012 by virtue of low prices, but with profit sacrifice. Aptina transfers to less competitive non-handset markets.
• Largan almost monopolizes the beyond-8MP lens market. Its gross margin and operating margin jump from 2012 and the revenue is approaching USD1 billion. The revenue of the second-ranked GSEO falls to less than USD350 million in 2013.
• Taiwanese camera module vendors LITEON, PRIMAX and CHICONY are facing weak growth. However, Chinese and South Korean vendors are developing triumphantly, especially South Korea ones. LG INNOTEK has achieved the world's first laureate again, mainly serving Apple whose at least 70% CCM comes from LG INNOTEK. Taiwanese vendors can only snatch Apple's orders for low-end products. SEMCO's revenue soars thanks to Samsung's handset shipment surge; by profit, SEMCO acts as the world's largest CCM vendor.
• Among Chinese mainland vendors, SUNNY witnesses the strongest growth, and its shipment in 2013 is expected to reach 136 million units, doubling that in 2012. Besides, South Korean vendors also push aggressively into Chinese market, for instance, MCNEX is ZTE's largest supplier and Cowell acts as Lenovo's supplier.

Revenue of the Leading Camera Module Vendors
(Unit: US$M)

Dongbu Foundry is Up for Sale

EETimes-Europe, Korea JongAng Daily, Korea Economic Daily, Korea Herald: Dongbu financial group, the owner of Dongbu HiTek foundry is planning to sell the foundry to solve the mother company financial problems. Dongbu HiTek is one of the better known foundries making image sensors. SETi, Siliconfile, Pixelplus and other image sensor companies are among its customers. Dongbu has invested several trillion won in Dongbu HiTek in the non-memory semiconductor sector, but the foundry incurred losses for 14 straight years since its creation in 1997. Its first quarterly profit was in 2011.

"After putting in enormous investment and efforts over the past 10 years or so, the business of Dongbu HiTek has just been getting into the right orbit, but in order to dispel concern in the financial community over our future investment in the semiconductor sector, we made an inevitable decision to sell it," Dongbu group said.

Dongbu image sensor processes

Teledyne DALSA Introduces Switchable Gain X-Ray Imager

PR Newswire: Xineos-1515 X-Ray imager features Teledyne DALSA's next generation CMOS pixel with 99um resolution and a switchable saturation dose where X-Ray technicians can choose between high sensitivity and extended DR depending on the requirements of the procedure. This high-speed, low-power detector is capable of real-time (30 fps) imaging without the need for forced air or liquid coolers, which makes it an ideal choice for fixed as well as mobile interventional C-Arms, Fluoroscopy and 3D Orthopedic imaging systems.

"Our new Xineos detector signals Teledyne DALSA's continued commitment to designing the industry's highest performing CMOS X-Ray detectors," said Yves Kessener, Senior Product Manager at Teledyne DALSA. "Our versatile panels deliver the low-dose image quality standard of image-intensified CCD cameras with the form factor and workflow advantages of digital flat detectors."

Samsung on Image Sensor Progress

NS (Stephen) Woo, President & GM of Samsung System LSI Division presentation at Analyst Day on Nov. 6, 2013 has few slides on image sensor progress:

Caeleste and PCO Announce Cooperation

Optics.org: Caeleste and PCO announce their collaboration to explore novel concepts and ideas in the field of CMOS image sensors. This collaboration is aimed at innovative and advanced product developments and will keep PCO a leader in state-of-the art scientific and industrial cameras.

Patrick Henckes, CEO of Caeleste says: "We are very happy to be able to team up with of one of the most advanced scientific camera manufacturers in the world. Our beyond-state-of-the-art focus fits perfectly their continuous innovation efforts." Emil Ott, CEO of PCO: "We are excited to start together with the experts of Caeleste to explore new frontiers in image sensors. We are looking forward [to] what the combination of Caeleste's know-how and creativity paired with our technical skills in camera design might achieve."

Image Sensors at ISSCC 2014

ISSCC 2014 Advance Program has been published and revealed a number of image sensor papers. First, there is F2 forum "3D Stacking Technologies for Image Sensors and Memories" featuring presentations from Sony, TSMC, STMicro and Tohoku University:

3D System Module with Stacked Image Sensors, Stacked Memories and Stacked Processors on a Si Interposer
Mitsumasa Koyanagi , Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan

Challenges and Opportunities of 3D Chips Stacking - A Foundry’s Perspective
Douglas Yu, TSMC, Hsinchu, Taiwan

3D Stacked CMOS Image Sensor Exmor RSTM
Taku Umebayashi, Sony, Kanagawa, Japan

Evolution of 3D Integration for CMOS Image Sensor Cameras
Lindsay Grant, STMicroelectronics, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

The Image Sensors session has 6 papers, 3 of them are devoted to ToF devices. The most interesting one presents Microsoft's new Kinect solution:

A 512×424 CMOS 3D Time-of-Flight Image Sensor with Multi-Frequency Photo-Demodulation up to 130MHz and 2GS/s ADC
A. Payne, A. Daniel, A. Mehta, B. Thompson, C. S. Bamji, D. Snow, H. Oshima, L. Prather, M. Fenton, L. Kordus, P. O’Connor, R. McCauley, S. Nayak, S. Acharya, S. Mehta, T. Elkhatib, T. Meyer, T. O’Dwyer, T. Perry, V-H. Chan, V. Wong, W. Qian, Z. Xu
Microsoft, Mountain View, CA

Other papers are:

1/4-inch 8Mpixel CMOS Image Sensor with 3D Backside-Illuminated 1.12μm Pixel with Front-Side Deep-Trench Isolation and Vertical Transfer Gate
J. Ahn, K. Lee, Y. Kim, H. Jeong, B. Kim, H. Kim, J. Park, T. Jung, W. Park, T. Lee, E. Park, S. Choi, G. Choi, H. Park, Y. Choi, S. Lee, Y. Kim, Y. J. Jung, D. Park, S. Nah, Y. Oh, M. Kim, Y. Lee, Y. Chung, I. Hisanori,J. Im, D-K. Lee, B. Yim, G. Lee, H. Kown, S. Choi, J. Lee, D. Jang, Y. Kim, T. C. Kim, G. Hiroshige, C-Y. Choi, D. Lee, G. Han
Samsung Electronics, Yongin, Korea

243.3pJ/pixel Bio-Inspired Time-Stamp-Based 2D Optic Flow Sensor for Artificial Compound Eyes
S. Park, J. Cho, K. Lee, E. Yoon
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

A 1000fps Vision Chip Based on a Dynamically Reconfigurable Hybrid Architecture Comprising a PE Array and Self-Organizing Map Neural Network
C. Shi, J. Yang, Y. Han, Z. Cao, Q. Qin, L. Liu, N-J. Wu, Z. Wang
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

A 413×240-Pixel Sub-Centimeter Resolution Time-of-Flight CMOS Image Sensor with In-Pixel Background Canceling Using Lateral-Electric-Field Charge Modulators
S-M. Han, T. Takasawa, T. Akahori, K. Yasutomi, K. Kagawa, S. Kawahito
Shizuoka University, Hamamatsu, Japan
Brookman Technology, Hamamatsu, Japan

A 0.3mm-Resolution Time-of-Flight CMOS Range Imager with Column-Gating Clock-Skew Calibration
K. Yasutomi, T. Usui, S-M. Han, T. Takasawa, K. Kagawa, S. Kawahito
Shizuoka University, Hamamatsu, Japan

ESPROS and SiOnyx in EDN Hot 100 Products of 2013

The only image sensors in EDN list of Hot 100 Products of 2013 are ESPROS Photonic's epc600/610 ToF camera and SiOnyx XQE image sensors.

Espros' ToF camera chips were awarded for a small 2.6x2.6mm footprint and that only a few passive components and a couple of LEDs are required to build a distance sensor with them.

SiOnyx XQE sensors were selected for their "true nightglow detection capabilities in extreme, low-light conditions."