Taiwan and Korea CIS Update

Global Sources published an aritcle on Far Eastern CIS manufacturers news. The most interesting product to come is from Pixart. PixArt Technologies Inc. from Taiwan plans to develop integrated image sensors and low power optical mouse sensors for wireless applications this year.
Pixart also plans to develop 4T pixel color/mono image sensors - quite a lete decision in the time where the whole industry is 4T already.

Silicon Optronics Inc. (SOI) plans to release 3MP image sensors in the near future. At present, its product line includes 2.1MP UXGA, 1.3MP SXGA and VGA color image sensors. Models from the VGA series such as the SOI763A with 1/4in lens size are among its bestsellers.

LiteOn Semiconductor Corp. offers contact-type monochrome CIS and color CIS. LiteOn's product roadmap for the year includes low noise 3.3V/600dpi color CIS, low-cost 3.3V/1,200dpi color CIS, ultra fast three-channel 3.3V/1,200dpi color CIS, linear fingerprint image sensors for mobile phones, and laser mouse image sensors.

SiliconFile Technologies Inc. recently introduced a 1.3MP model, the NOON130PC20, which incorporates a 1,308x1-52 pixel array, on-chip 10bit ADC, and an image signal processor. It has 1/3.8in optical format and supports 15fps (SXGA), and 30fps (VGA) frame rate. Its sensor technology enhances image quality by reducing FPN, horizontal and vertical line noise and random noise, and supports 15fps (UXGA) and 30fps (SVGA) frame rate.

Pixelplus Co. Ltd, plans to release by year-end its PO5130 1.3MP CMOS image sensor that integrates an array of 1,280x1,024 effective SXGA resolution. The device uses 0.13µm process technology with improved image quality under low light conditions.

For camera phone applications, VGA image sensors dominated the market last year. Makers expect 1.3MP models to finally surpass VGA this year. Makers believe that higher resolution image sensors including 3MP and 5MP models used in 2.5G or 3G camera phones will not become the market standard until 2008.