ST Licenses Varioptic Lens

Varioptic, the liquid lens company, announced the signature of a licensing agreement with STMicroelectronics. Under the terms of the agreement, STMicroelectronics will use Varioptic’s liquid lens technology to add auto-focus capability to a family of camera phone modules. Additionally, ST will also be able to manufacture liquid lenses in its own facilities. Varioptic’s liquid lens products include the current Arctic series (Arctic 320 and 416) as well as new thinner versions to be launched in the coming months.

Eric Aussedat, General Manager of ST’s Imaging Division, commented: “By combining Varioptic’s latest liquid lenses with our industry-leading 1.75-micron sensor technology, we believe we can break current performance-cost frontiers and dramatically increase the adoption of autofocus in phones.”